Gate Repair in Mountain View

On Mountain View's smaller lots the gate is often the most-used moving part of the property — a side-yard gate to the bins and the bikes cycles dozens of times a week, and every swing loads one post from one side.

So the order of failure is predictable. The hinges go first, or the post they are fixed into does; the gate then drops at its far corner, begins to drag on the path, and the latch stops meeting its keeper. That last symptom is the one people call about and it is almost never the fault — moving the keeper to catch a gate that has dropped buys a season and hides what is actually moving.

North of Central and out along the older business-park streets the gates are enclosure and service gates: trash and recycling corrals, carport and courtyard accesses, and rolling gates across parking entrances. Two failures dominate, and neither is exotic.

Rolling gates come off their track, and they do it because the track has filled with grit rather than because anything broke — the gate then runs on the edge of a roller, wears it flat, and starts to climb. Swing gates on enclosures fail at the hinge post, which on a commercial gate is carrying a steel frame that gets driven into by the container it houses.

The contractor takes the mechanical side of both: track, rollers and guides, frames and diagonals, hinge posts and footings, latches, keepers, drop rods and stops. Where the gate is automated the operator is not included — gate hardware and structure; opener diagnostics referred out. The check that tells you whether your fault is mechanical or electrical, before anyone quotes either, is on the gate repair page.

Gate closed showing the gap, hinge side, latch side — three photos identify which of the four standard failures you have. Send them through the form.