Hey Y'all! Thank y'all for joining me for Rutter Renovations again and I wanted to ask you... Does
your gate look like this? If it does, it's time to redo it and redo it the right way so that this
doesn't happen again! Stay tuned and you'll learn how to make a non-sagging gate! Once you get the
old fence off, you can kind of see the way that this gate is constructed. You can see that they
were just butted up against here and that really doesn't allow a lot of weight to come down. Which,
over time just makes the gate sag. So, what were, going to do, instead of just having it butted up
against here, we're going to have these two pieces and this square frame become one piece and then we
will brace it to where it's going to be even stronger and won't sag, like this sad gate!
Alright, so this is actually a double gate and so what we're going to do is we're going to measure
from each side and we're going to measure the full length of the gate and then we'll go and build our
gate. We're going to redo both of them because this one is dragging on the ground as well. So,
we'll get both of them done at one time and we'll have a nice looking gate at the end! Make sure to
leave about an inch or two for where the two gates meet up! Alright, so we have our wood,
we're going to cut it to size that it's supposed to be. My gate is 77.5" and about 53.5" for the
frame and then we're going to take away half of the thickness where they join up that way we can
put the glue on there and make it one solid piece that way we have a non-sagging, solid gate. So,
here we go! Alright, so I'm cutting the pieces to length and I'm using a table saw to cut halfway
through the depth and making multiple slits and then using the chisel to cut out the excess. So
you can see the result of thinning out half of the boards, that way whenever you put them together,
they're going to have a strong bond and they're going to be, once we glue and screw them together,
they'll be like one strong piece. Now the key is, having this straight edge here and what that's
going to do is allow it to have strength. You don't want it to be cockeyed or not touching all
the way. You want it to be flush and all the way against that straight edge, because that's what
is going to give it the strength and help it to become one piece. Alright, make sure you put glue
on both sides because just screws alone or nails are not going to do. Over time, it's going to give
out and so by gluing it, we're ensuring that these pieces become one. The glue in itself,
in most cases, will be stronger than the wood itself! So once you get each corner glued up,
you can put screws in it and do that for each remaining corner of the gate frame. Alright,
as you can see, I have the gate propped up on some blocks, that way I can slip the cross brace
underneath it and that allows us to easily just trace where we're going to cut to put the brace
and you want the brace going on the hinge side, you want it to be on the bottom. Then, on the
non-hing side, you want the brace to be up at the top, holding the gate up to where it doesn't sag.
So, I have mine positioned where it's going to be both on the the bottom of the gate and the
side of the gate as well as the top of the gate and the side of the gate, so it will be braced
from both angles. So, you can go ahead and draw your lines there and then you'll be ready to cut!
It's another day! So, we cut out the board that we marked and you can drop it right in. It should
fit pretty snug and what we're going to do is we're going to drill in a couple of screws using
a pocket drill set. You can either use something like this, the Kreg drill kit or if you don't have
something like this, you can always screw in long screws that will go all the way through and then
screw it down that way. When I put my cross braces in, I made sure to put glue on each side of them,
that way when I screw them together and pull them tight and then you'd have not only a tight bond
where the screws are joining it, but also the glue will hold it as well! Alright, so we got
to this point and we have the two frames up and we're going to put the pickets on and then we'll
be all done! As you can see, we have some level gates that open up wide. This is a 12ft span.
You should have an equal gap here between and then you'll be ready to put the pickets
on and then you'll be done. Alright, not that we have the gate ready and prepped, now we've got to
put the fence boards on. I screwed a board on the back to keep the gate nice and steady and closed
together. We're going to start from the inside and work our way out, to the outside of the gate. An
easy way to do this is just flip the boards upside down, mark the line, you can see that yellow speed
square I was using as a straight edge (to draw the line) and then just cut it, put it back up
and use that white string up top for our level line for the top of the fence boards. I also
slipped a 2x4 piece under each picket just to make sure that they were evenly spaced from
the ground itself. Alright, as you can see I have a 12ft span. You can see that back of it,
I used the original hardware, because if it's not broke, don't fix it! There's no sense in
buying a bunch of new hardware if the old stuff is going to work. This is what it looks like from the
back and then we're going to look at the front. Alright, you'll see we have our fully functional
gate. Put the latch on there to keep it secure. I hope y'all like this video, if you like it,
subscribe and I look forward to seeing you next time on Rutter Renovations. Talk to you later!