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The gate is 4ft high by 4ft wide for a garden path and is a standard quality metal gate, so not very heavy.

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Do you mean how deep should the posts be? – The Evil Greebo Sep 8 '11 at 13:17
Is there a fence next to the gate? Gate posts are usually at (or very near) the height of the fence I believe. – Niall C. Sep 8 '11 at 13:21
The post is being put at the end of a low wall, it need to be higher then the wall, but I don't know how high it needs to be above ground, or how deep it should go. – Walker Sep 8 '11 at 15:17

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The post should be 4 feet high above ground and deep enough to be set into concrete below the frost line. A 4' hole (8' post) should be more than sufficient. Probably overkill, in fact, but wouldn't go any less than 6' total, 2' below grade, and if you're in the north, definitely go deeper.

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What do you mean by "the north", is that the north of the USA or the UK? – Walker Sep 29 '11 at 13:57
Any cold weather climate, really - anywhere that there's a real possibility of ground freeze. – The Evil Greebo Sep 29 '11 at 14:21
Evil Creebo, do you mean anywere it gets below 0c, or are you talking about the wather we don't get in England? – Walker Sep 29 '11 at 14:22
I mean anywhere that the ground can freeze. Wherever you have the possibility of ground freeze, you want your post to be set deeply enough that the concrete anchor at the base is unaffected by any freezing. If the concrete ends up not being deep enough, the freezing ground will heave the concrete out of position over time. – The Evil Greebo Sep 29 '11 at 14:24

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