'Zoot’s Driveway Gate Project'

[Redoctober]

53 minutes ago, zoothorn said:

 

Redoctober.. did you need planning permission to put these in? did you apply? did you know you had to apply, or JFDI?

 

Yes our gates were marked on the plans submitted for planning  and feature on the site location plans. A bit like our ASHP - we had to have the location approved and it too had to appear on the plans submitted for planning permission. 

That said, I did know about the ASHP [ Credit to @ProDave for that top tip] but the gates, I ad no idea they would require such permissions. I guess I just got lucky by putting them in at such an early stage.

[Ferdinand]

17 hours ago, zoothorn said:

FFS I hate this f****ing planning sh*t. I cannot understand it. So I need fkn planning just to replace my damn gate?????!!!!!! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

I think you have started the journey to developing a suitable scepticism for overwheening regulation.

 

Anothe 5 or 10 years and you will have a good working knowledge of when you can get away with ignoring it ?.

[zoothorn]

I think you're right Ferdinand. Mulling it over, & considering the ultra-quiet 'wild west' area here.. bllx to it, I shall just replace my galvanised tube gate with woods ones (look way better so how could anyone have cause for complaint).

 

Ive got a quote from Jackson's coming (might be costly with £42 postage). And seen some cheaper options in Huw's (my link before).. but not too impressed with quality. Jackson's have 25 year 'guarantee'.. not sure how so long if treated softwood, but sort of persuades me this direction.

 

Ok so design chosen. And once quote got, then maybe gates got.. I can start asking about posts' installing. Height off ground is a critical one I guess: Ive yet to put down some sort of chipping gravel area here. Should this be done 1st I wonder? Cheers chaps.

[Onoff]

9 minutes ago, zoothorn said:

I think you're right Ferdinand. Mulling it over, & considering the ultra-quiet 'wild west' area here.. bllx to it, I shall just replace my galvanised tube gate with woods ones (look way better so how could anyone have cause for complaint).

 

Ive got a quote from Jackson's coming (might be costly with £42 postage). And seen some cheaper options in Huw's (my link before).. but not too impressed with quality. Jackson's have 25 year 'guarantee'.. not sure how so long if treated softwood, but sort of persuades me this direction.

 

Ok so design chosen. And once quote got, then maybe gates got.. I can start asking about posts' installing. Height off ground is a critical one I guess: Ive yet to put down some sort of chipping gravel area here. Should this be done 1st I wonder? Cheers chaps.

 

Don't be silly, your gravel will just start falling into your post holes! Posts first, gravel later.

[zoothorn]

Haha! no seriously, apart from this (easy to clear gravel from post areas for job).. I'm thinking doesn't the gates' height off surface/ driveway need to be established prior to gates being hung tho? or, you say just hang'em em with a ~4" gap below?

[Gone West]

2 hours ago, zoothorn said:

Jackson's have 25 year 'guarantee'.. not sure how so long if treated softwood, but sort of persuades me this direction.

I'm impressed with the softwood treatment by Jacksons. I've used their fencing several times. When I got the gate posts this time I had to drill through them for the hinges and the treatment had penetrated to the centre of the post. Of course this means the treated wood is very heavy until it dries out.

[Onoff]

2 hours ago, zoothorn said:

Haha! no seriously, apart from this (easy to clear gravel from post areas for job).. I'm thinking doesn't the gates' height off surface/ driveway need to be established prior to gates being hung tho? or, you say just hang'em em with a ~4" gap below?

 

You can't just sling gravel on the existing drive, the ground needs prepping. Means getting a man with a digger in and going down about a foot+. Lots of things to consider.

 

This is a good starting point:

 

http://www.pavingexpert.com/gravel01.htm

[Ferdinand]

3 hours ago, Onoff said:

 

Don't be silly, your gravel will just start falling into your post holes! Posts first, gravel later.

 

There is an argument for filling post holes with rammed gravel round the posts to stop rotting (Yanks like it, I understand), rather than deliberately seeking to rot the post as quickly as possible by setting it in concrete, but that probably comes under something that would confuse this thread unecessarily ?.

 

F

Edited April 17, 2019 by Ferdinand

[Onoff]

26 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

 

There is an argument for filling post holes with rammed gravel round the posts to stop rotting (Yanks like it, I understand), but that probably comes under something that would confuse this thread unecessarily ?.

 

F

 

I can certainly see the attraction. I'd be worried though that over time the gravel would migrate into the surrounding soil and the post loosen. I suppose you just level them up and tamp more gravel in...

 

Easier to nick the gates too maybe? Just lift the whole lot up, posts and all! 

 

I wonder if anyone has come up with a thick, vertically permeable wrap to go around wooden posts before you concrete them in?

[Ed Davies]

Talking to my crofting neighbour, who probably knows more about fences than most, I asked if concreting in the fence posts would just make them rot by trapping water. Yes, says he, eventually, but it's the bit just about ground level that rots first whatever you do so you might as well make them solid.

[Ferdinand]

12 minutes ago, Ed Davies said:

Talking to my crofting neighbour, who probably knows more about fences than most, I asked if concreting in the fence posts would just make them rot by trapping water. Yes, says he, eventually, but it's the bit just about ground level that rots first whatever you do so you might as well make them solid.

 

Absolutely the point where they rot, so...

 

P-P-Pickup a Postsaver (as used by Network Rail).

 

 

More detailed version on the blog:

 

Or use a fencing repair spurt just to keep wood off the ground entirely. That is my norm for garden stuff if the post is wooden.

