Pedestrian gates
Walk gates that still latch in year ten.
Side-entry gates, front-path gates and matching fixed panels — measured on the opening you actually have, and hung on posts built for a gate that gets used every day.
- Gate types
- Single & doublePlus matching fixed panels.
- Hardware
- Opener-readyKeypad and strike designed in.
- Estimate
- FreeText a photo of the opening.
- Coverage
- Serving the East BayHayward and the East Bay.
What we build
Single-leaf walk gates at a front path or a side yard, double-leaf gates where a wider opening needs to pass furniture or a wheelbarrow, and the fixed panels that flank a gate so the whole entry reads as one piece of metalwork rather than a gate wedged between two walls.
Every gate is measured in place. Openings in real walls are rarely square, rarely plumb, and rarely the width a drawing says they are — a gate cut to the nominal dimension is a gate with a gap on one side and a bind on the other.
The parts that decide whether it lasts
A pedestrian gate fails at three places, in this order: the hinge side sags, the latch stops meeting its keeper, and the post the whole thing hangs from starts to lean. All three are decided before any decorative choice is made.
That means a hinge post sized for the leaf it carries and set in a footing deep enough for the soil it is in, hinges rated well above the gate weight rather than at it, and a frame welded with a diagonal that resists racking. Ornament goes on top of that. It never substitutes for it.
- Hinge post set in concrete, sized to the leaf weight and the soil.
- Frame with anti-rack bracing, welded rather than fastened.
- Hinges over-rated, so daily cycling is well inside their duty.
- Latch and keeper set after the gate is hung, not before.
Privacy, visibility and infill
Infill is the choice that changes how the gate feels from the house. Vertical pickets are the traditional look and let you see who is at the gate. Horizontal slats read more modern and, spaced tighter, give privacy without going solid. Wood or composite boards in a steel frame give full privacy while keeping the strength in the metal — the frame carries the load, the boards can be replaced.
Full privacy has a trade-off worth saying out loud: you cannot see who is on the other side, and neither can a neighbour see anything happening at your door. Some clients want that; some change their mind once it is described that way.
Fire egress and exit hardware
A gate across the only path out of a side yard is an exit. It needs to open from the inside without a key, without a code, and without thinking about it — that matters most on the night it matters at all.
Say if the gate is on an exit path
Gates on required exit routes, and any gate a locking device is going onto, can be subject to egress rules in your jurisdiction. We build so the inside handle always works, and we will flag a layout that looks like it needs a look from your building department. The department has the final word — ask them before the gate is fabricated, not after.
How the estimate works
Text (510) 363-2490 a photo of the opening — one straight on, one from a few steps back so we can see the walls, the slope and what the gate would swing into. For most walk gates that is enough to give you a real range on the phone, confirmed on site before anything is cut.
Projects
Pedestrian Gates we’ve built.
Photographed on completed jobs. Measurements and pricing come at the estimate, on your own opening.
Pedestrian Gates
What people ask before booking.
Why does a walk gate cost more than it looks like it should?
Because the frame is the cheap part. A pedestrian gate gets opened and shut several times a day for decades, which means the hinge side, the latch side and the post it hangs on all have to be built for cycling — not just for standing still. A gate that sags an inch is a gate that stops latching, and re-hanging one after the fact costs more than building it right did.
Can you fit a keypad, an intercom, or an electric strike?
We build the gate to take the hardware, and we set the conduit path while the posts are going in rather than surface-mounting it afterwards. Which specific keypad or strike gets installed, and by whom, depends on the job — say at the estimate stage that you want access control and it gets designed in from the start, which is much cheaper than retrofitting a gate that was never drilled for it.
Which way should a pedestrian gate swing?
Outward is usually the instinct, and usually wrong on a narrow path — a gate that swings toward the street can catch someone walking past, and on a sloped path it will bind. We look at the walk, the slope and what is on both sides before deciding. Where neither direction is clean, a gate can be hung to swing both ways, at the cost of a more complex latch.
Can you match a gate to a fence I already have?
Often, yes. Send a photo of a fence section straight on, plus one from a few steps back, and we will tell you whether the picket profile and spacing can be matched or only approximated. If the existing fence is a manufactured product that is no longer made, we will say so and get as close as custom fabrication allows rather than promise an exact match.
Free estimate
Send a photo of the opening.
We'll tell you which way it should swing, what infill suits the spot, and a real price — before anything is scheduled.
Licensed, bonded and insured — CSLB #1037852. Free estimates, no obligation.
Based in Hayward. Serving the East Bay. Not sure if it’s something we do? See the full list of services, or book a consultation.