To begin the custom process, please contact us and provide as much of the following information as possible:

• Type of product(s) needed
• Dimensions needed (if there are any dimensions that constrain your project)
• Preferred material
• Photos, sketches, or renderings of the project
• Preferred finish

With this information we can visualize your project and begin to estimate what would be required to create it.

When you’re planning for a custom hardware project, budget and timeline are two factors to consider. In general, custom hardware costs more than off-the-shelf hardware. Below we’ve listed some of the factors involved in pricing custom hardware:

• Minor modifications to an off-the-shelf product (different finish, slightly different dimensions to accommodate an installation peculiarity) can raise the price just slightly compared to starting fresh with a brand new custom product
• Material choice: stainless steel is the most expensive material, followed by bronze, then aluminum.
• Choice of finish: powdercoating or a brushed finish require time and material that becomes part of the whole picture.
• Degree of engineering: the more complex the item, the more engineering required. Spring-loaded latches require more engineering than gravity latches; heavy duty hinges that will support hundreds of pounds must be precisely made to carry the load.

We have almost a dozen combinations and sizes to choose from and they’re in stock and ready to ship!

We introduced several latches this year that can accommodate thicknesses up to 5-1/2″. The problem always came when clients needed to lock those thick gates. Normal deadbolts can only fit gates and doors up to about 3″. So we set about engineering a modification to our stainless steel deadbolt that would allow it to work flawlessly with thicker gates and doors. Several months later, success!

We’re thrilled to introduce the stainless steel square deadbolt that will fit gates and doors between 3″ and 5-1/2″ thick. Lead-time is one week.

Curb appeal is anything in the view of the front of the house that can be seen from the street; anything large or small. When everything is taken together they tell a cohesive story about the house and the people who live there.

In this article we’ll talk about affordable ways you can improve curb appeal on a small budget and with your own two hands. When you improve your curb appeal you will raise your home’s value.

Why Is Curb Appeal Important?

Curb appeal is the first impression of your house. It tells the story of the home and the people who live there. At our house, the story is of a busy family that’s creative, artistic, and may not weed as often as needed to combat the 16 hours a day of summer sun that Portland gets. We walk past the overgrown reeds, the dust on the ledge of the front door, the spider webs across our porch lights that seem to reappear overnight and don’t notice them anymore. Everyone has something that they overlook. Improving your home’s curb appeal requires bringing a critical eye to the project, seeing it as a stranger might.

Most of these DIY projects take very little money to accomplish. If you’ve got a small budget to spend on DIY curb appeal projects, spend them where you get the most bang for your buck: replacing a mailbox, house numbers or entry door hardware—things that pull the eye to the entry of the house, the focal point, where you want to welcome people in.

To improve your home’s curb appeal, tackle projects in these four categories: landscaping, painting, the entry, and gates/fences. As you approach each one, try to use the eyes of a stranger: notice the things that you normally walk past and don’t see anymore.

When I bought my house, it had been a rental with a heroin dealing operation in it. Needless to say, the neighbors were thrilled when I moved in! Until a few months later when the grass started to grow a half inch a day; I was a single lady without garden equipment.

One neighbor offered to lend me a lawnmower. A few weeks later, a second neighbor sent his gardeners over to cut my lawn for me. He just didn’t want to look at it anymore! A few months later, a third neighbor, about to put her home on the market, offered to have their landscapers come over and ‘clean up’ my yard. My point is that curb appeal impacts not just you, but your neighbors and the general feel of the neighborhood for people walking or driving through the area.

Landscaping: Clean and clutter-free is the key for landscaping. Even yards full of beautiful plantings can be weeded, trimmed, and tidied. The essentials of landscaping curb appeal are:

• Mature Trees: they add value to a home, provide shade, and make a home look well lived-in. Apparently, your neighbors having mature trees is actually even more preferable to home-buyers, probably because you get the shade, the beauty and none of the raking duty!
• Plants & Flowers: keep everything trimmed and weeded.
• Lawn: keep your lawn mowed and weeded as best you can. Manicured is more than we can hope for at our house, but mowed is a must.

Painting, Etc.: Paint is a really quick way to make your home look good as new. There is a range of projects you can tackle. Painting the entire exterior of the home is the largest curb appeal project you could undertake, but it is a hefty financial commitment. If you can’t afford a huge painting project, consider one of the suggestions below.

• Replace the Front Door: data shows that replacing a front door more than pays for itself. The average cost is $1200, but if you can’t swing a new door, at least paint it. Choose a color that draws the eye from the street and welcomes people to your home.
• Paint and Spruce Up Your Shutters: a cleaning and a fresh coat of paint on your shutters will do wonders. Take a hard look at your shutters, whether they’re decorative or functional. Is something hanging at an odd angle? Fix it! Guaranteed that someone walking past on the street notices it. Adding a few pieces of shutter hardware, like shutter stays or shutter dogs, ties up the package with a bow. It’s not expensive and it completes the look.
• Paint Your Window Trim: again, a fresh coat of paint—whether it’s the same paint color or a new one—on your window trim will make your house look different from the curb.

