gate |

I know not everyone is blessed to have a Poppy Jack living at their house ready and willing to fix anything he can lay his hands on, so today I will offer you a brief how-to courtesy of the Aussie Poppy Jack.

We have a crap-tastic wood gate that was built by 3 year-olds during a sugar filled moment in the middle of a humid day. A week or so ago we had a nasty storm here and it bent the gate backwards in the opposite direction that the hinges were meant to go (installed backwards just in case you were wondering!). So not only did we end up with bent hinges, but the weight of the gate caused the plank of wood it was attached to, to split and pull away from the main fence.

Still following?

First thing was first…while I was at work on Saturday, the Wee-b and Poppy Jack had a look at the gate and took it apart a bit (removed the hinges and handle, and adjusted the split plank so that it was seated back in with its other friends along the fence line again. Sunday morning we took a trip to Home Depot and picked up some 6″ carriage bolts and a 3/8″ drill bit in order to drill a deep hole through several planks of wood to strengthen the area where the gate would be reattached.

Carriage bolt

So first things first, we needed to straighten the gate and reinforce it. As it currently stands, the gate is several pieces of long wood with two short pieces – one at the top and one at the bottom. What’s missing here? Ahh..thats right….a brace. Poppy Jack is on the JOB!

After dropping the gate a few times (on purpose mind you) in order to square it off again, we measured out the angle brace and chopped off both ends using the mitre saw. Using a larger drill bit to drill small (1/8″ deep almost?) sink holes, Poppy Jack then used a much smaller drill bit to pre drill some holes for the wood screws to be screwed into. Poppy Jack also pointed out that the wood we were using (simple pine from HD) was a soft wood so it was much better to drill a smaller hole that you would actually need for the screws as they would do most of the work themselves.

“You can’t make a big hole smaller, but you can always make a small hole bigger”^TM

After we got that sorted it was time to head back to the gate to attempt to repair the split plank. We managed to get the first hole drilled through the top section of the wood and Poppy Jack got a 6″ carriage bolt in and tightened.

The lower section of wood, we found, actually goes through another post on our neighbors side, so it was back to Home Depot for a slightly longer 10″ carriage bolt that would go all the way through. Better in this situation as it will also offer the additional support of a pretty sturdy wood post.

So here we are for the time being. The drill ran out of juice so he was unable to finish drilling through the bottom section of wood. That may end up on todays to-do list