So around these parts (ha ha ha) and probably in your neck of the woods too, new homes are being built so incredibly fast. They are beautiful with gorgeous wood trim, hardwood flooring, TALL basements, wide staircases… I could go on and on – but let’s get back to the WIDE STAIRCASES…. You have dogs? Me too. You have kiddos? I use to have littles, now I have bigs. Regardless, it is challenging to find gates that fit the wider staircases, and down below is usually a pretty hefty set of stairs.

We understand how frustrating it is to order online for a one fits all solution that doesn’t work and costs a ton of money. HandyHubs and I began building custom gates because we had customers who needed these solutions, and desired an affordable solution. Our gates are built from pine or other hardwoods, using Kreg holes, screws and wood glue to ensure the framing and centerpieces are firmly secure.  We use heavy-duty hardware gate lift hinges and gate locks for an easy swing, safe open and shut gate system.

So far, we have installed four custom gates in our local area. Gates are built custom to fit your needs and to your color specifications.  Due to the customized nature of the gates, we do not take online orders that are outside of our immediate service area.

If you are interested in a DIY gate solution, here is some more information on how to achieve a simple, affordable gate that looks great in your home and won’t break the bank!

Some things you will need:

• 

  2×4’s equaling the length you want to use

• Gate hardware ( Hinges X2 and a latch). You can use whatever hinges and latches that will fit your needs and space. We found some heavy duty ones at Menards that we really like.
• Bolts for mounting the hardware – depends on your needs.
• Kreg Jig
• 2″ Screws
• Wood Glue (we use Gorilla Wood Glue)
• Anchors (if mounting into drywall with no stud)
• 1 1/2″ inch screws (don’t necessarily need to use Kreg screws).
• Drill
• Drill Bit
• Measuring tape
• Level

One thing you do have to know is the measurement of your hardware before you build your gate. Handy Hubs recommends actually temporarily installing your hardware mountboard (See on the right side of the picture painted white) and one set of your hardware. Attach a 2×4 to the desired length making sure you leave plenty of room for the clasp arm and decorative trim, as seen on the left banister, so it does not interfere with the swing. Once you have you the overall length you can start building.

If you look at the pictures, you can see that there is baseboard trim that needs to be taken into consideration on the mount side of the gate and on the latch side, the banister also has trim. This impacts the measurements of the gate. Additionally, the customer opted to have their gate swing towards them rather than away. If it had swung away, the latch and the mount side would have been switched and the railing would have needed to be accounted for. For this build and installation, we were fortunate to have a solid wall on the mount side with no obstructions other than the wide base trim piece.

To build this gate, we begin with the frame construction. We started with 2X4s cut to the sizes we needed, with the top and the bottom fitting in-between the two side pieces. We use our planer to plane the boards down to where they were about  1 3/8″ thick. This eliminates the roundness from the edges of the 2X4s. We then Kreg jigged ( Kreg setting to 1 1/2″) the top and the bottom boards so they would attach to the sides using the 2-inch screws.

With another 2X4, we cut the centerpieces to length and then planed them down to 7/8″. Then again Kreg jigged ( Kreg setting to 7/8″) each end of each board, making sure to do so on the same side of the board.

We lined up the boards with the side we would consider the front, measured and spaced them out evenly then attached the centers with the 1 1/2″ screws.

Next, we attached the hardware to the gate where we wanted it then, propped it up against the wall mount board to attach the hinge side of the hardware and the latch.  One thing we like about the hardware we picked is that it is pretty heavy duty metal, which requires anchors into the wall if you don’t have a stud to mount into. If the customer ever needs to remove the gate, they simply unlatch it, and lift up to remove it off the hardware we use.  Little ones can’t lift it because it’s a tight fit, so no worries there!

Please note, if you don’t have a planer that is fine all the boards can be the same thickness we just like the finished look and weight of the planed boards.

Please Not this post an also be seen on our Twine and Tumbleweeds Page