Driveway Gates in Dawlish
Driveway gates in Dawlish
Dawlish is a town of hills. Plenty of drives here climb or drop sharply off the road, from the streets running up behind the Brook to the newer estates out towards Shutterton and the lanes heading up to Cockwood and Holcombe. That makes hanging a wide gate here a bit more involved than on a flat suburban plot, and it’s where most of the problems we get called out to start.
What we usually find on a Dawlish drive
- A gate that drags across the tarmac halfway through its swing because the drive rises behind it
- A hanging post that has leaned forward in the soft red ground and pulled the gate out of square
- Hinges and latches gone orange and stiff from the sea air near the front
- An opening that has been widened for a bigger car, with the old gate no longer reaching
- Older stone gateposts that won’t take a modern hinge without care
Steep drives need planning before the gate is made
We measure the fall across the full width of the swing, not just at the post. On a drive that climbs away from the road, a single wide leaf rarely clears, so the choices are a pair of narrower leaves, hinges that lift the gate as it opens, or hanging it a little higher with the gap closed underneath by a board. On the steepest drives we’ll sometimes tell you a sliding or inward-folding layout isn’t worth it, and that a pair is the honest answer.
Red soil and heavy posts
Much of Dawlish sits on that deep red clay and sandstone you see in the cliffs. It stays sodden from November to March and turns hard and cracked in a dry summer, so a post set shallow will move with it. A gate post carries the whole leaf on a lever, so we dig its hole deeper and wider than for a fence post and bed it in concrete, then leave it to go off before the gate is hung, so it doesn’t creep forward later.
Near the sea wall
If your drive is within a few streets of the seafront, spray and salt reach it on a windy day, and cheap black hinges rust through faster than the gate itself. We fit galvanised ironmongery as standard and suggest stainless steel for homes right on the front. Timber is treated, and we seal the top edges and cut ends where rain sits, since that’s where a gate starts to rot first.
Why people in Dawlish ask us about a gate
Keeping a pet or a small child safe is the reason we’d expect most often, but it’s worth being clear about yours, as it changes the design. A gate for a small child needs narrow gaps and a latch out of reach. One meant to stop strangers turning round on your drive or leaving a car there in the holiday season can be far simpler and lighter, since it only has to say the drive is private. And one that’s mainly there to finish off the front of an older house near Stockton Hill or Elm Grove should be judged by how it looks from the street with the wall on either side.
What to measure before you write to us
- The gap: post to post or pier to pier, at the bottom and again at about waist height. Old walls often lean, and the two figures may differ.
- The swing: how far back the drive runs before you hit a step, a parked car or a flower bed. Each leaf needs its own width of clear space to open.
- The rise: rest a straight length of timber on the drive at the hinge side and see how high the ground comes at the far end. A rough figure in inches is plenty.
- The neighbours: note any shared wall, drain cover or meter box close to where a post would go, as these can move the whole plan.
Looking after a gate through a Dawlish winter
A little attention each autumn goes a long way. Oil the hinges and the latch, then clear any silt or leaves out of the hole the drop bolt sits in, because a blocked one tends to mean a bolt left up and a gate free to swing. Feel the gate’s upper edge and the board ends, and recoat any bare timber before the wet sets in. Finally, trim back anything growing against the frame, as damp leaves held on the wood will speed up the rot. If the gate has started to catch, try to deal with that early, as a sagging leaf only strains its top hinge further.
Dawlish driveway gate questions
Can my gate open out over the pavement?
We don’t recommend it. A gate swinging out across a pavement or road is a hazard to people walking past and can land you in trouble with the highways authority, so where the drive meets a footway we plan for it to open inwards and work the slope around that.
Can you reuse my old stone gateposts?
Often, if the stone is sound. We look at whether the post is solid enough to drill and whether the hinge can be fixed without splitting it. If not, we can set a new timber post just inside the old one so the stone stays as it is.
Will a solid gate catch the wind?
A fully boarded gate on an exposed drive catches every gust, so we use stronger hinges, a firm drop bolt into the drive and a gate stop to hold it open. If your spot is particularly blowy, a five bar or slightly spaced design gives the wind somewhere to go.
How long does the job take?
Usually a couple of visits: one to set the posts and let them firm up, and a second to hang and adjust the gate, fit the latch and take away the old gate and any waste.
Can electric openers go on later?
Sometimes, but it’s easier if you say so at the start. An opener needs a stiff frame, firm posts and power at the gate. Tell us if it’s something you might want, and we’ll say whether that part is work we’d take on or one for a specialist to fit.
Will a new gate need planning permission?
Often not, but check. A gate beside a highway can normally stand a metre high without applying, or two metres further back, so a tall gate at a roadside drive could need it. Listed homes and conservation areas can face stricter limits, so ask Teignbridge’s planning team.
What about a drive I share with next door?
Look at your deeds first, as a neighbour may have a right to use that drive, and a gate mustn’t stop them. Even where it’s allowed, talk it through with them, including who pays and who has a key. It’s a lot easier to get all of that agreed before work starts.
Styles, sizes and hanging options are all on our main driveway gates page, and smaller side and garden gates are under garden gates. Our other Dawlish work, panels to post and rail, sits under fencing in Dawlish. To arrange a visit, get in touch, telling us how wide the gap between the posts is, and a photo of the drive taken from the road.
Other fencing work in Dawlish
Not quite what you need? In Dawlish we also do close board fencing, fence panels, hit and miss fencing, slatted fencing, composite fencing, chain link fencing, trellis, post and rail fencing, picket fencing, garden gates and fence repairs. Everything we do in the town is on our fencing in Dawlish page, and if the job is over in Teignmouth, see driveway gates in Teignmouth.