How it's done
Why a Metal Gate Drops and Starts Catching
A metal gate that has started dragging or catching has almost always moved at one of three points: the hinge pin, the pier or post carrying it, or the frame of the gate itself. Which one it is decides whether this is an adjustment or a rebuild.
The symptom is easy to describe and easy to misdiagnose. The gate used to swing and latch cleanly, and now the leading edge scrapes the ground, or it rises against the latch and needs lifting to close. Nothing about the gate looks broken.
In practice a dropped metal gate is a geometry problem. Something that used to be square no longer is, and there are only a handful of things it can be. Working through them in order tells you whether you are looking at half an hour of adjustment or a new hanging arrangement.
First check: is it the gate or the post?
Close the gate and look at the gap along the hinge side from top to bottom. If that gap is even, the gate is still square and the post or pier has moved. If the gap is wider at the top and tight at the bottom, the gate has racked and the frame itself has lost its shape.
This one observation saves a lot of wasted effort, because the two faults have nothing to do with each other. A leaning pier needs work at ground level. A racked gate needs work on the gate.
- Even hinge gap plus a dragging leading edge usually means the post or pier has tipped
- Tapered hinge gap means the gate frame has racked out of square
- A gate that only catches in hot or wet weather is often a ground movement issue rather than a gate issue
Hinge wear, the most common single cause
Most metal gate hinges carry the whole weight of the leaf on a small bearing surface. Years of use wears that surface, and the gate settles by a few millimetres. A few millimetres at the hinge becomes a much larger drop at the far edge, because the gate is a lever.
Adjustable bolt-on hinges can often be reset, which is why a gate that has dropped is not automatically a gate that needs replacing. Cast or welded hinges that have worn through generally need cutting off and new ones fitted, which is straightforward metalwork but not a homeowner job.
The pier or post leaning under load
A gate hangs off one point and pulls on it constantly. Brick piers crack at the mortar bed, timber posts rot at ground level, and steel posts set in shallow concrete tip slowly toward the opening. In all three cases the top of the support moves toward the gate and the leading edge drops.
You can usually confirm it by holding a spirit level against the post face. If it is off plumb, adjusting the gate will only mask the problem for a season. The support has to be corrected first, and on a driveway gate that often means a deeper or wider concrete foundation than the original.
- Brick piers: look for a stepped crack near the base or a hollow sound when tapped
- Timber posts: probe the timber at soil level with a screwdriver, sound timber resists
- Steel posts: check whether the concrete collar is cracked or lifting at one side
A racked gate frame
Metal gates rack when a corner weld fails, when a diagonal brace was never fitted, or when the gate has been repeatedly lifted and shoved to close it. Once a frame has gone out of square it will not come back on its own, and packing the latch is not a repair.
Refabricating a corner or adding a proper diagonal is usually possible with the gate in place or off site, and it is nearly always cheaper than a new gate where the ironwork itself is sound.
What you can safely do yourself
Clear soil, gravel and leaf litter from the swing path, because a gate that catches on a raised surface can look exactly like a dropped gate. Grease or oil the hinge pins, tighten any bolt-on hinge fixings that have worked loose, and check the latch keeper screws.
What we would not suggest doing yourself is unbolting the hinges on a heavy driveway leaf, cutting or welding, or wedging the gate up with packers. A large metal gate is heavy enough to injure someone when it comes off its hangings, and a packed gate puts all the load through the wrong point.
- Safe: clearing the swing path, lubricating hinges, tightening fixings
- Safe: photographing the hinge gap so a contractor can see the fault before arriving
- Not advisable: removing hinges from a heavy leaf, packing the gate, ad hoc welding
Getting it looked at properly
Metal gate and railing repairs are a large part of what we do across London and Hertfordshire, and gate faults are the sort of thing that is far quicker to diagnose in person than over the phone. Send a photo of the closed gate showing the hinge side, or ring 07885907880 and we will arrange a look.
If the ironwork is sound we will say so and price the repair. If the pier or post is the real problem we will tell you that too, because correcting the gate without correcting its support is money spent twice.
Frequently asked
Can a dropped metal gate be adjusted rather than replaced?
Often yes. Where the frame is still square and the hinges are the adjustable bolt-on type, resetting the hanging arrangement solves it without a new gate.
Why does my gate only catch in certain weather?
Ground movement. Clay soils swell when wet and shrink when dry, which tips a shallow post enough to change the swing by several millimetres.
How do I tell if the gate or the post has moved?
Look at the hinge side gap with the gate closed. Even gap points at the post or pier, tapered gap points at a racked gate frame.
Is a cracked brick pier repairable?
Sometimes, depending on how far the crack runs and what foundation sits under it. It needs looking at, because rehanging a gate on a failing pier does not last.
Do you repair wrought iron gates as well as fit new ones?
Yes. Metal gate and railing repair work is a regular part of our week across London and Hertfordshire.
Should I try to lift and re-hang the gate myself?
We would not recommend it on anything driveway sized. The leaf weight and the pinch points involved make it a genuine injury risk.
Send us a photo of the hinge side
It tells us straight away whether the gate has racked or the pier has moved, and which of the two needs correcting first.