🖼️
The project:
The entrance to the house was fairly nondescript, with a bare sandy driveway and tired timber edging. So I decided to install an electric gate to add privacy and make a bold visual statement, and replace the timber edging with something more modern. Because I need to get power to the gate I also used this opportunity to use some of that power to make the garden come alive at night by up-lighting the more dramatic plants.
- Materials:
Steel posts, aluminium gates, gate control box, gate motors and sensors, 24V cable, 240V to 24V transformers, uplights, driveway safety lights, Core10 edging.
- Tools:
Multimeter, spade, waterproof tape, conduit.
- Step 1:
Gate planning:
Type of gate, swing or sliding. Sliding is simplest and cheapest but uses a track which could easily get clogged-up in a sandy environment. So went with swing.
I selected a pattern that was elegant, and a rust-red ochre-like colour, and got quotes from local manufacturers. I opted for posts that were oversize at 150x150 rather than the traditional 100x100, as this looked more imposing.
Single or double swing: Single is simpler and cheaper, but needs more room to operate and is more susceptible to wind shear, so double it was (I have sandy soil and am close to the coast, so can get strong winds and cyclones). This did mean that I had to dig a shallow trench between the gate posts to run conduit for the gate motor and the garden lights, but this was easy in sandy soil.
Supplier/Installer: Tried to find local installer, but was just too expensive as I'm on an island. So I got a local handyman to help with the gatepost and gate installation, and then found a company that supplied easy-to-install packages that included all motors, control box, sensors and remotes (APC). It wasn't quite as easy as they claimed, but with the help of their phone support I was able to nut it out. It was also a bonus that their remotes could be programmed to also operate my garage rolladoors.
Location: The gates needed to allow someone to park outside the gates if necessary, and to not swing open into any car that might be manoevering inside the property.
Swing direction: I selected inward swinging as I had the space, and this allowed cars to pull up outside without fear of being attacked by the gate.
Power: Mains or 24/12V. 240V requires an electrician to install and digging deep trenches. 24/12V can be installed by anyone and only needs about 10-20mm depth. So I opted for 24V for the flexibility it offered. Another option was solar, but I already had a battery backup on my house, so this was unnecessary.
This is the original driveway looking from the garage to the roadway, also showing the trial layout for the new steel edging.
- Step 2:
Garden light planning:
For the garden lighting I had a choice of 12V or 24V, and again opted for 24V as it can extend over greater distances, which I needed. I then selected a mixture of 5W uplights and 2W driveway safety lights which I'd attach to the garden edging. All lights needed to be waterproof to IP66. I planned different possible layouts, trying to even out the load on each branch, and working out the total load, and then purchasing a transformer that could manage double this load. Because both the gate and the lights were using 24V it gave me a backup contingency. If, say the gate transformer died I would be able to switch it over to the other transformer. Whilst it would be possible to run both systems off the one transformer, it seemed a better idea to separate the systems (especially as transformers aren't expensive) so that if the lights network blew up it wouldn't affect the gate. For additional security I chose waterproof transformers, even though they were going to be installed in my garage.
- Step 3:
Garden edging planning:
For the edging I wanted something 'edgier' than timber so went with core10 steel which had a nice rusty look to it, and the pieces could be joined together easily to create different configurations. This was useful as I tried one kind of driveway/parking bay layout that worked on paper, but when installed and tested wasn't practical at all. So it was good to be able to easily detach parts of it and try a different layout.
This shows a trial layout of the edging. When you finalise the layout you then need to bash it into the ground so that the spikes are no longer exposed.
