A few weeks ago, on a sunny Saturday morning as I leaned against our back gate talking to the neighbor across the way, the top portion of one of the boards decided that it had had enough, and it quit.
Turns out that the entire gate was ready retire. After a quick review, I found that the rest of the boards that made up my gate had grown so rotten that they were not worth salvaging. Notice the old white gate sitting on its side against the wall. I think that it looks bored... board?
Anyhow, being a cheapskate, I chose to make the gate out of salvaged 2x4s that I picked up from the construction site at work. In an attempt to keep the weight of the gate down, I ripped the boards, some across the height to create 1x4s and others across the width to create thick lath strips.
The boards are held tight with screws but also anchored with a health spread of construction grade glue to keep them from shifting. I will paint it this weekend, if the wood is dry enough from the rain we got on Wednesday. Can't complain about moisture falling from the sky, would rather that it had been snow, but any form of wet is better than nothing.
It is a quaint little gate. It wont keep out the advancing hoards, but once I have the latch installed and the concrete blocks buried in the base, I think it will deter the rouge skunk, or dog that ventures near. Cats are another issue. Have you ever seen a cat walk through a gate, even an open gate? It seems that they would rather hop the fence than walk through an open gate. Obstinate and uncivil beasts.
