My Front Gate Project

[4570Man]

I've never been a contractor, and have had four different mixers in my lifetime.
Still do have a small old one that works just fine, but I don't use it anymore.
Won't sell it though.......just in case I should need it sometime.
At a very few weeks short of 80, I have WAY too much stuff that fits into the "just in case I should need it sometime" category.

I hope your retirement finances don’t cut so close to needing to sell a cement mixer. And if you were to need it your earnings would quickly be ate up in rental. So I agree with keeping it.

 

[fried1765]

I hope your retirement finances don稚 cut so close to needing to sell a cement mixer. And if you were to need it your earnings would quickly be ate up in rental. So I agree with keeping it.

Storage space is the only issue.
I have three buildings.
A Morton 36' x 48', a stick built 40' x 50', and a 2 car garage with small workshop,...... all are full of chit.

 

[shooterdon]

I've never been a contractor, and have had four different mixers in my lifetime.
Still do have a small old one that works just fine, but I don't use it anymore.
Won't sell it though.......just in case I should need it sometime.
At a very few weeks short of 80, I have WAY too much stuff that fits into the "just in case I should need it sometime" category.

LOL,

I have had the "just in case" disease for a long time and I am 70. But started selling off stuff in the last few years. I ran out of room for "stuff" and putting up another building to store "junk" would have been stupid. If I need something, I can rent it. Or buy the tool and sell it on Craig's List for 50-60% of what it cost. Cement mixer would be one of those things not worth storing in my situation.

 

[EddieWalker]

Blocks are stacked.

 

[EddieWalker]

Wife was out of town for a dog show, so I tiled our bedroom floor. While waiting for the tile and then the grout to dry, I got a few things done on the front gate. The big gate is 14 feet and the small gate is 4 feet. I wanted it to be easy to walk through to get the mail. Eventually I'll put gravel down for the walk through gate and tie it into the driveway. Once the gates where installed, I set my post for the gate chains. I also set my posts for the 3 rail wood fence that will go on either side of the driveway. And since it was so nice out, I dug the trench and buried my electrical lines on both sides of the driveway.

 

[joeyd]

Looking forward to seeing the finished project.

 

[Rebeldad1]

Wife was out of town for a dog show, so I tiled our bedroom floor. While waiting for the tile and then the grout to dry, I got a few things done on the front gate. The big gate is 14 feet and the small gate is 4 feet. I wanted it to be easy to walk through to get the mail. Eventually I'll put gravel down for the walk through gate and tie it into the driveway. Once the gates where installed, I set my post for the gate chains. I also set my posts for the 3 rail wood fence that will go on either side of the driveway. And since it was so nice out, I dug the trench and buried my electrical lines on both sides of the driveway.


View attachment 673610

we dont have parks that look that good. nice job

 

[PILOON]

I also kept my mixer 'just in case'.
(I never sell a tool)
Couple years ago I lent it to a neighbor who never returned it.
When queered he said come and get it.
When I did have a look at it I saw why, it was smashed like if somebody dropped it from 50 ft , that or it fell off of a truck.
Now on 'forever black list',

 

[flyerdan]

I see that you've went with two separate gates; that eliminates the problems that I was envisioning with a double gate system.
I built an offset double gate frame for my neighbor to replace the wood gates that were coming apart. These are far lighter and stronger, a 2x4 top and bottom rail allows the existing dog ear fence boards to be reused. A drop rod holds the left leaf stationary in a socket concreted in, and the right leaf is just wide enough for a wheelie bin or pressure washer to get through. Works flawlessly.

 

[EddieWalker]

To dress up my gate a little, I decided to make a heart out of cedar for our farm logo.

I drew it out on a piece of half inch MDF, then cut that out for a template.

Then I glued some scrap pieces of cedar 2x6 together



Then I cut out some rusted metal that I thought would give me some nice contrast for the letters. It took 3 brand new blades to cut it out. I screwed the metal into the back of the Cedar Heart.



I drilled 4 holes into the gate and used self tapping screws to attach it to the gate. Then I coated it with Sherwin Williams oil based clear finish.

 

[ovrszd]

Being from Texas, you should have a South Fork Entrance Eddie!!!!

