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Why does every DIY gate build skip a diagonal brace and then sag in a year?
I built a cedar gate for my side yard in Tucson about 14 months back and it still swings dead straight, and I honestly credit one thing: the diagonal brace. Every neighbor gate I walk past, the ones with just a frame and pickets, has that droop where the far corner sits about 2 inches low. Nobody warns you about this at the lumber yard. They will sell you fancy hinges and a latch all day, but the brace is the part that fights gravity. Mine runs from the bottom hinge side up to the top latch side, one 2x4, glued and screwed, and it cost me about $7. I see people copy gate plans off Pinterest with no brace at all, then act shocked when it twists. Am I wrong here, or is the diagonal the one step most folks just skip because it looks optional?
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jana_hill2729d ago
A buddy of mine built his without one because the plan he found online left it out, and that gate was dragging within eight months. Seven bucks and one board would have saved him a whole rebuild.
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