A steel gate or railing is one of those things you want to fit once and forget. Get the design right and it'll swing true for decades; get it wrong and you'll be fighting sagging hinges and creeping rust within a couple of winters. The difference is rarely the welding — it's the decisions made before any steel is cut. Here's what matters.
Start with the posts, not the gate
The most common reason a gate sags is an undersized or under-set post, not the gate itself. The posts carry the whole weight and take the leverage every time the gate is opened, so they need to be substantial and properly anchored — set in concrete, dug well below the frost line, and sized to the span and weight they'll hold. A beautifully made gate hung on a weak post will droop; a plain gate on solid posts will stay square for life. We always specify the posts to suit the gate, never the other way round.
Material and gauge
For most domestic and light commercial gates and railings, mild steel box section and bar is the right balance of strength, cost and workability. The key is using a heavy enough gauge that the frame stays rigid — too thin and a wide gate flexes and rattles. For coastal sites or where you never want to see rust, stainless is an option, though it's dearer and heavier to swing. Our guide to outdoor steel covers the material trade-offs in full.
Protect it properly — coat the inside too
Box-section gates rust from the inside out if water gets trapped where you can't see it. The lasting fix is to galvanise before coating: hot-dip galvanising coats every surface, inside and out, with zinc that protects the steel even if the topcoat is later chipped. Powder coat over the galvanised frame and you get the colour you want on top of corrosion protection underneath — the belt-and-braces approach for anything that has to stand outside for the long term. Where galvanising isn't used, we make sure box sections are sealed or drained so water can't pool.
The lasting combination: substantial posts set in concrete + a heavy-enough gauge frame + galvanise-then-powder-coat. Skip any one of the three and that's usually where the trouble starts a few years down the line.
Hinges, gaps and ground clearance
- Hinges sized to the weight, with adjustment built in so the gate can be re-trued without taking it off. Heavy gates want bearing hinges that won't wear and drop.
- Ground clearance so the gate clears uneven or rising ground through its full swing — and doesn't scrape a path into the surface below.
- Sensible gaps at hinge and latch sides: enough to move freely, not so much it looks loose or lets the latch miss.
Safety and compliance
For railings and balustrades, the gaps between uprights and the overall height matter for safety, especially anywhere children are about or there's a drop — building regulations set minimums for both. For automated or powered gates there are specific force and safety requirements. We'll design to the relevant standards and flag where they apply, so what we make is safe and signs off cleanly. If your project needs drawings for approval, we can provide them.
Designing the look
Once the engineering is sound, the style is wide open — plain modern bar infill, traditional spear-tops, or a laser-cut decorative panel that's unique to you. Because we cut on a fibre laser, patterns, monograms and house numbers can be worked straight into the design at no tooling cost. Send us your dimensions, a photo of the opening and any inspiration, and we'll come back with a design and a price.
Related reading: which steel lasts outdoors and laser-cut steel signage. For larger or repeat work see trade accounts.