 

[EddieWalker]

We bought a blue eyed baby goat yesterday, so I didn't get anything done on the gate project. We have 9 girls and we've been looking for just the right male to breed to them. We found him 2 hours away, near Greenville TX.



Today I picked up some 16 foot treated 2x6's and what I needed to finish off my electrical. That all went smoothly. Then I was able to remove the old gates and their posts. That really made it look more open and cleaner.

I'm going to let the treated wood dry out for a few months, then I'll stain it as dark as I can get it, hoping for black.

Next up is building the caps for the columns so I can install lights on top of them.

I'm also planning on ordering the gate opener tomorrow. I have it all priced out, but I want to ask a few questions before placing the order.

 

[Thall303]

Wow! Looks fantastic

 

[AlbertC]

Looking good Eddie!

 

[Wakey]

This is coming together nicely.

 

[czechsonofagun]

We bought a blue eyed baby goat yesterday, so I didn't get anything done on the gate project. We have 9 girls and we've been looking for just the right male to breed to them. We found him 2 hours away, near Greenville TX.

View attachment 674329

Today I picked up some 16 foot treated 2x6's and what I needed to finish off my electrical. That all went smoothly. Then I was able to remove the old gates and their posts. That really made it look more open and cleaner.

I'm going to let the treated wood dry out for a few months, then I'll stain it as dark as I can get it, hoping for black.

Next up is building the caps for the columns so I can install lights on top of them.

I'm also planning on ordering the gate opener tomorrow. I have it all priced out, but I want to ask a few questions before placing the order.

View attachment 674330

Now thats a great entrance!

 

[bindian]

Eddie,
You think Oscar was hard to keep in!:laughing: You are gonna have fun trying to keep them goats in.
As always......................Awesome work.
hugs, Brandi

 

[czechsonofagun]

Eddie,
You think Oscar was hard to keep in!:laughing: You are gonna have fun trying to keep them goats in.
As always......................Awesome work.
hugs, Brandi

Yeah. Some goats are ok but if you get a goat with character, you are up for some exciting times.

 

[EddieWalker]

It's been a few weeks since I installed the opener. The instructions hurt my brain. I bought the basic unit, and then added featurs to it like the opener on the inside that you drive past and it opens the gate when you are leaving, and the button to push to open the gate from the outside, along with the remote controls to open the gate from our vehicles. The little screws that you tighten down for each wire are tricky. If you don't get it just right, the don't work. That was very frustrating to me. A week after having it all working, it stopped working and I found out that one of my power lines wasn't done right and it had worked itself out. My fault, but I really thought I had checked each wire real good before moving on to the next.

To attach the opener to the gate, they provided a stainless steel bracket and bolts. The bolts where fine thread. I used my impact driver to get them tight, which bent to bottom tube of the gate. I thought that was pretty tight, but it came loose that first week of using it. The threads where all stripped from me over tightening them, and I replaced them with some Grade 5 bolts and lock nuts. I also noticed that the gate is bending there, so I'm going to add a length of angle iron to the pipe to strengthen it.

Overall, we are very pleased with how it works.

To finish off the columns, I built two caps the same way I did the other columns a dozen years ago, give or take. I let the concrete cure in the form for a week, then did the other one and let it cure for a week. I used a sack and a half for each cap, which put them at 120 pounds, or so. I used my hay spears and a pallet to carry them to the columns and get them up high enough to slide them onto the columns. I have a bunch of almost empty sacks of Thinset mortar from tile jobs that i do, so I used that to anchor the caps on top of the columns.

I have two more LED post lights on order from Home Depot that I will install as soon as they get here.

 

[mred2]

Eddie, I put my front gate up and put the outside panel behind the posted sign on the gate post. No one can see it. Only friends with codes. And they have to get out of the auto. I purchased but did not install the auto opener on the inside. I store hay to one side of the gate and I have to go by there to get the hay. My tractor would be opening the gate too many times.
I have another gate to my pasture. It is great. I don't have to get off the tractor to put out hay. It has a lock on it, that keeps the animals from pushing it open, It unlocks with the auto gate. I plan on putting up another one later for a gate to the lake.
Also with the name Ed, I have horses and kids call me Mr. Ed.