Fence glossary · Installation
Gate hardware
The hinges, latch, drop rod, stops and closers that make a gate work — the part of a fence that moves, and therefore the part that fails first. Hardware is specified to the weight and swing of the gate rather than to the fence, and on a pool barrier it is a code component.
Hinges are the decision that matters most. A light picket gate is happy on a strap or J-bolt hinge; a six-foot solid privacy gate or a wide driveway leaf needs a hinge rated for the weight and, ideally, one that can be adjusted after installation. Adjustability is not a luxury on a wood gate, because wood gates settle and rack in their first season and an adjustable hinge lets the gate be brought back to square instead of rehung. Where the gate serves a pool barrier, the hinge is also the closer, and it has to be tensioned to shut the gate from any open position.
Double gates and driveway gates add the drop rod. The rod pins the inactive leaf so the active leaf has something to latch against, and it needs a receiver set in concrete rather than a hole punched into dirt. A rod dropping into soil finds a slightly different spot every time, the gap between leaves opens up, and eventually the pair no longer meets. A stop set in the same pour keeps the leaves from being pushed past their closed position.
Environment drives the finish. Hardware on a pool enclosure lives in chlorinated splash, and hardware on a basin enclosure spends part of the year in standing water — both call for stainless or fully coated components rather than plain plated steel, which will streak rust down a new fence within a season. On a powder-coated system the hardware is matched to the finish so the moving parts do not become the thing you see.