Entry Area: The entry area is the unsung hero of curb appeal. Minor changes to the entry can create a major impression!

1. Paint the Front Door: Even cleaning goes a long way. But painting is a quick and cheap way to dramatically change the door’s appearance and make everything look new. Go out on a design limb and choose Chartreuse or Mango or Spiced Pumpkin! If you have hardware, mailbox, house numbers, and a doorbell cover that you really like, try to choose a paint color that highlights the hardware.
2. Look At Your Entry Hardware: High quality entry hardware is not too pricey and can really change the appearance of the front door. Sometimes a 1970′s door set has been on your front door and you don’t even see it anymore. Try changing that out for an oil-rubbed bronze entry set and wow! If you’re painting or replacing the door, consider replacing your handleset and deadbolt, as well.
3. Paint or Replace Your Mailbox: A can of spray paint (and a properly prepped mailbox) can be a quick weekend warrior DIY project. If you don’t feel like getting out the sandpaper and masking tape, buy a new mailbox! For between $100-$300 you can find a really beautiful high quality post-mount or wall-mount mailbox. Remember to coordinate with address numbers and doorbell.
4. Address Numbers: Sure, you can paint over your existing address numbers, but for the time and effort it’ll take, I suggest replacing them with something new. Architectural house numbers can drive home a style on a budget. Try to coordinate finishes among the address numbers, the entry hardware, and the doorbell.

 

1. Doorbell: Replace it. Enough said!
2. Door Mat: Am I the only person who notices the dog hair, spider webs, and slimy leaf fragments in people’s door mats? For $20-$40 you can get a new one (and maybe one that’s washable!).

Gates and Fences: Gates and fences are the oft-overlooked aspect of a home’s curb appeal. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked by a cute house with a tidy front porch, spiffy mailbox, stylish house numbers…and a saggy, faded gate and fence on the side-yard. Sprucing up the finish on your gates and fences, as well as replacing any hardware that doesn’t function properly (or is just plain ugly and isn’t doing your house any favors!) is a key component of curb appeal.

1. Fix or Replace Sagging Gates: Depending on the type of gate you have, you might be able to fix the sag. For gates that are beyond repair, replacing them is probably the best bet.
2. Paint, Refinish, or Stain Gates and Fences: A quick sand and a new coat of paint or finish can make a structurally-sound fence or gate look fantastic. If you have a gate or fence that was unfinished to begin with, a stain or paint job will do wonders. It makes it look like a whole new installation.
3. Fix or Replace Gate Hardware: Don’t get me started on crummy gate hardware! Again, a very lovely house with a well-tended yard and bright painted door…and a nice new gate with a string hanging through a hole. Even with a tight budget there are many choices out there for gate latches and hinges that add a bit of architectural style to your home.

The first latch will be sister latch to our Moda Gate Latch, which has a tigerwood handle.

This new latch will have an all-stainless handle for a sleek modern look. Forgive the snapshots…professional pics coming soon.

Close-Up View of Modern Ring Latch with Rectangular Handle with peek of the lovely pool area behind.

enclosures. They may include:

• requiring self-closing spring hinges;
• specifying the height of the latch placement;
• that the latch be self-latching; and
• that the gate be lockable

Self-Closing Hinges

We carry self-closing spring hinges for pool gates. They are available in a number of finishes. They also have an adjustable spring that can be set to your level of spring. There are two options when using spring hinges. First, you can use three spring hinges to hang your pool gate. You’ll need to adjust the tension in the spring so that it closes the gate effectively but doesn’t slam it. The second option is to use two heavy duty ball bearing butt hinges (that aren’t self-closing) and one self-closing hinge. For most average sized gates, a single self-closing hinge will suffice. It would be installed as the center of the three hinges.

Latch Placement

Usually if there is a requirement for a latch height, it relates to the latch handle being out of the reach of children’s hands. Any of the latches we sell can be placed at whatever height you’d like. The photo below is a pool entry gate.

The gate is the entryway to the pool area. Beautiful stone stairway leading you into a garden paradise! Featuring: Modern Ring Latch with Rectangular Ring.

Self-Latching Gate Latches

Any spring-loaded gate latch is self-latching. Self-latching means that when you push the gate closed, you don’t have to manually place the latch-arm in the keeper or strike. A spring-loaded latch’s arm will automatically snap into place when the gate closes.

Lockable Gate Hardware

When you need to be able to lock a pool gate, there are really two options. First is to choose a lockable gate latch. Unfortunately, in the world of architectural gate latches, there are currently no lockable gate latches that fit the requirements of a pool gate latch that cost less than $1000. An alternative is to use a deadbolt along with the gate latch of your choice. A deadbolt will allow you to keep the gate locked when needed, or open when everyone is enjoying the pool.

