Replace or Keep Fence?

3 years ago

We are new homeowners still learning about how to upkeep our house. Our house has a wood fence with a iron wrought swing gate for the driveway. There are many issues with the way the fence and gate were installed (prior to us buying the house). First, The gate itself is too heavy for the fence and the posts where the gate is installed is sinking under the weight. As a result the gate wheels have fallen off and it's very difficult to close the gate. The driveway now has many deep cracks and needs to be redone. Secondly, the wood fence has a door that does not open and close properly, unless the gate is in a certain position. Third, the wood slabs on top of the fence are coming apart and are bending. Fourth, the right side of the fence does not connect to the shared iron chain fence, which creates a good gap that allows street trash to blow into the yard. Overall i think the fence was installed poorly.
I'm not the biggest fan of a iron swing gate - it has to be opened manually, so we always keep it open, which makes me wonder why we even have it. Same goes for our wood fence. We don't use the wood gate door people just walked through the open driveway.
I liked the idea of the wood fence because it's a nice change from the 6 ft sliding iron gates so many people use in our neighborhood.
I don't know whether we should try to salvage the fence and gate or if we should do away with both or consider other fence/gate options.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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Comments (7)

cat_ky
3 years ago
Since you dont use the iron gates, and the wheels are now off, remove the gates, and leave the rest, and do a bit of maintenance on it. If the corner where the street trash blows in, is that big, then put a board that matches fence and attaches to wood fence, in that area, to prevent that happen. With the way winds have been lately, street trash will still blow in, because, the winds pick stuff up, and blow it up over the top of fences. Too bad about the gates, they are really pretty, maybe you can use them in back for something.
Izzy Mn
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Someone would probably be glad to purchase the gates if in decent shape and only needs some repair. They look to be iron gates.
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Farah D
Original Author
3 years ago
If I removed the iron gate, would it look weird to just have the wood fence? Should i try to have a wood gate that matches the fence?

If i were to keep the iron gates, I would for sure have to repair the posts of the wood fence to keep the gate from sinking. If i were to go that route, I'm wondering if it would be worth it to install those automatic arms that open the gate for you.
cat_ky
3 years ago
Do you need security? Is that the reason for the gates? If so, then yes, it would be a good idea to get the gates and the gate posts repaired. You would then need to repair the people gate too, since people will need to use it, if the gates are closed.
Olychick
3 years ago
You might be able to get someone to install some iron posts right behind the wood posts and attach the gates to those. Have the wheels reinstalled and then do whatever maintenance to the wood fence you wish. If the iron gates are detached from it, it may have a lot of life left in it.
ci_lantro
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I would remove the wood fence and replace it with iron fencing complimentary to the iron gates. With the gate posts hinged to properly set steel/ iron posts and new wheels installed.

Or wood & iron fence.
Farah D
Original Author
3 years ago
@cat_ky I don't feel like we need the security. The iron gate is always open because it's a pain to close the gate. I noticed that some of our neighbors that do have the iron sliding gates, also have dogs or they have detached garages and no gate otherwise would give access to the back of the their house. This isn't an issue for us because we have gates for the side access of the house.

There is a part of me that would like to remove the fence altogether and do some nice landscaping. Maybe it's the state of our current fence and gate, but it just seems so uninviting and any nice landscaping will be obscured by the fence anyways. At the same time the fence on either side of the house is chain link with a screen covering it. I think I'm struggling with what feels like 3 different fence materials being used around the house. Nothing quite matches and I don't know what the exterior of this house should look like.