Louvre Gates Explained

In a louvre panel the blades sit on a fixed angle rather than flat. Because each blade overlaps the line of sight past the one below it, there is no straight path through the panel at the angle it is set against — but there is a clear path for air, because the blades are still separated.

That is the whole trick. You get the visual barrier of a solid panel and the airflow of an open one. Stand square-on to a louvre gate and it reads as a solid plane. Step well off to one side, or look at it from a first-floor window, and it opens up.

The blades are fixed. Louvre gates are not operable — nothing opens and closes, so there is nothing to rattle in wind or seize up over time.

The angle determines which direction the privacy works in, and it is set when the gate is built. Angled one way, the gate blocks the view in from the street while you can see down and out from inside. Reversed, it does the opposite.

That means the useful thing to tell us in an enquiry is not 'I want privacy' but 'I want to stop people on the footpath seeing into the carport' or 'I am overlooked from the upstairs window of number 14'. From that we can set the angle against the actual sightline.

For an elevated sightline — a neighbour's second storey rather than a person on the footpath — the angle needs to be steeper. This is why a louvre screen aimed at a specific window works far better than a generic privacy fence made taller.

Both get you to a high level of privacy. The difference is how, and what it costs you.

Closing down the gap on a slat panel gets you privacy by making the holes smaller. That also makes the panel catch progressively more wind, which flows straight through to how heavily the frame, posts and footings need to be built — and how hard the gate slams in a gust.

A louvre panel gets there through geometry instead. The air gap stays open, so wind load stays lower, but there is more aluminium per square metre so the panel is heavier and generally costs more.

As a rule of thumb: on a small, sheltered opening, closely spaced slats are usually the more economical answer. On a wide, tall or exposed gate — especially a driveway pair — louvre is often both the better-looking and the more sensible engineering choice.

A louvre gate is not a solid gate. It screens the sightline it is angled against, not every possible angle. From sharply off to one side, or from significantly above or below the blade line, you will see through it.

For most residential situations that is completely fine, because there is one sightline that actually matters — the street, or a particular window. But if you genuinely need screening from all directions, say so and we will talk about what that actually requires rather than selling you a louvre gate you are disappointed by.

Louvre panels are also the heaviest infill we build for a given size. On a wide driveway pair, or on a sliding gate, that weight has real consequences for hardware and, if fitted, motor selection.