Steel gates

[parrot]

I'm not trying to be alarmist......but: When Sal was injured by his falling gate, I considered it a bizarre incident.....not the sort of thing you'd think would happen.
In yesterday's Thai Rath newspaper, front page, there's a photo and short story of a 41 year-old Korat resident who died when his steel gate (not all that big judging from the photo) slipped off it's rail and crushed him.

I remember when we lived downtown in a rental, after a month or two of straining to open the gate because of bad rollers, the landlady had them replaced. We were used to heaving open the gate....but with the new rollers, the gate slid open with ease and crashed against its barrier panel. It never skipped off the rail, but now I'm wondering if maybe that's what's causing these gates to come crashing down.

Food for thought.

[jingjai]

Yes, both me and the wife have been extremely careful, since Sal's accident, opening and closing our gate, which is about 7 feet high and probably weighs half a ton.
We push it open from the end and pull it close from the same end.

[Kudjap or Bust]

Buy an electric gate opener, we bought one for about 35,000 bht, our gate is 5M long and at it's highest 3M tall, made of tubular steel. The opener came with a rotating light as a opening/closing warning (which i have disconnected, bloody annoying at night) and 3 remote units. A couple of the local likely lads fitted it and I did the electrics so they're not too fancy to install

[UdonExpat]

I agree, an electric gate is safest, if you're going to have a gate. My 4.5M sliding gate and opener cost 30,000 baht when I built the house last year. It came with 2 remotes and I bought an additional one for 850 baht. I think the opener part of the package was 12,000 baht. The beeper has also been disconnected, although the flashing light is cool. It also has a lock feature. It's a bit of a pain to open if the electric is off, but not a big deal.

The gate has only one set of rollers that prevent it from falling over when in any position other than closed. I just inspected the welds holding the brackets and the nuts holding the rollers to make sure they are in good condition.

[aznyron]

if I was to install steel gates it would be the scissor type which closes by pulling them together and locking
it with a simple pad lock no need to worry about falling on you or electric down so you can not open or close and of course the cosmetic view is UGLY it makes you look like your living in a high crime drug infested area and I will NOT lock my self in or OUT they rob me I leave I will not live amongst thieves

[UdonExpat]

Ron, I'm afraid you'll have to try a different planet.

Trust in God, but tie your camel.

[aznyron]

U/E your post now requires me to go off topic LOL I lived in N.Y. were I never locked my car and I had
a scanner CB radio and blue revolving light as well as a radar detector and my key was in the ignition and my car was never rob or even attempted to be rob I was a Vol Firemen and I did not have time to search for keys when I was called so there is places on this planet you can escape thieves now back to the topic
I have nothing more to ad since I posted my opinion which is only my opinion

[MALC]

i have had electric gate installed with 3 remotes supplied no problems since price for supply and fitted 18000bht should any one want phone no of the guy that fitted it i will pass it on his name is mr individual works at homart

[aznyron]

Mr individual is no longer employed at home mart

[parrot]

Just a friendly reminder to be careful if you have a heavy sliding gate:
https://www.thairath.co.th/news/crime/2250131

[glalt]

My gate is four meters long and two meters high. I had it rebuilt a while back. The home made rollers went bad and it would sometimes come off the bottom rail. It is not too heavy because I always had to lift one end myself to put the roller back on the rail. The bottom third is sheet metal pop riveted to a steel frame and the top two thirds is one inch square vertical bars spaced 4 inches apart. Now it has store bought double rollers on each end and rolls easily. It isn't heavy enough to seriously hurt anyone if it would fall over on them. If I had a really heavy gate, I'd find a way to put it on a diet.

[tamada]

Stainless steel frame, rail, wheels, rollers and all the rest. Fifteen years installed with no issues. The top-side roller frame, all stainless, looks like it was built on Clydeside. One wheel has a cracked bearing though and one of the outer handles has pulled off. I would guess that's due to the extra effort sometimes needed to get it rolling on that cracked bearing? I plan on getting it fixed in another fifteen years or so.

[ajarnudon]

I'm about to build mine. The opening is 3.5 metres and it will be 2.5m high. My idea is for it to be light weight - not heavy enough to cause injury, and easy to slide. A third set of rollers will make it easier still.

[tamada]

^ My gate, pictured earlier, has the box ss frame but rock-hard, pre-treated wood laths so it's quite light and is surprisingly easy to open. My 4 year old manages when he's popping out for some snacks at the mom 'n' pop next door. It has just the two sets of bottom rollers.

There's maybe half a dozen of the wood laths have rotted at the bottom and need replacing but out of a total of 83 between the gate and wall topping, that's pretty decent I reckon.

I forget what we paid for it and the matching wall topping sections but I recall being surprised as I had expected it to be a fair bit more. Also can't recall where the fabricator was. I'll ask Mrs tam as maybe she remembers.

[NongKhaiLee]

if I was to install steel gates it would be the scissor type which closes by pulling them together and locking
it with a simple pad lock no need to worry about falling on you or electric down so you can not open or close and of course the cosmetic view is UGLY it makes you look like your living in a high crime drug infested area and I will NOT lock my self in or OUT they rob me I leave I will not live amongst thieves

you are talking about a Swing Gate, the problem is that they take a lot more room, and in some cases are not possible to use because they would swing out into the street or into the car parking area, that is why sliding gates are so widely used.

[parrot]

A homeowner in BanLeuam had her gate fall over and supposedly narrowly miss a small child.
https://www.thairath.co.th/news/society/2549608
For one of the 2 years we rented downtown, we had a sliding steel gate inside the patio doors. If you slid it fast enough, it would come off the roller........it never fell because of a horseshoe stop on one end........but if that single point failed, it could have come down.

[parrot]

Yet another Udonite suffers the consequences of a poorly built/maintained gate. She's in the hospital, apparently lost a lot of blood.
https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/%E0%B8 ... 8%E0%B8%B0

[Khun Paul]

I recently about 6 months ago had my front garden sliding gate ( mainly aluminium bu steel frame ) fall over , snapping one of my masts steel guys. managed to push it back up to an upright position .

^he culprit was the top roller had become detached from its position. as the gate had a rising centre decoration it was impossible to fit a normal support bracket which would stop it tipping.

Unnerving yes, but allowed me to organise a better weld and some protection for the top bracket so it will last another 20 years .

WE forget that those gates are exposed in all weathers 24/7 and most of us pay almost ZERO attention to greasing the rollers and checking the stability and security of the fittings.