Gate Installation & Automatic Gate Openers in Columbia, MD
Walk gates, double drive gates, cantilever slide gates, and motorized openers with access control.
The Gate Is Where Fences Fail
Ask any fence company what they get called back for and the honest answer is gates. A gate is the only moving part in the whole fence, it hangs its entire weight off one post, and it gets used every day. Most dragging, sagging, will-not-latch gates were not built wrong — they were hung on an undersized post that was never going to hold. We treat the gate as a structural problem before it is a hardware problem, which is why we oversize and over-pour the hinge post on every single gate we hang.
What we install
Gates and Openers We Install
Walk gates
Single three- to four-foot gates in every material we build, hung on a reinforced hinge post with adjustable hinges so it can be re-trued years later.
Double drive gates
Two leaves meeting at a drop rod, for driveways and side yards wide enough for a vehicle or a mower.
Cantilever slide gates
Gates that roll sideways on a counterbalanced track instead of swinging. The answer where a driveway slopes, where there is no room for a swing arc, or on a commercial lot.
Pool gates
Self-closing hinges and self-latching hardware with the release positioned per code. Not optional on a pool enclosure.
Automatic openers
Swing and slide operators sized to the gate's weight and width, with the safety devices the installation requires.
Access control
Keypads, remotes, intercoms, vehicle exit sensors, and lock boxes for emergency services on commercial and community gates.
Built to keep swinging
Why Our Gates Keep Swinging
A gate that still latches in year eight was built differently on day one. These are the differences.
- Hinge posts one size up from the line posts, in a deeper and wider footing. On a heavy drive gate that means a steel post regardless of what the fence is made of.
- Welded aluminum or steel gate frames under composite, vinyl and heavy wood leaves, because a frame built from the same boards as the fence will rack into a parallelogram.
- Adjustable hinges and a turnbuckle brace, so the gate can be pulled back square later without rebuilding it.
- Latches chosen for the actual use — keyed where it faces the street, gravity latch on a back yard, self-closing pool latch where code requires one.
- Enough ground clearance for snow and frost movement, without leaving a gap a dog can get under.
- Operators sized to the gate rather than the other way around, with photo eyes and correct reversing behavior on every automatic installation.
Automatic Gates Are an Electrical Job Too
An automatic gate is the point where a fence project becomes an electrical and safety project. The operator has to be matched to the gate's weight, length and duty cycle; there has to be power at the post; and the installation needs its safety devices, because an automatic gate is a piece of machinery that can hurt someone. We size the operator to the gate, coordinate the power run, and walk you through the controls, the manual release and the maintenance schedule at handover.
Gate questions
What Homeowners Ask About Gates
My gate drags. Can it be fixed without replacing it?
Often, yes. If the leaf is still square, the fix is usually resetting or reinforcing the hinge post and re-truing the hardware. If the frame itself has racked, the gate is the problem and we will say so.
How wide can a driveway gate be?
Very wide, but the wider it gets the more the engineering matters. Past a certain span a single swing leaf stops being sensible and we move you to a double gate or a cantilever slide.
Do I need power run to the gate?
For an automatic gate, yes, in almost every case. Solar can work on a light, low-cycle gate. We will tell you honestly which one your situation supports.
Can you automate a gate I already have?
Sometimes. It depends on the gate's weight, its frame, and whether the hinge post can take the added load of an operator. We inspect it before quoting rather than after.
Get a Gate Quote
Whether it is one walk gate or an automated entry, we measure the opening, check the post and quote the whole thing in writing.