Daily Home Renovation Tips

Last year as you know our home underwent extensive renovations, including late in the fall the installation of a chain link fence on either side of the backyard (there was already a chain link fence at the back of the property).

We wanted this fencing to keep in Sandy, our family pet, in the back yard unleashed. Please say ‘Hi’ to Sandy.

Now, at the area where each side’s chain link fence came up to the house we wanted a standard swing gate installed. Fair enough.

However, the measurements were incorrect on one side. How far off were they? Well, here is a picture below that tells the story. The measurements were so bad that there was not sufficient room to install the vertical post between the wall and the end of the gate.

Without the post, the gate would not remain closed. What you see above is the vertical post having been pushed into the ground. But see how the gate is loosely tied off to the post with remnants of the green fencing wire? That is not how gates are installed. However, because the measurements were incorrect, there was insufficient room between the wall and the left side of the installed fence into which the vertical post could be installed.

So, you tell me? What is the optimal approach in order to properly latch the fence so when it is closed, it is closed. And, no, using fencing material to tie the fence off to the vertical post that was pushed into the ground is not the answer.

Want to know what the team who installed our fence came up with? Nothing. They knew they had erred but did not return to implement a solution other than what you see above. Very disappointing.

We then went to several different Home Depot and Rona locations but were not satisfied with their answer. No one had an immediate ‘been there - done that’ type of solution.

The common approach suggested to us was to anchor a 2 X 3 or a 2 X 4 piece of pressure treated wood vertically into the wall and then install a standard fence gate latch onto it. The recommendation continued with the installation of the other part of a standard chain link fence latch onto the gate.

Yes, this would have worked. However, two points:

• If I wanted a pressure treated wood fence I would have installed a pressure treated wood fence.
• I just could not see how this recommended approach would have made the fence actually look as nice as intended. I just didn’t see how wood and green fencing material would not look like you know what and did not want to take the time and effort to find out.
• The gate was already sufficiently narrow. The above solution would have reduced the already narrow gate opening by 3 or 4 inches. 

Return tomorrow where we show you the Daily Home Renovation Tips solution.

To find out the solution that we used to keep our fence closed, simply select this link to Part 2.