Automatic driveway gate - diy - HELP

11 years ago

We are buying a house that has a driveway along the side of the house, to the carport behind the house. We also have a dog who would bolt at the sight of a lizard or squirrel across the street ;-) SO, we need to contain him. But if we fence in front of the carport or behind the carport, we lose a solid portion of our yard. So, we have come to the conclusion that we need an automatic gate along side of the house. Budget is a factor, so this needs to be a DIY project. My husband has given me the task of design and figuring out exactly what we need. The driveway itself is about 10 ft wide (another 10 ft to the left is landscaped side yard (I will try and post a pic in a comment from my phone). I saw on Home Depot's website that they used to carry a 10 ft driveway gate, but it is discontinued. Most of the 12' driveway gates seem rather traditional, and pretty expensive. I did find a (cheap) fence I actually really like (the house is traditional, I would say my style is modern-traditional).

GATE

OPENER

Or, do I do the automatic opener with something like this GATE 2

Or, I could use this gate (I'd have to get a double opener) GATE 3

My concern is gate options... hinges and posts I would need.

Please please help :-)

Thanks so much in advance!

Featured Answer

pinkgator
Original Author

11 years ago

My kids are 4-6. The reason the driveway gate makes sense to us is (as you can see in picture) if we were to fence the back yard on either side of the carport, we end up losing a good bit of yard for kids to play. Plus, that creates a gate for us to manually open every time we would walk in the house (the back door is beyond carport area). Plus we'd have to redo the fencing as soon as we get to putting pavers/etc in the back patio area. Other houses in the neighborhood have driveway gates, so it would not at all look out of place.

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Comments (8)

pinkgator
Original Author
11 years ago
randy427
11 years ago
I would not do any of those.

You can get an 'Invisible Fence' that includes a wire that is buried around the perimeter of the yard, or a portion of it, and a collar worn by the pooch. The collar gives the dog an uncomfortable but harmless shock when he/she gets too near the established boundary.

You can also rig a zip line that has a leash hanging from it.

Then, too, a professional trainer could probably condition the dog to where neither is necessary, though be advised, training the owner is usually more involved than training the animal.
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pinkgator
Original Author
11 years ago
I should have also mentioned I have 2 little kids that I like to keep in the back yard :-)

Is there a reason you would not put a driveway gate in? Or those in particular?
randy427
11 years ago
Kids are a different wrinkle. Now you're looking at a different height requirement and do you really need a driveway gate when fencing the back yard.
User
11 years ago
I'll be interested to see what you come up with. I used to have some commercial property that had a gate with an opener, and it was quite expensive, but it closed very tightly. If you have a dog or small children, I think you also have to consider that they can't get around, under the gate as well.

Good luck!
pinkgator
Original Author
8 years ago
Just to update. We went with the 10’ (inexpensive) driveway gate, and it’s been perfect. We built concrete block columns, painted them dark, and grew creeping fig on them.
pinkgator
Original Author
8 years ago
We went with this opener - USAutomatic 020320 Sentry 300 Commercial Grade Automatic Gate Opener https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002YBG2U0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_kb.tBb6BFK0H3

and this gate-

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ranch-Master-120-in-x-50-in-Galvanized-Tube-Gate-40132107/100319502