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paulz
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# Posted: 4 Mar 2026 09:15am
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Got to wondering about the gate I built years ago, it’s working fine but has had a few problems in the past. Looking online I see opinions for having the rails either full length or the sides beams (stiles). When do which?
Can’t see my gate from the cabin at the moment but I’ll be going down later today to see which I did. That gate photo s from Lowe’s. My gate is long enough to drive through.
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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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paulz
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# Posted: 5 Mar 2026 09:58am
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You’re right, my gate does have steel frame. I put it together so long ago I forgot. It has regular wood fence boards over it making it hard to notice. Nothing wrong there.
My shop doors I made not as long ago, are just plywood. I did full length rails on those. Short hinges so that’s good.
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