Thread: Gates

Drill the heads off the pop rivets.
Jarrahdecking would work well
Screw the decking on with countersunk self tappers

Originally Posted by celeste

Hi all

I am renovating as you know and always looking to save money - so I have a ponder and wish some advice.

I have a pair of garden gates that are a metal welded frame with colorbond stuff on the front, seems to be pop riveted on.

I am pondering - wether I can revamp the frames instead of replacing the whole gate. My idea at the mo, is to remove the colourbond panels and replace with jarrah decking.

Questions:
1. how do you undo pop rivets to take the colourbond off.
2. how would I attach the jarrah
3. will decking jarrah be ok

Any other thoughts will be helpful. Photo attached

thanks
Celeste

Hi Celeste,
I remove pop rivets by drilling the head off with an oversize bit, say a 6mm. when the head comes off, the material being held is released. Often the rest of the rivet falls back through the hole or you can punch it out or use a smaller drill to drill it out.
I would attach the Jarrah by gal/stainless screws, professionals fencers often use a a coil nailgun, yes even to fix to steel. Is fast and neat.
Can't see why decking Jarrah would not be a good choice.

Cheers
Michael

I agree with Michael on the oversize drill bit to remove the rivets. I have quite a few 3mm drill bits with 80 or so pop rivet flanges on the that I can't be bothered removing. 6mm would be a good go.
On decking Jarrah...I use it for everything, like boxfeet, everything..but it would be probably be happier outdoors doing what Jarrah does best.
Looks like a big reno.
Regards,
Noel

What they said.

merbu might be a cheaper alternative to jarrah and look just as good.

Bunnings at Maddington have pickets with acorn style tops,plus straight pickets built a side gate for my daughter when I was over there last month.

Originally Posted by watson

I have quite a few 3mm drill bits with 80 or so pop rivet flanges on the that I can't be bothered removing. 6mm would be a good go.

Regards,
Noel

With the drill bit in the drill chuck just place the flange edges (still on the drill bit at this stage) in the jaws of a metal bench vice (tightly pinched) and pull the drill bit out in reverse on a slow speed.

You have heard how to remove the rivets.....
Nail gun won't shoot into your gate frame as it appears round in photo and the ones they shoot into today are rhs and max 1.6mm thick.... Yours will be thicker for sure.....
You will find over time that the boards will bow a little and it will look like a basket weave unless you add a bit more gate frame .... At the moment you could only run the deck vertical so it crosses 3 rails .....
The right screws are galv self drilling countersunk but will require you to predrill and countersink the boars first to avoid splitting.... Don't buy the gold coated screws in the hardware or you stand a very high chancee of the planks falling off in a few months......

Cheers Ute Mad

www.dialadeck.com.au

Originally Posted by watson

I agree with Michael on the oversize drill bit to remove the rivets. I have quite a few 3mm drill bits with 80 or so pop rivet flanges on the that I can't be bothered removing. 6mm would be a good go.
On decking Jarrah...I use it for everything, like boxfeet, everything..but it would be probably be happier outdoors doing what Jarrah does best.
Looks like a big reno.
Regards,
Noel

Hi Watson

That one is no.2 of a pair 3x1 duplex's. I am 1/2 way thru no1.
I have trouble turning them off in my head and ponder on things for the future. No.2 has yet to be gutted let alone ready for gates.

Anyway, I ponder, research ask advice etc and by the time I am up to that bit, bingo! I have it all fine tuned and ready to look stunning.

I am will to post B4 and after photo's if anyone would be interested. I so not think I have posted a full range of photos on these 2.
I do 90% of the work myself.

Celeste

Hi there

One other point. I have never used these metal frames and am not sure how strong the corners are. But I noticed that there is no angle bracing, which would be provided by the colorbond ... but if you removed it and added strip timber you would lose that bracing effect.

Not sure if they would sag over time under the weight or if the corners are pretty good on these gates?

Originally Posted by OBBob

Hi there

One other point. I have never used these metal frames and am not sure how strong the corners are. But I noticed that there is no angle bracing, which would be provided by the colorbond ... but if you removed it and added strip timber you would lose that bracing effect.

Not sure if they would sag over time under the weight or if the corners are pretty good on these gates?

Hi all

Oh! I didn't think about the weight of the jarrah.

I may have to change the way the are attached to the walls.

I was planning to have gaps between the boards?

I would like to put the jarrah on Horizontally, due to the lack of cross bracing etc would a metal strap of some sort, attached to the planks running vertically down the middle work for the warping factor?

Is pine lighter, I could use pine and paint them to match the house?

Celeste

hi celeste
yes pine is lighter .what i would do is to screw the ends and nail the decking onto supports 3x1.5 inch timber. put supports about 450mm apart that would be the cheapest and quickist way.

Timber of any kind is going to be a lot heavier than colourbond, hinges must be solid enough to hold the weight, and the frame strong enough to remain square to prevent sagging .....ideally a crossbrace out of flat bar would be ok, say around 3-4mm thick and 12mm wide and welded on the inside ... corner to corner .......alternatively you could use heavy duty stainless steel rivets to attach it ....but my preferance would be to weld it on

oh and as a point of interest when doing jobs like this, wood outside does get wet and heavier ....gate frames need to be built to allow for this

Hi all

thanks guys

I think I need to put this one in the ponder alittle longer basket.

Celeste