Keeping Your Gate from Rotting

When it comes to selecting a gate for your home, it’s not just about finding something that will work well. We tend to make our selections based on what will look good on our driveway more than we consider practicality. Such is the plight of keeping up with the Joneses. Wooden gates aren't the only problematic ones, as any material that is not treated properly and is neglected will eventually start falling apart. So here is a quick guide for keeping driveway gates from getting too old, too fast.

Different materials have different needs

Let’s start with the stalwart wrought iron gates that are often associated with high security. Wrought iron is vulnerable to a few natural or inherent problems, depending on the environment they are in. The most noticeable of these problems is rust - which grows quickly if the gate is in a humid environment and left unattended. Interestingly enough, having wrought iron in contact with copper or zinc will lead to galvanic corrosion.

If you have a steel gate it is wise to paint a protective coat over it. This is because it significantly reduces the corrosive impact brought on by the atmosphere on the steel’s protective zinc coating. When the zinc coating is gone, the base steel becomes exposed to the atmosphere which makes short work of eating it away. As far as galvanic corrosion is concerned, steel has a fantastic resistance to concrete, mortar, lead, tin, zinc and aluminum.

For wooden items, rotten gate repair can be avoided by painting a layer of protective enamel over the wood. If the problem has overcome you or there are chips or broken pieces, call a repair service. You’d be surprised how well the gate can be refurbished at a reasonable cost.

If you already have a gate, a bit of routine maintenance here and there will keep things up to scratch for as long as you will want them to. This way when you spot issues you can have them dealt with before they are forgotten about. We at Gate Repair Placentia offer an affordable, timely and reliable maintenance service, as well as repairs and installations. If you’re getting one installed, then clearly there’s a bit of planning to be done, especially when you consider the possibilities of galvanic corrosion. Keeping resistant metals in mind will help keep your gate’s materials in good condition for far longer.