Fence & gate services
Driveway Gate Installation
A driveway gate is the only part of a fence line that has to move, and the geometry of the driveway — its slope, its apron, its turning radius and where the snow ends up — decides almost everything about how it gets built.
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Driveway Gates in Chester & Delaware County
Most of what we install goes on estate frontage, in Gladwyne, Villanova, Bryn Mawr and Chadds Ford, where the drive is long enough that a gate at the road does real work: it closes the property at the one point everybody sees, it keeps vehicles from turning in, and it gives the front of the house a defined entrance instead of an open cut in the hedge. What a driveway gate will not do is behave like the fence it joins. A wide leaf in ornamental steel or aluminum is a few hundred pounds hanging off two hinges, and every decision downstream of that weight — post size, footing depth, operator type, safety sensing, where the wire runs — follows from it. A gate post is not a line post with a hinge screwed to it. Set one in a standard hole and it rotates toward the opening, the leaf drops, and the latch stops finding its catch by the second winter.
The driveway picks the gate type before taste gets a vote. A swing gate needs clear, level ground through the full arc behind the opening, which is why a drive that climbs away from the road usually rules one out — the leaf loses height as it opens and grounds on the rising apron. Width decides single leaf against double: past roughly twelve feet the leaf gets heavy enough that splitting it, with half the span and half the overturning load on each post, is the sounder build even though it means two operators. Where a swing will not fit, a slide will, but it asks for run-back room alongside the drive. A V-track slide rolls on a steel track set into the apron and moves a heavy leaf with a modest operator; its weakness is a Pennsylvania winter, because the track packs with ice, salt grit and leaf litter and the wheels climb out of it. A cantilever slide carries the leaf on post-mounted rollers with nothing touching the ground, which is what we reach for when snow storage is a genuine constraint — and on these properties, where the plow windrow lands in the same place every February, it usually is.
Automation is not a line item bolted on afterward. The operator has to be matched to the leaf and the leaf has to be built to take an operator, so it is designed in from the first measurement. An automatic gate is powered machinery and the governing standard treats it that way: layered entrapment protection, meaning an operator that senses obstruction force and reverses, photo-eyes across the opening and the swing path, and safety edges on the leading edge and anywhere a closing leaf can pin a hand against a post. Access hardware is the straightforward part — a keypad at driver height, an intercom back to the house, an exit loop under the drive so a car leaving does not have to stop, a safety loop under the gate line so a leaf never closes on a vehicle. All of it runs on low-voltage cable in buried conduit, and that conduit has to be trenched before the driveway is paved or the apron is restored.
Options
Styles & Configurations
Single-leaf swing
One leaf covering the whole opening on a single hinge post. The simplest arrangement and the right one on a narrower drive, but the leaf gains weight quickly as the opening widens and all of it hangs on that one post.
Double-leaf swing
Two leaves meeting at the centre, each carrying half the span. It is what most estate frontage wants visually, and it halves the overturning load on each post — at the cost of two operators and a coordinated closing sequence.
V-track slide
The leaf rolls on wheels riding a steel track set into the driveway, moving a heavy gate with a small operator and needing no room for an arc. The track collects ice, salt grit and leaf litter, and a fouled track is the common winter service call on this style.
Cantilever slide
The leaf hangs from post-mounted rollers and never touches the ground, so nothing ices up and nothing has to be swept clear. It needs a counterbalance tail running alongside the drive, and whether that tail fits is usually what decides the design.
Solid-faced leaf
Any of the above clad solid for privacy rather than left as open pickets. It changes two things at once: the leaf gets heavier, and it becomes a sail — wind load has to be carried by the posts and accounted for in operator sizing.
What to expect
How the Installation Runs
- Geometry survey before anything else. We measure the opening, the slope across and along the apron, the setback from the cartway, the turning radius a delivery truck needs to clear both posts, and where the plow puts snow. That set of measurements is what selects swing, slide or cantilever.
