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View Full Version : How big a gate do I need?



Wade Lippman
06-14-2017, 4:01 PM
We are fencing in our backyard. The entire lot is maybe a quarter acre and I mow it with a push mower. I hope to do that for years, but you never know; I might have to hire someone to do it.
How big an opening am I likely to need for a commercial mowing service?
A single gate is 42". A double gate is $500 more. What do you think?

Yeah, getting a kid to mow it with my mower would be the cheapest solution, but there is a real shortage of kids around here.

Malcolm McLeod
06-14-2017, 4:32 PM
42" is plenty to allow access for even a commercial landscaping company. They make commercial ZTRs with decks as small as 36", but for a lot that small, they'd just swarm it with push mowers - should you ever decide to surrender the joy of 'owning it'.

Brian Henderson
06-14-2017, 5:50 PM
I looked at that and thought you said 42 feet. My gates are 12-feet and you can drive an RV through them. 42" should be plenty for anything but a pro-quality riding mower.

Von Bickley
06-14-2017, 9:55 PM
My riding lawn mower has a 42" deck and would not go thru a 42" opening. I would go to Lowes or Home Depot and measure different mowers. I would think at least 48" - 54". I doubt that you would find a landscape person to cut grass with a push mower.

Bill Orbine
06-14-2017, 10:25 PM
Landscape contractor COULD charge more to cut grass with a smaller mower because the bigger and faster machine doesn't fit thru the gate......???? Just a thought

Rich Engelhardt
06-15-2017, 5:04 AM
A double gate is $500 more. What do you think?I hear about our small single gate (under 42")every time my wife uses it.....
I have been hearing that same tune for the last 26 years..

If I could go back in time, I'd gladly spring for a bigger gate & two of them at that!!!!!

Get the bigger gate now. A retrofit will cost you more in the long run.

Ole Anderson
06-15-2017, 6:39 AM
Most commercial zero turns now have a deck with at least with a 60" cut, that means you need a gate at least six feet wide.

Matt Meiser
06-15-2017, 7:30 AM
I use a 36" commercial walk behind and it fits nicely through the 48" gate on the one side if I'm not running the catcher, but if I'm running the catcher it barely fits through the 60" gate on the other side. Around here bigger lawn services like to run zero turns and 48" walk behinds for high production and that wouldn't fit through a 48" gate. They'll have smaller machines for tight areas but aren't going to like using them for 1/4 acre. I'd probably think hard about the double gate.

Other things to think about--would you ever need to get a skid steer, small excavator, or trailer back there? Is the fence designed so you can remove a panel and accomplish this or do you need a bigger gate to cover those too?

Pat Barry
06-15-2017, 7:44 AM
As long as your at it I would make a fence section that could be easily removed. For example, you need to get a tree cutter in there to do removal after storm damage or maybe you need a backhoe in there for some reason.

Jerome Stanek
06-15-2017, 8:22 AM
What type of fence is it. I just installed a chain link fence and got 2 6 ft gates one on each side. My daughter had a wooden fence installed and has a 48 inch gate and that is small in my opinion She also has a removable panel to get larger stuff in

Wade Lippman
06-15-2017, 10:29 AM
I am going with the double gate. The fence guy says he hears plenty of regrets over too small a gate, but has never had anyone complain it is too big. A couple years ago I had some skids delivered to my back yard; that would have required the double gate. Might never do that again, but something else might come up.

If a lawn service charges $20 more to cut the grass with a small mower, then the double gate pays for itself in a year.

Besides, my wife wants the double gate.

Have I rationalized enough?

Wade Lippman
06-15-2017, 10:30 AM
As long as your at it I would make a fence section that could be easily removed. For example, you need to get a tree cutter in there to do removal after storm damage or maybe you need a backhoe in there for some reason.

Wouldn't a backhoe get in 8'?

Matt Meiser
06-15-2017, 11:33 AM
Besides, my wife wants the double gate.

Could have started and ended there LOL.

Stephen Tashiro
06-15-2017, 11:37 AM
We are fencing in our backyard. .

Consider making a section of the fence something that is easy to pull up and move, just in case some huge equipment may need to pass through it someday.

Rich Engelhardt
06-15-2017, 2:15 PM
Besides, my wife wants the double gate.There's your answer right there :D :D

John K Jordan
06-15-2017, 8:51 PM
Wouldn't a backhoe get in 8'?

A typical backhoe will fit through an 8' gate, at least those I'm familiar with. My tractor and bobcat are both 6' wide as is my zero turn mower with the 60" deck so 8' is a reasonable minimum. However, that is pretty tight and requires care. The nine gates I installed here on the farm are between 12' and 16', with 14' a comfortable size for large horse and equipment trailers. A wider gate not only gives room going straight through but also for moving through at an angle and especially when backing a trailer. But I'm using these gates all the time. For occasional or rare access for vehicle, equipment, or small trailer an 8' gate should work. If you want to provide for trucks or larger trailers (my big trailers are 8' wide) a 10' gate would be tight but would work.

