A custom gate is a moving structure built to a drawing. Weight and geometry, not appearance, decide whether it will still swing true in five years.
Custom gates need a braced frame, posts one size up from the fence run, and hardware rated for the leaf weight. Every extra foot of width multiplies the load on the hinge post.
Entrances, courtyard gates, matched-to-house designs and openings that no stock gate size fits.
Welded steel frames with timber or metal infill are the durable norm for wide gates. All-timber gates are lighter and cheaper and need a working diagonal brace or turnbuckle to stay square.
Gates opening onto a public way may have restrictions on swing direction and on how far a vehicle can encroach while waiting. Fire access requirements can also apply.
Fabrication is the long lead item on a custom gate, and posts should be set and cured before the leaf arrives.
Hinges and the brace. A gate that has started to drop is telling you either the post moved or the brace has gone slack, and both are cheap to fix early.
Because a rectangle with pinned corners is not rigid. The diagonal turns it into two triangles, which is what stops the leaf dropping at the latch corner.
On a braced timber gate the compression diagonal runs from the bottom hinge corner up to the top latch corner. A steel cable or turnbuckle works in tension and runs the opposite way.
It is limited by the hinge, post and footing rather than by an absolute number. Past a certain leaf weight and width, a slide or cantilever gate is the sound answer rather than a heavier hinge.
Call Ironbrook Fence Co on (512) 555-0134, or send the details through the form.