Wooden Gates in Stoke-on-Trent
Driveway, side and garden gates made to measure for your opening, hung on posts or pillars that will still hold them straight in ten years’ time.
Built for the opening you actually have
Brick openings are never square and pillars are never plumb. Every gate is measured on site and made to those numbers, not cut down from a standard size.
Closely boarded with no footholds, hung to clear an uneven yard, and bolted properly. The most requested gate in the six towns.
Framed, ledged and braced the traditional way, so the brace works with gravity rather than against it and the gate stays square.
Mortise and tenon joints, hinges bolted through rather than screwed on. This is where a gate lasts twenty years or five. Joiners Stoke-on-Trent
Which wood should your gates be made from?
This is the decision that determines how the gates look in ten years, and it matters more than the design. Each of these has a real downside as well as a selling point, so here are both.
European oak
Hard, heavy and naturally durable without treatment. Silvers to a soft grey if left alone, which suits period property.
The catch:
oak bleeds tannin for the first year or two and will stain light brickwork and paving beneath it. Worth knowing before it happens rather than after.
Iroko
Very durable, oily and stable, with a warm golden brown that darkens over time. Excellent for wide driveway gates where weight and movement matter.
The catch:
the oil content means finishes need the right preparation, and it costs more than softwood.
Accoya
Modified softwood, exceptionally stable and long-lived, and it holds paint better than anything else. The right answer for a painted gate you never want to see crack.
The catch:
the most expensive option up front, though rarely over its lifespan.
Treated softwood
The affordable choice, and perfectly sound for a side or garden gate that is sheltered.
The catch:
it moves more, and it needs recoating every couple of years. Skip that and a wide driveway gate will drop and start catching.
The short version
A sheltered side or garden gate: treated softwood is fine and there is no need to spend more. A wide pair of driveway gates that you want to forget about: hardwood, every time. A gate you want painted a specific colour and kept that way: accoya. If you are unsure, we will tell you honestly at the survey which one your opening actually needs — wide gates put real strain on posts and hinges, and that is what drives the answer.
Why gates drop, and how to stop it
A gate that catches on the ground after two years has almost always failed in one of three places: the joints, the hinges, or the post. None of them are visible when it is new, which is exactly why cheap gates look identical to good ones on day one.
- Mortise and tenon joints, pegged — not dowelled or screwed corners
- Braces running the right way — up from the hinge side, so gravity is carried into the hinge rather than pulling the gate open
- Hinges bolted through the stile with coach bolts, not screwed to the face
- Posts sized to the gate, set deep in concrete, with the hanging post oversized
- Ground clearance planned for a driveway that is not level
- End grain sealed before the gate ever arrives on site
Every gate is built to the measurements taken off your opening by our joiners, which means an odd width or a raked opening costs no more to design than a standard one.
Hanging off brick pillars
Plenty of houses round here already have brick pillars at the drive, and hanging straight off them looks far better than adding timber posts in front.
It only works if the pillar can take it. A pair of wide hardwood gates puts a considerable pull on a single point, and older pillars are often a single skin of brick with a hollow core and no reinforcement. We check before committing to it — a pillar that cracks a year later is a much bigger problem than a post.
Where the pillar is sound, gates are hung on through-bolted plates rather than expansion anchors into old lime mortar.
Gates in Stoke-on-Trent
The most common gate job across Burslem, Tunstall, Longton and Fenton is not a driveway gate at all — it is a rear entry gate onto the back alley. Almost every terrace here has one, most are original, and a good number are now soft at the bottom rail and held shut with a bit of rope.
Those openings are rarely square, the brickwork either side has usually moved, and the yard behind slopes towards the drain. A replacement has to be measured and made to that, which is why an off-the-shelf gate from a merchant almost never fits without being butchered.
They are also a security job as much as a joinery one. We board them closely so there is nothing to climb, keep the height right up to the head of the opening, and fit bolts top and bottom rather than a single latch.
Driveway gates are more of a Trentham, Barlaston, Westlands and Clayton job, usually hung between existing brick pillars on interwar and post-war semis. Those pillars are the thing to check first, not the gates.
Out towards Biddulph, Leek and the Moorlands edge, exposure changes the answer. Those properties catch considerably more wind and weather than anything in the city, and a wide pair of gates acts like a sail. That usually means hardwood rather than softwood, heavier ironmongery, and a drop bolt so a gust cannot swing them.
If your property is in a conservation area — parts of Leek and Stone in particular — tell us at the survey. It rarely stops the job but it can affect the design.
Joiners Stoke-on-TrentWhat do wooden gates cost?
Width and timber drive the price. A hardwood pair costs roughly double the same gates in softwood, and every extra 500mm of width adds weight that the posts and hinges have to carry.
Figures below include making, posts or pillar fixings, ironmongery, hanging and finishing.
Get a Free Quote →Wooden gate questions
How long from order to fitting?
Usually three to five weeks. We measure first, then the gates are made off site, which is most of the wait. Fitting a pair of driveway gates with new posts takes a day, sometimes two if the posts need concreting and left to go off before the gates are hung.
Will wooden gates warp or drop?
Timber moves — that is what timber does, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling you something. What stops movement becoming a problem is the construction: seasoned stock, pegged mortise and tenon joints, a brace running the right way, end grain sealed, and hinges bolted through rather than screwed on. Get those right and the gate stays square. Get them wrong and it catches within two winters, whatever the timber cost.
Can wooden gates be automated?
They can, but it has to be planned from the start rather than added later. Automation needs a heavier hanging post, deeper concrete, and a gate built stiffer than a hand-operated one because a motor will keep pushing where a person would stop. We can make and hang gates prepared for automation, ready for an automation specialist to fit the motors and safety equipment. Mention it at the survey — retro-fitting a motor to gates that were not designed for it is where most automated timber gates go wrong.
Can you hang gates off my existing brick pillars?
Often yes, and it looks far better than adding timber posts in front of them. The check is whether the pillar can carry the load. Older pillars are frequently a single skin of brick with a hollow middle, no reinforcement and soft lime mortar, and a wide hardwood gate pulls hard on one point. Where the pillar is sound we use through-bolted plates rather than anchors. Where it is not, we will say so.
Do I need planning permission for driveway gates?
Usually not. Gates and fences next to a highway are generally permitted up to one metre, and up to two metres elsewhere. Listed buildings and conservation areas are the exceptions. Anything over those heights next to a road would need consent — and since we do not take on work requiring planning permission, we would tell you that at the survey rather than partway through.
Need a gate making?
Free measure, fixed written quote, made to your opening. Covering Stoke-on-Trent and across Staffordshire.
Wooden gates across North Staffordshire
We make and hang gates throughout Stoke-on-Trent and the surrounding towns. Villages around each town are covered too.
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