DRP
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# Posted: 4 Mar 2026 12:26pm - Edited by: DRP
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That is hard outdoor service, weld it.
I like the top rail in the pic, it connects the hinge to the gate. A full height stile would mostly just connect the hinge to the stile and 1st board. The capping rail also protects the vulnerable end grain of the stiles. You could half lap it and get the best and worst of both worlds.
The interrupted stile is nuts, as is the interrupted brace. The brace is angled correctly, wood works best in compression where steel works best in tension. That wooden brace runs from the hinge side at the bottom to the upper corner on the strike side. It is acting as a prop, in compression. By interrupting it with the midrail it pretty much guarantees that there will be shrinkage gaps. The gate will probably sag until the gaps close.
If the gate sags, a steel turnbuckle running from high on the hinge side to the bottom of the strike side would put the thin flimsy steel in tension, a piano wire pulling the lower corner up. A tall hinge post with a cable down to the free end of the top corner of the gate is probably the best long term brace.
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