Gate Repair: Hinges, Latches and Sag on a Gate Worth Keeping

A gate that will not latch is a nuisance at best and a safety issue around a pool or a dog. A good share of the time the cause is small: hinges have worked loose, the latch has shifted, or a wood gate has swelled in wet weather.

Installation and replacement are the core of what we do. We also repair gates across the Charlotte metro when the gate and its posts are sound enough to make the repair last.

• Tightening, adjusting or replacing hinges.
• Realigning or replacing latches, including self-latching pool gate hardware.
• Adding a brace, cable or turnbuckle to pull a sagging wood gate back to square.
• Replacing broken pickets or rails on a gate.
• Replacing rollers, guides and stops on sliding gates.
• Replacing drop rods and ground sleeves on double gates.
• Resetting a single gate post that has moved, where the post itself is still good.

Sag has three possible sources, and the fix is different for each. If the hinges are loose or worn, new hardware solves it. If the gate frame has racked, it can sometimes be braced back to square, though a frame with rotted joints will not hold a brace. If the hinge post is leaning, nothing done to the gate will help until the post is reset or replaced.

The check is simple. Put a level on the hinge post. If it is plumb, look at the gate. If it is not, the post is the problem.

Sliding gates fail differently. Worn rollers make the gate hard to push and noisy. A bent guide lets it lean. A track full of gravel stops it. These are usually repairs. A frame twisted by a vehicle is usually not.

Repair stops making sense when the material will no longer hold a fastener, when the frame is bent or its welds are cracked, or when the gate has already been repaired for the same fault. A wood gate with rot at the hinge stile needs a new gate. A gate that keeps dropping because the post was set too shallow needs a new post at the least.

When that is what we find, we will tell you and price a gate replacement so you can compare. A new gate on properly set posts with adjustable hinges usually ends the cycle of yearly fixes.