JKJ

Jim Becker
06-16-2017, 8:59 AM
What I see the most around here, is a double gate for "full access" that's setup such that only one side is opened for human traffic. It can even be made somewhat "invisible" with a little creativity so that one side looks like a gate and the other looks like the normal fence...until you open it. ;)

Malcolm McLeod
06-16-2017, 9:31 AM
Sanity check: Wade has a 1/4 acre lot (~= to 10,000 sq-ft)

Some assumptions: 80' x 125' lot; allow 4000 sq-ft for house and flatwork = 6000 sq-ft of yard total. Split evenly between front/back = 3000 sq-ft back yard. Less 1000 sq-ft of back yard's 'non-mowing' areas (pool, flower beds, veggie garden, tennis court, green house, fountain, sculpture graden, and let's not forget his English-style, Temple of Athena 'folly'). ....So, 2000 sq-ft of grass that's gate-accessible.

Mowing? A good landscape contractor will use 21" push mowers and have 2000 sq-ft cut before he can get a 60" ZTR off the trailer.:cool:

For you 'big equipment' guys, I sort of doubt Wade needs routine access to the space with a D9 Cat or Komatsu PC1250. :eek: ....But yeah, I want one too.

I'm Scottish and cheap, so would still put in the 36" gate, but Wade's better half might be meaner than mine, so maybe he should follow her 'recommendation'...???:confused: Just to be safe:D. Matt/Rich - good call!!

Matt Meiser
06-16-2017, 9:54 AM
You live in Texas where there's a ready supply of cheap landscape labor. Very few lawn services around here even have a 21" push mower on the trailer. Typical setup around here is two guys, a zero turn or a larger stand-on mower depending on the size of jobs they do, a smaller walk behind, and some handheld equipment. One guy does the big areas, the other does the small areas, trims, and blows off all the hard surfaces.

No one said routine access. If the fence style is such you can remove a section, no big deal. We can release some clips and slide ours to one side, pop one end out, then repeat on the other end and get an 8' section out next to our gate. Ripping out a fence when you have a collapsed drain tile, flooded basement, and your contractor needs to get a backhoe in won't seem like such a good deal for a $500 savings. Especially if the excavator charges you a few hundred bucks extra labor for the pleasure.

Malcolm McLeod
06-16-2017, 10:18 AM
Dang it! ...I forgot Wade's Koi pond. So that's only 1200 sq-ft of back yard.

Cheap labor? Where? I drive thru 35 miles of construction projects every morning. The construction workers have their new personal vehicles parked along the road, and most are new-model, extended cab Tundras or F-250's. Price one lately?

Edit: Talk about timing!! My HOA's landscape maintenance contractor for the common areas just pulled in. They are small family operation, and are driving 2 brand new 4-dr Tundras. It's been about 18 months since I was in a showroom, but I recall looking at ~same model at $60,000 each. Please show me 'cheap'.

John K Jordan
06-16-2017, 12:31 PM
Sanity check: Wade has a 1/4 acre lot (~= to 10,000 sq-ft)
...

I have 27 acres now but I once lived on a lot in the city with under 1/2 acre wooded lot, most of it fenced but with a 10' gate. The utility company used my gate instead of taking down the fence when they had to dig up a utility line. A bobcat drove through to dig for a pool. I hired a huge tracked highlift to clear and level a spot in the back of the lot and a dump truck carried off the debris. I hauled 4-wheelers on a trailer through the gate nearly every weekend. When I built a shop getting a concrete truck into the back was a big help. We skidded the logs from a big windfall tree out the gate.

Every situation is different, but the point is there may be reasons other than lawn mowing for a gate you can drive through. The cost of putting a wider gate in now may be less than tearing it out later. I'm part Scottish, but I almost always lean toward the "be prepared" side! Maybe that's because I never was in the Boy Scouts. My dad took me to one cub scout meeting and they told him the dues were 10 cents a meeting. At that time he couldn't afford that. Seriously.

I do like Jim's idea about the walk-through side.

JKJ

Malcolm McLeod
06-16-2017, 12:45 PM
Sorry Wade, we've been out voted. Better go with the 12-footer.

You can setup a go-fund-me page I guess. ....I wonder what Koi taste like? ...might cut down your grocery bill for a while???

(It's Friday - - just having some fun!;))

Wade Lippman
06-16-2017, 3:39 PM
The backyard is 2500sf. No utility lines.
I measured it and 8' is all that will even fit. There is another 4' from one side to the wall; but that is blocked by a deck. There is a hedge on my side of the lot line.
We already have an invisible fence, but wife is afraid that the cars that go by occassionally are going 40mph and won't see a dog. I think she is wrong, but if the dog ever got hit, my life wouldn't be worth $0.02.
I guess the lot line must be a few feet further over than I thought, or the deck wouldn't have passed the 15' setback.

Bill Jobe
06-17-2017, 1:36 AM
I built mine at 9' and wish i'd gone bigger. Now i'm thinking of buying a workshop premade and delivered. So now I have to remove a post, or rather cut one off. I set them in concrete at 30" due to our cold winters.
Hasn't been an issue since building my fence many years ago. I know a guy with a narrowed dump bed for when I want dirt/sand/gravel. Even got a full size truck to dump sand by backing up to the mirrors.
I'd go bigger unless you are sure you won't need to get a car or truck through.
I really like the idea of a removable fence and will probably do that this time. It would be nice to have another walk through gate. There isn't room for both on that side of the house. The only problem will be the new treated pickets not matching the old.