Questions About Gates and Gate Work

It depends mostly on the space. A swing gate needs clear, fairly level ground inside the opening for its leaves to travel, while a sliding gate needs room along the fence line to roll back into. On a short drive that climbs toward the house, a slide or cantilever gate is often the practical choice.

Aluminum does not rust, stays light on its hinges and suits most home gates in the heat and rain. Steel is stronger and heavier, good for security and wide spans, but it needs a sound coating and attention wherever it gets scratched. Wood looks warm and suits privacy gates, though it moves with the humidity and needs sealing to stay straight.

A cantilever gate is a sliding gate that hangs from rollers on posts beside the opening, with an extra length of frame behind it as a counterbalance. Nothing runs on the ground, so sand, leaves and uneven paving do not stop it. It needs more room along the fence than a gate on a V-track, roughly half the width of the opening again.

Wide enough for the largest vehicle that will use it, with room to turn in from the street. Many home openings fall between 12 and 16 feet, and a wider one helps where the drive meets the road at an angle. Sizing is part of planning any gate installation, along with the slope and the power supply.

An operator is a motor and gearbox that moves the gate through an arm, a linear actuator or a gear rack, directed by a control board. The board takes commands from remotes, keypads and loops, stops the gate at its set limits, and reverses it when a photo eye or edge sensor detects something in the way.

With a backup battery, the operator keeps running for a number of cycles on the battery alone. When that runs down, or if there is no battery, the gate stays where it is until it is released and moved by hand. A solar operator runs from its battery all the time and can run short after a stretch of cloudy days.

Most operators have a release, a key, lever or knob on the arm or the motor, that disconnects the drive so the gate can be pushed by hand. Keep clear of the gate’s path and push it only if it moves easily. If it is heavy, stiff or off its track, leave it where it is and call.

Often, if the gate swings or rolls easily by hand and its posts and hinges are sound. An operator magnifies existing problems, so a sagging leaf or a stiff hinge needs fixing first. Choosing among gate openers then comes down to the gate’s length, its weight and how often it runs.

The usual causes are a remote or keypad button that sticks, a vehicle loop picking up something it should not, or a fault on the control board. Lightning surges during the summer storms can damage boards and loop detectors in ways that show up like this. Note when it happens, because the pattern helps find the cause.

On swing gates, worn hinges and a sagging leaf that drags or misses its latch. On slide gates, worn rollers and debris in the track. On automatic gates of either kind, dirty or misaligned photo eyes, a weak backup battery and limit settings that have drifted. Most are routine gate repair work when caught before they wear out other parts.

Stop using the automatic mode if the gate reverses for no reason, stops partway, drags on the ground, leans, or moves when nobody asked it to. Use it by hand only if it moves easily once released, and keep people and cars clear of it until it has been looked at. A gate that will not stop when something is in its path should not be used at all.

A sound frame on sound posts usually is: hinges, rollers, an operator and its sensors can all be replaced. When the frame is rusted through or badly bent, or the posts have moved in the ground, repairs can add up to more than a new gate is worth. A site visit sorts out what needs fixing now and what can wait.

Most often the remote’s battery is flat, so try a new one first. If that does not help, the remote may have lost its pairing with the receiver, or the receiver’s antenna may have been knocked or damaged. In the meantime the keypad and the manual release are safe to keep using.

Most homes use both: remotes for the household’s cars, and a keypad for guests, walkers and the day a remote goes missing. A keypad on a gooseneck pedestal at window height saves getting out of the car. Change the code when someone who had it no longer needs it.

Yes, with an intercom that rings a phone or a controller that works through an app. Both are common access control setups, and both need a reliable cellular or Wi-Fi signal at the gate, so a keypad or remote stays useful as a second way in.

A loop is a wire laid in a saw cut in the drive and connected to a detector at the control board. It senses the metal of a car above it, which lets the gate open for cars on their way out without a remote, or stay open while a car is still in the gateway.

Where the local fire authority asks for it, the gate carries a device responders can use without help: a Knox key switch, opened with a key the fire department holds, or a siren sensor that opens the gate as an emergency vehicle’s siren comes close. Requirements differ by city and county, so they are worth checking before an entry system is planned.

Often. Many cities and counties around Orlando ask for a permit for a new driveway gate, for a fence or gate over a set height, and for the electrical work that powers an operator. The rules differ between Orlando, Winter Park, and Orange and Osceola counties, so they are worth checking for each address before work starts.

Under the UL 325 safety standard, an automatic gate needs entrapment protection: usually photo eyes across the opening and edge sensors where the gate could pinch someone. Newer operators check that those devices are connected and will not run automatically without them. The gate should also reverse when it meets something in its path.

In a planned community it usually does. Associations often set rules on gate height, style, color and material, and some ask for approval before work starts. Ask for the architectural guidelines early, since a gate that does not match them may have to come out.

Yes. Florida law asks anyone who digs to contact Sunshine 811 at least two full business days ahead, so buried utility lines are marked before post holes or a trench for power are dug. Driveway entrances often have water, power and cable lines running close by.

Call (407) 413-8623 or send the Schedule an Estimate form with your address and a short description of what the gate is doing. We will arrange a time to look at it.

The gate type, roughly how wide the opening is, whether it is automatic, and what it is doing or not doing. The opener’s brand, usually printed on its cover, helps too, and so does knowing where its power comes from. For a new gate, any HOA rules and a sense of how the gate will be used are worth having in mind.

The request form takes text only, so send the form first, then email the photos to philip.r@callahangaragedoors.com. Useful shots are the whole gate from the street side, the hinges or rollers, and the operator with its control box closed.

A useful estimate depends on what is found at the gate: its size and weight, the ground, the power run and the state of the hardware. Philip Ramos does the site visits and estimates in person, the first step of Our Process.

Orlando, Winter Park and Kissimmee, along with the nearby communities that make up the Areas We Serve.