These are just the basics of choosing pool gate hardware. Please be sure to contact your own municipality for your pool gate’s requirements.

Close-up view of Moda Latch on Double Wooden Gate

Click on any of the images below to check them out!

• Choosing the right hinge for your gate or driveway gate Navigating all the options for gate hinges.
• Why does a gate sag? There are several possible reasons but the bottom line is to prevent it before it happens!
• Understanding shutter hardware offset Sometimes it’s hard to figure out which shutter hardware to order for your windows.

I must add a disclaimer that my husband the gate builder comes to gate building from furniture-making. Therefore, he is a crazy stickler for structure, function, and joinery. And it’s rubbed off on me, so I’m biased toward really high quality gates (and, of course, really high quality gate hardware).

To have the best possible non-sagging gate 10 years in the future, here is the key: buy or build a well-constructed gate and have it installed by a skilled installer. In other words, the reason that gates sag is because the gate falters or because the installation wasn’t done well enough.

A Well-Constructed Wooden Gate

What is a well-constructed gate and how do you know you’re buying one? I’m going to describe two ends of the spectrum; there are endless variations within those bounds.

A well-built wood garden gate will have a furniture-quality joint: mortise and tenon, lap joint, etc. Think about your home’s front door: it’s built with nice tight joints and will last years and years, even being opened and closed many times a day.  A quality wooden gate should do the same, though it likely won’t last as long as a front door because a gate is subject to sun, rain, snow and wide temperature fluctuations. You won’t see any metal fasteners on a furniture-quality gate (screws or nails) because the joints do that work.

Well-built wooden gates are absolutely more expensive to buy (~$500-$1500); however, if you’ll get a 10-year life out of that gate versus a 3-year life out of a cheaper gate, it might just be worth the expense (and the hassle of re-installing a gate every few years). And don’t discount the value that an architecturally complementary gate adds to your home and your curb appeal. I’ve seen so many million dollar homes with shoddily constructed gates that make me scratch my head and wonder why they would do such a thing to their beautiful house.

Now to the second category of wooden gates: the ‘carpenter gate’.  This is your typical picket or panel gate with a diagonal bracing piece across it. It’s usually constructed with 2×4′s as the frame. They are always nailed or screwed together. A simple butt joint (two flat surfaces butted up against each other and screwed/nailed together) is generally not going to hold a gate together for the long haul. I don’t want to disparage gates that have simple butt joints, but in the world of simply built gates, the vast majority will have joints that won’t last. It all depends on your gate builder. An experienced gate builder can probably make a sturdy carpenter gate. But there’s little likelihood that a carpenter gate is going to last the way a high-quality gate will.

A Saggy Gate

What About Anti-Sagging Kits? The bottom line is this: if you buy a gate from someone who uses an anti-sag kit, you should consider having someone else build your gate. That would be like buying a pair jeans with big patches sewn on the knees. If you buy quality jeans and care for them, you shouldn’t need patches.

Over time and with the gate opening and closing, the nailed or screwed joints will begin to loosen. This will cause the gate to “sag” or more accurately, lean to one side, away from the failing joint.

How to Install a Wooden Gate (Well)

A knowledgeable gate installer is a worthwhile investment. But remember that even the best installer can only do so much with a sub-par gate. Here are some factors during the installation process that can help prevent gate sagging and give you a smoothly operating gate for years to come.

1. Post Size: Though I don’t think anyone’s compiled this kind of data, I would venture a guess that using too small of a gate post is the major culprit in gate sagging. What makes a gate post too small? The size of the post should be related to the size and weight of the gate. My husband’s recommendation is always a 6×6 post for standard-sized gates (~42″x70″). For driveway gates, especially those with integrated steel frames, he always recommends steel posts. The key to post installation is that it be set deep enough in the ground and firmly set in concrete. If the post is not big enough to support the gate, it will start to pull in the direction of the gate. In addition, if the post isn’t set firmly in concrete, the post is going to wiggle loose bit by by in the ground. If there is one area of a gate installation that you’re going to “over-engineer” let it be the post.
2. Hinge Choice: Choosing a hinge that will support the weight and style of your gate is crucial to a long-term installation. We’ve written a blog post about hinge choice that covers everything you need to know. An undersized hinge’s screw can slowly work loose from the post with the weight of the gate swinging back and forth. Heavy duty gate hinges are affordable and easy to install.
3. Gate Latch Choice: Gate latches are not created equal. Choosing quality heavy duty gate hardware will help keep your gate in good shape. How? A quality self-latching gate latch (in other words, a spring-loaded gate latch) works so that when you push the gate closed or the wind slams it closed, the latch-arm hits the strike, rises up, and clicks itself down into the catch on its own. Without a self-latching latch, that same gate would slam against the post, bounce back open, and slam back. Over and over. A free-swinging gate is not a good thing for any part of your installation.

See our collection of Heavy Duty Gate Hinges and Gate Latches.