Gates and wickets

A gate is the only thing in a yard that moves every day. That is why a mistake costs more here: the wrong type cannot be changed without moving the posts, and an undersized operator fails in its first winter.

A sliding gate in section

The leaf of a sliding gate does not roll along the ground. It hangs from two roller carriages fixed to a foundation beside the opening, and reaches past the opening with a cantilever counterweight tail. There is no rail across the driveway, so there is nothing to pack with snow and grit, and no threshold to catch a low car.

A sliding gate from the side: the leaf with its cantilever tail, the bearing beam with a toothed rack, two roller carriages on a foundation, the operator, the receiving post with catchers, and the dimensions of the opening and the run-back — A sliding gate in full. The run-back of about 40 % of the opening is the thing most often left out of a site plan.

Every limitation of the type follows from that. It needs clear run-back to one side; it needs a foundation under the carriages — one shared frame, not two separate blocks, or the carriages drift apart; and it needs a receiving post with catchers, which takes the leaf when closed and lifts the load off the rollers.

Six types of gate

Six panels with gates: double swing, cantilever sliding, sectional overhead, roller shutter, a pedestrian gate and a gate with an operator — Six types. The choice follows the room available in the yard and above the opening, not the price.

Swing gates — the cheapest, but the leaf claims a metre and a half of yard and meets the snow in winter.
Cantilever sliding — the yard stays clear and snow is no obstacle, but run-back and a foundation are needed.
Sectional — for a garage; they need headroom above the opening for the stacked panels.
Roller shutter — least room of all, but the opening must be a light one: not a solution for a driveway entrance.
Wicket gate — separate or built into the leaf; the second is cheaper but leaves a threshold in the way.

Posts and foundations

A gate post works in uplift and bending, not compression. A solid 4×2 m leaf is eight square metres of sail, and a gust puts a serious moment into the top of the post. Hence the 1.2–1.5 m depth and the requirement to get below the frost line: otherwise the post lifts over winter and the leaf stops closing.

Six post and foundation options for a gate: a concreted tube, a screw pile, a base plate on anchors, a brick pillar with a cast-in plate, a frame for roller carriages and a post with a cable sleeve — Six kinds of post. The conduit sleeve for the cable goes in before concreting — afterwards it cannot be added.

A brick pillar still has a tube inside, and the hinges are welded to cast-in plates rather than to masonry. If the gate is to be automated, the cable to the operator is laid in a sleeve in advance — breaking the yard open for it later costs more than the operator itself.

How the leaf is clad

Six infills for a gate leaf: profiled sheet, a palisade, a sandwich panel, a grille with wrought iron, louvre slats and timber boards — Six infills. The more solid the leaf, the greater the wind load — and the stronger the operator it needs.

The infill is chosen to match the fence: gate and fence are seen together, and a mismatch shows at once. But the infill also has a technical side — weight and wind load. Solid profiled sheet and sandwich panel put the greatest demand on the operator and the posts; palisade and grille let wind through and weigh less.

What opens the gate

Six operators: a linear one on a swing leaf, an articulated arm, an underground one, a sliding operator with a toothed rack, the shaft of a roller shutter and a manual bolt — Six operators. A linear one will not fit a wide post — that is where the articulated arm works.

Three things decide the operator: the type of gate, the width of the post and whether there is power on site. Swing leaves on a normal post take a linear operator; a wide or brick post needs an articulated arm; a completely hidden solution means an underground unit, dearer and sitting in water. Sliding gates need a rack operator with the toothed rack along the whole beam.

A manual bolt stays even with automation: a bolt, a lock and a drop pin into the ground are what you use when the power is off and while you are away.

Where to go next

A gate is almost always ordered together with the fence — the same infill and the same coating, or the colours will part company within a year. Lead times, coatings and fixings are in how ordering works.

Frequently asked questions

How much room does a sliding gate need?

The width of the opening plus roughly a third — that is how far the leaf runs back. A 4 m opening needs about 5.5 m of clear fence to one side. Where that room does not exist, swing gates remain, and in a tight yard sectional or roller shutters.

Why is a sliding gate dearer than a swing gate?

Because it has what a swing gate does not: a bearing beam running the full length of the leaf with margin, two roller carriages and a foundation under them, and a receiving post with catchers. In return it takes up none of the yard and needs no digging out in winter.

Which operator should I choose?

An operator is sized by the weight and length of the leaf, not by price. A weak one does not simply run slower — it dies within a season, because every cycle is at its limit. On a wide or brick post a linear operator will not fit at all: there it is an articulated arm or an underground unit.

How deep do gate posts go?

1.2–1.5 m, below the frost line. A gate post carries not the weight of the leaf but the jolt: wind against solid cladding and the shove of opening. That is precisely why it goes deeper than a fence post of the same height.

Author: welder Updated: 20 August 2026