Driveway Gates in Teignmouth
Driveway gates in Teignmouth
Teignmouth gives a gate fitter two quite different jobs. Down in the older streets close to the seafront, drives are short, squeezed between terraces and older walls, and the gate often has to fit an opening nobody has measured since it was built. Further up the hill, along roads like Higher Woodway and out towards Bitton and the Haldon side, the plots get bigger, the drives get steeper and the gates get wider.
Jobs we tend to see around the town
- A narrow opening between a house wall and a boundary wall, with no room for a normal hanging post
- A wide gate on a sloping drive that scrapes the gravel or block paving as it opens
- Iron furniture streaked with rust within a year because the property faces the estuary or the sea
- An entrance where a car is parked tight behind the gate, so it can only open one way
- A tired gate on a Victorian villa whose brick or stone piers are worth keeping
Tight town openings
Where there is no ground for a post, we can fix a heavy timber or steel post flat to a sound wall with chemical fixings, or hang the gate straight off the masonry if it will take it. In a really narrow gap a single leaf can be too long to clear the car, so splitting it into a pair, one wider and one narrower, often gives you a gate that opens for daily use without swinging the whole width.
Up the hill: slopes and stony ground
The higher roads above the town are steep in places, and the ground changes as you climb, from red soil lower down to gravel and flinty stone towards Haldon. Hitting rock halfway down a post hole is common, so we come prepared to break through it rather than settle for a shallow post. On a drive that rises behind the gate, we check the clearance at the far end of the swing before anything is made, and lift the hinges, hang a pair or shape the bottom rail to suit.
Estuary and sea air
Salt carries a long way up the Teign on a breezy day, not just along the front. Galvanised hinges, bolts and latches are our standard, and for houses that look straight out over the water we’d suggest stainless. We treat the timber and seal end grain and top rails, which take the weather first.
Questions to ask yourself before a gate is measured
- Which vehicle? A gap that suits today’s small hatchback can feel very tight with a wider car or a van, so think about what’s likely to be parked there in a few years.
- Where do the bins go? If they live behind the gate, someone will be opening it every collection day, and they need room to come through.
- Who’ll be opening it? Getting out in the rain to wrestle a heavy latch is how gates end up permanently open. Bolts and latches should be easy to reach and work with one hand.
- On foot or by car? If most trips through are on foot, a separate narrow gate beside a smaller vehicle gate can save opening the big one each time.
Pulling off a steep Teignmouth road
Along Higher Woodway and around Coombe Vale, the moment that matters is the one where you stop to open up. Waiting on a slope with the traffic behind you is no fun, so we look at how far back from the road the gate can sit. Even a car’s length of drive in front of it changes things. Where there isn’t that much room, a gate that’s quick to open matters more than one that looks impressive.
Think about the view on the way back out as well. A solid gate or tall pier at the road’s edge can hide the pavement from you just when you’re reversing into it, which is a real concern on the narrower roads climbing out of town. An open top, or slightly lower boards near the edge, helps a great deal. By law a gate shouldn’t swing out over a road or pavement, so on a tight frontage an inward swing is designed in from the start.
How a Teignmouth gate job runs
First we visit and measure the opening at the top and the bottom, because old walls are seldom straight, then check how the ground rises across the swing. Once the design is agreed, the old gate stays put until we’re ready, so you aren’t left with an open drive for longer than necessary. Posts or wall fixings go in next, and any concrete is given time to set before we hang anything heavy from it. Then the gate goes on, the latch and stops get adjusted, and we’ll open and close it with you before we leave so you can see how it works.
Teignmouth driveway gate questions
My drive is very short. Will a gate still work?
Usually yes. We look at where your car sits once it’s parked and plan the swing around it, which might mean a pair of leaves, gates that open inward to one side only, or a narrower pedestrian gate next to a smaller vehicle gate.
Is planning permission ever needed?
For most homes a like-for-like timber gate is fine, but there are height limits next to a road and extra rules in a conservation area or on a listed building, and parts of central Teignmouth fall under those. We’ll mention it if we think yours might be affected so you can check with the council before we start.
Can you match a gate to my existing fence?
We can build the gate in the same board and style as fencing we put up, or as close as we can get to what you already have, so the front of the property reads as one.
What happens to the old gate?
Once the new gate swings properly, the old one goes on our van along with its hinges and any rotten posts, and the drive gets swept before we leave.
Should a gate on a windy road be solid?
It doesn’t have to be, and on an exposed drive it may be better not to be. A solid gate catches the wind, strains its hinges and can slam. Gaps between the boards or an open top section let some of that through, and you still get a clear boundary.
Will it stay open by itself on a slope?
Not always. A gate on sloping ground can drift open or closed under its own weight, so it needs a proper way to hold it back, usually a drop bolt or a stay. We’ll suggest what suits your drive, so you aren’t left propping it with a brick.
Can the old brick piers stay?
If they’re sound, gladly, as they often suit an older house better than anything new. A pier that’s cracked or leaning won’t carry a heavy gate well, though. We’ll have a look and tell you what we think, and if it won’t do the job, we can talk about setting a post just behind it.
For gate styles and how we hang them, see the main driveway gates page, or garden gates for side and back gates. Everything else we do in the town is under fencing in Teignmouth. When you’re ready, drop us a line including a photo of the entrance and a rough width between the posts or walls.
Other fencing work in Teignmouth
Not quite what you need? In Teignmouth 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 Teignmouth page, and if the job is over in Dawlish, see driveway gates in Dawlish.