- PA One Call utility mark-out, filed and cleared before excavation. A driveway typically carries the electric, water, gas or propane service to the house, which makes the ground under a gate opening the last place on the property to auger blind.
- Permit and HOA architectural submission. Township zoning for gate height and setback from the right-of-way, an electrical permit or inspection where the operator requires one, and the architectural packet where a community requires that. The governing figures come from your specific municipality, because Pennsylvania townships adopt and amend the building code on their own schedule.
- Post and footing specification to the leaf weight. Gate posts are sized and footed for the overturning load the leaf puts on them, dug below the frost line depth the township enforces, and left to cure before any weight goes on them.
- Conduit and low-voltage rough-in while the ground is open and before the apron is paved or restored — operator supply, keypad and intercom runs, and saw-cut or pre-laid loops for exit and safety detection.
- Gate hang, operator installation and a full commissioning cycle: photo-eyes and safety edges tested against an obstruction, reversing force set, manual release demonstrated, and the gate run end to end with you before the crew leaves.
Where we install it
Driveway Gates By Town
Common questions
Driveway Gates Questions
Should my driveway have a swing gate or a slide gate?
The driveway decides, not the style catalogue. A swing gate needs level, clear ground through the full arc behind the opening, so a drive that rises away from the road generally rules one out — the leaf loses height as it opens and grounds on the climb. A slide gate needs run-back room alongside the drive, plus a counterbalance tail on a cantilever. Snow matters too: a swing leaf has to push through whatever the plow left, and a V-track slide stops moving once its track ices. We measure slope, apron width and turning radius before recommending either one.
How far back from the road does a driveway gate need to sit?
Far enough that a vehicle stopped at the keypad is entirely off the cartway, which on a Main Line road with no shoulder is more room than people expect — a full car length plus the swing of the leaf, and more where delivery trucks use the drive. Set the gate too close and a driver waiting for it to open is sitting in a travel lane. Many townships also set a minimum setback from the right-of-way for the gate and its posts. That figure comes from your municipality rather than from a statewide rule, so we confirm it before laying out the opening.
What safety equipment does an automatic driveway gate need?
An automated gate is powered machinery, and the governing standard calls for layered entrapment protection rather than a single sensor. That means an operator that senses obstruction force and reverses, plus independent external sensing — photo-eyes across the opening and, on a swing gate, across the swing path, and safety edges on the leading edge and anywhere a closing leaf can trap a hand against a post or against the opposite leaf. Warning signage and a manual release for power failures are part of the same package. None of it is an upgrade tier; it is how an automatic gate is built.
Do I need a permit for a driveway gate in Pennsylvania?
Usually yes, and often more than one review. The gate itself is typically permitted as a fence or structure by the township, with its own height limit and setback at the street line, and the electrical work for an operator can require a separate permit or inspection. Where the drive meets a state road, a highway occupancy permit may already govern the apron. Because Pennsylvania municipalities adopt and amend the Uniform Construction Code on their own schedule, the figures that govern your property come from your township or borough. We prepare and file the applications, along with any HOA architectural submission.
When does the wiring for an automatic gate have to go in?
Before the driveway is paved or the apron is restored, without exception. The operator needs a low-voltage supply, and a keypad, intercom or loop detector each need their own run, all of it in buried conduit crossing the drive. Trenching that conduit while the ground is already open is straightforward; sawing a finished asphalt or Belgian-block apron open a month later is not, and the patch never fully disappears. If you are paving this season and gating next season, put the conduit in now and cap it. That is the single decision homeowners most often wish they had made earlier.
Why do driveway gate posts lean?
Because they were set like line posts. A gate post carries the entire leaf as a lever, so the load on it is the weight of the gate multiplied by how far the latch end reaches out, and a wide ornamental leaf puts far more overturning force on that post than any run of fence ever does. Set it in a standard hole and the post rotates toward the opening, the leaf drops, the latch stops meeting its catch, and an operator starts straining against a gate that no longer swings level. Gate footings get more diameter, more depth and more concrete for exactly that reason.
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