Lock for outside gates?

[Nick Smith]

Just installing new gates for the back garden - they are sturdy frames made from

4 x 2 " tanalised timber, hung on large steel hinges (the type that go along the top and bottom rails by about 18") and clad in 1.8 Mtr feather edge boarding. Each gate frame is about 48" square.

The two meet at the centre with about a 1/8th inch gap, one gate will have a droppable steel pole into a ground pipe, and the other will have "some sort of latch" and "some sort of lock."

What is the recommended way to lock the gate from the outside (and inside) ? Can I use a normal back door type mortice lock or will it rust up in a short time and/or not be substantial enough ?

Any Screwfix part nos. of suggested option would be very helpful....

Thanks ,

Nick

[Dave Liquorice]

Doesn't seem much point in locking a gate, anyone wanting to gain entry can just lift it off the pin hinges. Indeed unless steps are taken to prevent it this is how gates walk....

Generally lock parts are brass but the cases are steel and rust... I doubt it would be strong enough anyway. The two gates will extert quite a force on anything attempting to join them in the middle especially as they are clad. Our 13' farm type gate can be quite a handfull in the wind, can easyly push/pull you over if caught unawares. A smaller 5' gate with 3" pallings at 3" gaps is just as bad if not worse.

The normal way to join to gates at the center is with a galvanised loop that hinges on one gate a drops of the slam post of the other.

"gate" at screwfix doesn't return what I'm trying to describe. Ah ha

scroll down to "throwover gate loop". They say they are Trade Only though, pity looks like an interesting site...

[nightjar]

Add another strap hinge with the pin the other way up.

Colin Bignell

[Dave Liquorice]

Always assuming you can have moveable pins and get any moveable pin into the right place. But yes, that is the "simple" solution.

[Paul King]

I made some similar feather edge boarded gates, which needed to look like a solid fence from the outside. I locked them from the inside with a contraption bought from B&Q Warehouse (the smaller B&Q stores don't stock it). Basically, its a galvanised throwover bar about 18 inches by 3 inches, which is thrown 180 deg. to lock/unlock and has provision for a padlock. Unfortunately, I can't describe it better, and a search of the B&Q website reveals nothing. :-(

HTH

[nightjar]

My solution is to have gates that it takes three men to lift, then lock a pair of those together with lots of ironmongery. Mind you, they had to be hung on a U-shaped piece of structural steel, which was built under the drive and into the brick piers either side.

Colin Bignell

[Dave Liquorice]

So the tea leaves just come along with three men...