Pedestrian & Side-Access Gates
The gate you use most often. Small decisions — which way it swings, which side it hinges — matter more here than on any other gate.
The gate you actually use
A side-access gate gets opened several times a day, every day. That makes the small ergonomic decisions matter far more than they do on a driveway gate you might open twice a week.
Which side it hinges on, which way it swings, how high the latch sits and whether you can open it while carrying something are all decided at fabrication. They are worth thinking about for a minute before you order.
Hinge side and swing direction
Stand outside the opening looking in. Decide which side you want the hinges on and which way you want the gate to open. Write it down that way — 'hinged on the left, opening inwards, viewed from the street' — because that phrasing removes the ambiguity.
The usual logic: hinge on the side that gives you the shortest walk around the open leaf, and swing into the space that stays clear. In a narrow side passage that often means swinging into the wider end rather than the constricted one.
In very tight passages, a gate split into two narrow leaves is sometimes the answer — each leaf swings through a much smaller arc. The white pair in a side passage in our gallery is exactly that solution.
Matching what is already there
Most side-access gates sit against an existing fence, and how well the gate relates to it is what makes the job look finished. Our photographs show both approaches working: a gate colour-matched to the adjoining Colorbond so it reads as part of the boundary, and a woodgrain-finish gate chosen to sit alongside a stained timber paling fence.
If you want a match, send a straight-on photo of the existing fence from a few metres back. We will match the slat rhythm and colour as closely as the profiles allow and tell you honestly where an exact match is not possible.
Where it hangs from
Side-access gates are frequently hung off whatever is already there — a brick wall, a rendered pier, an existing fence post. That is usually fine, but what you hang off has to be sound and able to carry the load, and that needs looking at rather than assuming.
Photograph what you intend to hang the gate from, including where it meets the ground, and include it with your enquiry. An old timber post that looks fine at eye level is often not fine at the base.
