Time to treat your wooden gate!

With Spring upon us it’s time to treat your wooden gate.

The good news is that it is relative simple to treat your wooden gate. A small amount of effort will maintain and protect your wooden gate.

The Importance Of Gate Care

All gates will need treating each year. Even pressure treated gates. Pressure treated gates are initially protected from wood rot and insect attacks. However, these treatments do not provide full protection against weathering. Erosion from weather and the UV rays will degrade these treatments and begin to affect the quality of your gate over time.

Timber gates are a natural product and respond to the conditions that they are in, particularly heat and humidity. The hot weather that we are likely to experience this summer, can cause wood to twist especially if one side of the gate receives more sunlight than the other. Wood is a hygroscopic material, which means it naturally absorbs and gives off water to balance out with its surrounding environment. Twisting is likely to be caused by one side drying out more quickly than the other. It is also quite common for small splits (shakes & checks) to occur during drying. This is nature at work and should not be considered a fault. This is normally not detrimental to the gates stability & structure and again should rectify as temperatures cool.

A few simple measures can make all the difference to protecting your gate from the sun!

Treat your gates with a modern UV wood oil such as Osmo or Restol this greatly reduces the absorption and drying out of wood and significantly decreases natural checks and shakes in the wood – click here for more information

Using a drop bolt on each gate is also recommended as it reduces any potential movement in the gates. Make sure gates are fitted properly including hooks to hold gate open. Incorrect fitting can cause gates to twist.

Treat your posts with an oil suitable for sawn timber as well to reduce any movement.