How do I add a gate latch?

chickensoup64

I've got a side gate attached to the house and at the moment swings freely. I'd like to add two latches, one against the brick wall so it can remain open, and another against the new colourbond fence so it can stay shut.

How can I attach a latch to the fence without damaging it?

For the brick side, I was just going to drill into the brick and put a latch on that way.

JacobZ

Hi @chickensoup64,

Thank you for your question about installing a latch for your gate.

The best solution for adding a latch on the fence side is to attach a piece of timber to the fencepost, then attach the latch to it. This should work well because the gate appears to line up relatively well with the post. This would cause some very minor damage to the fence, in the form of some screw holes, but the damage would be minor and it would be the simplest and strongest solution.

Depending on where you need to locate the latch, you could use either 70 x 35mm H3 Outdoor Framing or 70 x 45mm H3 Outdoor Framing, and attach it to the post using these 50mm Galvanised Countersunk Head Metal Screws. I would just add a small block at the location of the latch and screw it in with four screws.

You could then attach a simple Black D Latch to the inside of this block. It appears you already have a tongue for this style of latch, which you could reuse or replace if you'd like.

You could then use the same style of latch on the brick. Just line it up with the tongue, and screw it on. You can drill some pilot holes in the brick, install some 35mm Green Wall Plugs, then screw the latch in place.

Let me know what you think.

Jacob