Fence Post HowTo

[markct]

i suppose i dont know how your wife drives, nor can i predict how your daughter will drive, but wouldnt a 20 ft gate be more than enough? 30 ft is one wide driveway, and even with a long trailer you should still have little problem getting it thru even a 14ft gate, thats what we have on a few of our other access roads into our property and they are plenty wide, infact a few of my hay fields have only 12ft gates that are right on the side of a narrow town road and i can pull outa there with 2 hay wagons hitched together no problem at all, seems if they need a 30ft gate then they better hone there driving skills a bit, many places your wife will take that trailer may have alot less than 30 ft, many parking lot entrances are only about 18 ft or so, and heck around here alot of roads arnt even 30 ft, i would save my money on two gate openers and just put in one gate with an opener, take the money ya save on the gate openers and put it towards driving school for your daughter instead! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[cowboydoc]

Mark have you ever tryed to turn out of a driveway 90 degrees on a road with a 38' horse trailer hooked to a 20-28' pickup? I have a 30' opening to my barn and sometimes I wish I had made it wider. There is no way on earth that I could even begin to get my trailer, it's 40' plus out of a 14' gate and make the turn onto the main road. There's alot of difference between hay wagons that articulate and that long of a horse trailer.

 

[cmuncy]

Mark,

THe driveway will be 30 feet side to side. The actual road surface might be as wide as 20 feet. We have to crown the road and allow for drainage on either side. Plus utility easements.

But , we will have the full 30 feet at the entrance to the drive.

And yes, I am petrified on the concept of my daughter behind the wheel.... /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[JerryG]

Have you thought about setting back the gate, 15-20feet? Then you could have a smaller gate and could still get the trailer in.

 

[DiskDoctr]

"I plan on checking in to getting inner duct for these long runs as it will be cheaper by the foot vs. using PVC pipe"

Chris,

What is the "inner duct" you mention?

For some of our longer lengths, we go to our local plumbing wholesaler and buy the continuous black coiled pipe used for water lines. I've gotten lengths over 300' and they have longer. This gives you a strong, continuous conduit without joints and no chances for leaks. Also pretty cheap. It's hard to beat /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

If you are running driveway conduit, I always suggest running an extra coaxial cable (RG6 or similar for cable TV or other), and two CAT5 or CAT6 eight conductor "network" cables. They can be used for up to 4 telephone lines each, plus intercoms, video phones, etc. All these can go into their own conduit. Don't forget to put in a pull rope and always pull in a new pull rope when you use one (tie it to the head end of the new line you are running).

The extra materials are cheap when compared to, "I want to add ___, if only I had ___ cable I could just connect it. And I'll have to dig up that nice driveway/lawn I finally got just right, spend time putting in conduit, etc..."

You might want a driveway sensor to notify you when someone is at or coming up the driveway. Maybe your entrance keypad will do that, but we had put one of the metal sensing RF loops (like the traffic light sensors) in the drive with a ding-dong at the house when UPS or whomever were coming up the drive.

If you decide to run electricity to the end of the drive, I suggest a decorative dusk to dawn light and always add a waterproof outlet in one of your driveway/gate pillars, and maybe one on a small post about halfway along the drive. These come in handy!

If not running electricity, let us know how you power the gate opener. I've thought about a pair of 12v batteries and solar charger, but not sure if it could recharge enough, or how much power the mighty mules take- supposed to operate something like 8-10 times from battery in case of power outage, I think....

Sounds like a nice setup you are making. Good luck, and post some pictures /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

-JC

 

[markct]

yea i know what your saying cowboydoc, but usualy ya dont have the gate right on the street, most of ours are set back a bit so ya dont realy turn till your outa the gate part way, i would set the gate back 30ft from the street and go with a 18 or 20 ft single gate and opener if it were me

 

[cmuncy]

JC,

You and I think alike /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I plan on doing all of that that you mention and maybe more. I ONLY want to do it once. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[GerardC]

Here's my set-up......

At the gate....

 

[GerardC]

Power at the gate....

 

[GerardC]

In the house....