 

All sorts of other good ideas, like 50:50 diesel/motor oil, or charring the bottom, or traditional creosote.

 

F

Edited April 17, 2019 by Ferdinand

[zoothorn]

I was thinking in theory, of exactly such a sleeve to protect just the foot or so @ ground level.

 

All going well in the clip.. until he gets his flippin flame thrower out tho! Id not be able to shrink fit it tight without one, would I?

[Ferdinand]

12 minutes ago, zoothorn said:

I was thinking in theory, of exactly such a sleeve to protect just the foot or so @ ground level.

 

All going well in the clip.. until he gets his flippin flame thrower out tho! Id not be able to shrink fit it tight without one, would I?

 

If you only have a couple to do, there is a consumer kit which comes with a catering blowtorch. Quite a nice little blowtorch with an integrated spark.

 

This would be the one for you. The stuff comes on a roll rather than pre made to defined size.

 

https://www.postsaver-shop.co.uk/special-offer--includes-5-meters-of-wrap--tack-and-hand-torch-save--5-price-including-vat-2999-48-p.asp

 

You then make lots of creme brulees and seared steaks to use up the stuff. Or build a fence.

 

I have the bigger kit because when I do fences I do a lot, and you get about £75 of gubbins for about £50.

 

Do NOT buy these from a retailer as they will cost more than double.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited April 17, 2019 by Ferdinand

[zoothorn]

Ah ok well that's affordable then- I will have a good few posts to do, for the arrival of Wilbur, a whippet (not that Ive chosen one yet.. just the name) whose down the list of things 'to get/ do'. IE 2 cabins, gates, driveway gravel.. alot of posting prep as a logistically sod of a gdn to whippet-proof.

[Jeremy Harris]

2 hours ago, PeterStarck said:

I'm impressed with the softwood treatment by Jacksons. I've used their fencing several times. When I got the gate posts this time I had to drill through them for the hinges and the treatment had penetrated to the centre of the post. Of course this means the treated wood is very heavy until it dries out.

 

 

Is that the "Jakcure" treatment, Peter?

 

I've wondered about this, as, whereas all our fencing and posts came from the local sawmill, the 8" square "gate" posts either side of our drive came from Jacksons, and I've been a bit concerned about the possibility of rot, as they have their feet only inches above the water table here.  They came with a 25 year guarantee, which may well see me out, anyway!

[Gone West]

1 hour ago, JSHarris said:

Is that the "Jakcure" treatment, Peter?

Yes, I think that's what they call it. I put up a Jacksons fence in 1993 and when I moved sixteen years later it was as good as new. The gate posts here sit in water when the water table is high so it's a good test for their treatment.

[Onoff]

I remember a Tomorrow's World years back where they're were following a utilities company (GPO back then?) tramping round Scotland fitting CO2 powered wood preserver injectors to telegraph poles. 

 

Is it the oft quoted, 6" up from the ground splash zone that rots post at this low level?

[Jeremy Harris]

21 hours ago, Onoff said:

Is it the oft quoted, 6" up from the ground splash zone that rots post at this low level?

 

Seems to be,  we had a section of fencing fall over in the village last week (a Local Authority problem, but I'm a Parish Councillor, and we're the ones that get it in the ear...):

 

 

Illustrates pretty well that it's the region at around ground level that tends to rot.

 

Luckily another Parish Councillor was able to go and fix it before someone tripped over it (waiting for the Unitary Authority to get around to repairing it would have been pointless, as it takes months, or years, for them to do anything).

[CC45]

the post savers don't go onto newly cresoted posts very well.  They need to dry out really well.  I would not put a modern post in the ground without a post saver.  Some timber yards will still creosote treated timber.

[zoothorn]

Just seen my 1st problem: the road onto which my drive area joins onto.. is a slope L to R.

 

So gates of 12' (6ft doubles, 50/50 now) will have a 'step' of approx 10" looking out from L to R. I assume I need the gates to hand spot-on level?

[zoothorn]

2 minutes ago, CC45 said:

the post savers don't go onto newly cresoted posts very well.  They need to dry out really well.  I would not put a modern post in the ground without a post saver.  Some timber yards will still creosote treated timber.

 

So maybe I can creosote the low 1/3rd of my posts as a cheaper option instead?

[Gone West]

1 hour ago, zoothorn said:

Just seen my 1st problem: the road onto which my drive area joins onto.. is a slope L to R.

The lane outside my place slopes R to L but where I've fitted the gates, approximately 3m back from the lane I have made level.

[zoothorn]

Ah ok.. I only spotted the (obvious) slope, Id just have gone at it hammer & tongs unless Id spotted this.

 

So is it now not such a bad idea to do the drive/gravel job, after prepping the gate areas level I wonder.. or still do this last?

[Gone West]

21 minutes ago, zoothorn said:

So is it now not such a bad idea to do the drive/gravel job, after prepping the gate areas level I wonder.. or still do this last?

I always work out levels first and then work out how I'm going to do the job.

[Ferdinand]

3 hours ago, zoothorn said:

Just seen my 1st problem: the road onto which my drive area joins onto.. is a slope L to R.

 

So gates of 12' (6ft doubles, 50/50 now) will have a 'step' of approx 10" looking out from L to R. I assume I need the gates to hand spot-on level?

 

Not necessarily - you could just have a variable gap underneath.

 

Or dig out one side.

 

Or put a suitable threshold on, and work to that level.

 

Treat it as a fun opportunity to play with a digger for a day.

 

F

 

Edited April 18, 2019 by Ferdinand