Spacing uprights on a gate????

[Charles McKinley]

Hi All,

I'm trying to make a gate to seperate my living room and kitchen. I have 48" between the pieces that will make the sides. I want 2 1/2" or less between the uprights. I need help deciding on the space between the uprights and the width of the uprights.

The overall dimentions are 54"w X 40"h. The sides top and bottom will be 3/4X3". Each time I try laying it out on paper I get an upright against the side instead of a space.

This will be my first attempt at mortice and tennon joinery.

Thanks in advance for you help.

[Nathan Hoffman]

If you used 3/4" wide slats, 14 of them would result in 2.5" between each slat and on the ends. Or, 15 1" uprights would give 2 1/16" between, etc. - it depends on the look you want. I recently made a stair railing with 1 1/4" slats set 3 1/2" apart, and I think it looks balanced.

Just my 2 cents.

[Charles McKinley]

Hi Nathan,

Thank you for the measurements. Can you tell me how to figure it out? What is the maximum space you can go to meet code? I have another little one comming so I will probably keep the spacing closer.

Thank again,

[Nathan Hoffman]

The formula I used was: Spacing = (A-B*W)/(B+1)
Where A is the distance between the uprights, B is the number of slats, and W is the width of each slat. By changing the width and number of slats (B and W), you can come up with a spacing that is an even number, like the examples the previous post. I my memory serves, the code around here is 3.5" or less between the slats. I, too, have a little one at home and I would like to see pics of that gate when completed!

[Charles McKinley]

Hi Nathan,

Thanks for the formula. The reason I want to keep it narrower is my oldest daughter rigt after we moved in tried crawling through the banister that goes around the opening for the cathedral ceiling. I covered the spindels with hard wood floor protector held on with zip ties to eliminate the problem. This was a much cheaper solution than the one sold by the baby safety people.