Rebuilding a Wooden Gate

A regular client came to me with an issue, a wooden gate, part of a picket fence, had rotted out and needed to be rebuilt.

Here you can see closeups of the gate elements, and how they had rotted . . .

Part of the problem here is the lag bolts used were too short, only 1.5 inches, which stressed the one board and cracked it.

Next, the crosspiece seen above, now removed to expose the rot:

 
And here is the main lower crossbar, once I pulled it all apart you can see the rot:

Yikes.  Anyway a real carpenter was working on the house at the same time and he let me use his portable table saw setup:

This thing made beautiful cuts.  I WANT ONE

It took some serious problem solving to get all the old hidden countersunk screws out of the pickets and then put it all back together– I re used the original hinges and most of the old screws as, with COVID-19, I can’t get fasteners sometimes!  Here it is, all done, using 3 inch lag bolts, with the replacement pieces looking different due to being primed before install:

I was ever so careful with all my measurements but even so, I consider myself very lucky that the thing hung perfectly on the old hinge pins on the first try!  Even the latch lined up perfectly!  I plan to put painter’s caulk all over to prevent the rot that occurred first time.

What can I say, it looks and works great.  Getting bold in my old age.  This was my most ambitious carpentry project to date by far.

Author: admin

Hi, Justin here. I do handyman work in the Boston Metrowest area. I specialize in solving problems, like doors that don't close right, things that don't hang right, and many basic small repairs. Note, I don't do bigger projects like building decks, I prefer to fix things already installed. I love healing old houses and making things look right. Call 781 330 8143 or email handyauthor@gmail.com.

I don't always get notified of comments so email is better handyauthor@gmail.com