Gate Repair Project

[Jay Knoll]

Hi everyone

About 5 years ago I built these gates out of pine 2X12s putting them together with biscuits and West system epoxy. I didn't use pressure treated lumber because I figured it wasn't going to be in ground contact.

Well, now I've got an interesting rot problem on my hands. I didn't think about the fact that the hole in the gate for the latch opened up the wood to rain running down the face of the gate. Clearly it has been working away underneath the paint for several years.

I started working on it, thinking that it was going to be a small patch. I was planning on filling it with a body type compound, figured that drilling a hole through that stuff would give me an impervious channel for the gate hardware that wouldn't allow further water absorption.

However, as I started paring away with a chisel it became apparent that the problem is greater than I thought. I've been hacking away looking for some dry wood. Here is what it looks like right now.

So, I think plan A is not going to work since I haven't hit dry wood yet. I am thinking of ripping off the edge of the gate and replacing it with a piece of pressure treated wood.

Questions that come to mind

Any gluing considerations using PTW?

How long will I have to wait until I repaint?

Do I need to seal the hole I will drill to put the gate hardware through or will the PTW be sufficient -- at this point I think I'll seal it with epoxy just to be safe but would be interested in your opinions

Should I use Gorilla glue, Epoxy or the new Tight bond?

Thanks for the help

[Charlie Plesums]

Nice gates... except for that cute hole.

I would rip the bad board off and replace, but note that pressure treated lumber has an extremely high moisture content... I suspect that you will need to leave the new board lying around for several months before the moisture content is at all close to that of the gate. You might get away with a 2 x 6 piece, not the full 2 x 12.

Once the moisture content is close, then I wouldn't worry about getting fancy with the glue, since this is the ideal joint - long grain to long grain; bare wood to bare wood. And with the wood that dry, I doubt if you will have trouble with paint.

I won't use gorilla glue for anything... it is the only glue that has failed (other than when I start with the idea "I wonder if I can fix this by just slapping some glue on..."). For outside use, I do use PL Premium Polyurethane glue... a construction adhesive (use in a calk gun) that is far cheaper than gorilla, but has all the advantages Gorilla claims to have, and also makes joints that haven't failed for me.

[Jay Knoll]

Charlie

Thanks for the advice. So are you telling me that I'm going to have to leave it like that for several months until the PTW dries out? SWMBO won't be happy with that!

I'v got some 1 x 6 that has been in my garage for about 9 months, I think I'll laminate that up to make a repair.

Got to go look for some of that glue!

Jay