Yes, you could do that now or you could put up the temporary gate w/o the columns as long as you are not wanting to "hide" any gate poles IN your columns.

We opted to NOT put the gate post IN the columns - instead, next to them. That way, if a truck/car runs into our gate, they will (most likely) only damage the gate/post and not the column. This was suggested by our GC, the metal arts gate maker and our stonemason.

Thank you Allison.

I am thinking 14 feet apart. Is that wide enough?

I will do as you suggest and hide the hinges and mechanism behind two simple 4x4x6 tall columns.

Allison... Could you share the dimensions of your gate and the columns?

Thanks!

vancleaveterry,

Do you mean a 4 foot by 4 foot wide by 6 foot tall column?

Keep in mind the size of the footers you will need for the columns. The footers will be large and may interfere with where you want the gate posts to go later.

Our gates are 8 feet wide each.

The columns were made by placing concrete blocks onto footers. The block columns were 2 feet square...plus the rock. So if you want to know "exactly" how big they are now I will have to measure tomorrow. Let me know.

The columns are about 4 ft and 5 ft tall. One is taller than the other, so that they are the same height due to sloping ground.

Our gates open out, since we are on a hill. If you put your post behind the columns you need to make sure the dimensions are all right so your gate does not hit your columns. The gates need to open slightly more than "straight." I hope that makes sense.

fyi, our driveway is 12 feet wide. The UPS man slows down a good bit coming through. Here is another shot of our gate, up close, so you can see the openers behind the gate - between the gate and columns.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1506333}}

lsst.... Yes, I was thinking 4'x4'x6' tall. Just a figure I arrived at without much thought. Perhaps 2 or 3 feet wide by 2' or 3' of depth would be better? (and perhaps 5' tall?)Allison's gate looks so nice, I'd like to just copy it in brick.

I was thinking about the footing problem too. How do you brick the top of the column with out the column being solid, and therefore heavy? Or do people usually keep it mostly hollow and top with a solid stone?

Allison... Thank you so much. I think I will go with two eight foot wide gates as well. Your gate turned out perfect. The columns are only two foot by two foot? I was guessing (wrongly) they were wider. Perhaps the stone really widens them.

If I can ask another question, what is the material used to cap your columns? How are the caps supported towards the center? The concrete blocks fill towards the center?

And thank you for your time.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

No, the finished columns are 3+ feet square. Not sure exactly, that's why I offered to measure. DH carried a tape measure down when he took out the garbage can, but neighbor was in cul de sac, they talked, then he forgot to measure. :-/ Before the stone was done, they were about 2 feet square. I will measure later, when it stops raining.

I found a picture during construction. Plywood is across hole on top in case it rained.

We used a solid piece of flagstone to cap each column. Our sidewalks, front veranda and retaining walls are all capped with flagstone, so I was just carrying that down to the gate. Otherwise, we would have used stone across the top, There is a piece they put in to cover the hole if you are using stone/mortar on the top.

fyi, DH shoveled wet concrete into the concrete block columns about half way for added strength.

Footer is really a slab (solid square). DH thought everything through (post position, gate mechanics, etc) before pouring. I can measure them later also.

Kinda small! I had cropped to bring it up close - try link below to see if it's larger:

Here is a link that might be useful:

Sorry I didn't get to measure yesterday, but we needed the rain!

Invoice and bid for gate had 2 different gate lengths since the bid was done before the columns were built. DH was working off of memery - we should know better. ; )

Columns - Finished heights are 52" and 62"

Columns - two blocks wide, as shown in the last photo I posted plus rock for finished columns of 28" square.

Flagstone caps on top of columns are 32" square. Over an inch thick.

Driveway - 10 feet wide at gate (it is much wider at the street and narrows down to this for most of the drive. Spreads back out as you're getting closer to garage.

There is 32" between the inside column edge and edge of driveway.

Gates are 7 feet wide each for a total of a 14 foot span from post to post.

Gate is 70" from the ground at its highest point (center).

I forgot to measure the slabs but they are not too much bigger than the finished columns.

Good luck!

Thank you so much Allison! That was very helpful.

And I'm glad you got some rain.

You're welcome. Feel free to email me from My Page if you have any other questions. Sometimes I see emails faster than threads.