How do I hang a new wooden gate so that it automatically stays closed when it is shut but also stays open at its maximum open span?

Question

I am building and hanging a new wooden double gate. How do I construct and/or balance the gate so that when I open it completely, which is at 90 degrees, it will stay open but also when I close it, it stays closed?

Yes, I might put a self-locking latch so that when it is closed, it automatically catches and stays closed. Is there another way to do this? I plan to use a dead-bolt type lock, and would prefer that you not have to unlatch it to open the gate when not locked.

This is an double gate, where one gate door is 40" wide the other is only 20". I'd like both sides to behave the same, staying open and closed. I am not overly concerned about very windy days, where the wind might defeat a balanced system.

Here's an another way to look at what I am thinking: (originally I was not thinking that the gate should move towards open, or closed, but I now see this as desirable).

For various reasons I am planning on using a hinge similar to this:
I might be persuaded not to do use this if it helped to achieve my desired outcome.

I could use gravity to make the gate stay closed by itself. The trick is, I think, that I also want the gate door to stay open too, when I open it.

EDIT: Closer! I find that there are weld-on hinges for chain-link fences that do this, and that they make "Rising Hinges" or "Lift Off Hinges" that do half the job. Many of these are designed to use gravity to automatically close a door but all of them seem to sell only as wholesale items.

Related: How can I make a door open or close depending on the door position? (good and useful answer here too), How do I adjust a door so it doesn't swing on its own? and How to keep door open or closed automatically?

Answer 1

If the hinges are on the same vertical line, then (as noted by @DA01) the hinge should stay wherever you leave it (absent wind, etc). If the hinges aren't vertically aligned, then the gate will want to swing towards a specific point. You can use this to solve your problem.

Imagine that the gate is swinging on a rod, and can go 360° around the rod. If the rod is vertical then you can put the gate anywhere you want and it will stay. However, if the rod is leaning towards a certain direction, then the gate will tend to swing until it is pointing in that direction (because the gate will be lower at that point).

What if you move the gate to the exact other side of the rod from where it wants to go? It will sit there, balanced. If you then move it in either direction it will continue to swing in that direction until it reaches its low point.

So, what you want to do with your gate is to align the hinges so that the hinge line leans away from the the middle of the gate's range (at 45°). That way the gate will tend to swing away from the 45° point, towards the nearer of 0° and 90°.

Edit: When you do this, you may have to readjust the position of the gate on its hinges in order to have the gate properly fit into its opening. But, once you adjust the post side of the hinges to get the right swing, changes to the gate side of the hinges won't affect the swing, so you won't have to readjust anything.

Answer 2

The key would be to make sure the post holding up the gate is absolutely vertical. That's sometimes hard to do (or impossible) hence the use of latches and catches.

Answer 3

I have actually worked this problem in reverse, making a gate that wants to swing open or shut so it moves nice and easy. I think you can make it work without too much trouble.

Normally you want the top and bottom hinges perfectly plumb so the gate swings very easily. Gate hinges and latches have a bit of play in them, they'll operate even if everything's not perfectly plumb / level / square.

I believe if you shim the bottom hinge a bit out away from the post, and move it a hair left or right, you'll get the effect you're looking for, you basically make a high spot in the gate's arc of travel at about 45 degrees so it will tend to fall from that point either all the way open or all the way closed. In those positions, it won't swing "uphill" on it's own.

I think it will take some trial and error to get the position just right. (Not to mention to test my theory...) I'd attach the top hinge permanently, and clamp the bottom hinge on the shim with a big C clamp until you find the thickness of shim and offset that works, then mark it and fasten it.

Answer 4

I needed the same thing for the doors in a pool changing room shower and toilet (a dozen or so grandkids who can't close doors in a limited space.. doh!), and what worked for me was to offset the top hinge 5mm off the vertical of the bottom hinge. So, hinges on the left, door opening towards me standing outside the toilet meant the top hinge was 5mm to the right. Hope that makes sense? Doors are only 2m high. Works on my 10' field gates too but the offset is larger, 1/2" or so. Effectively the door was tapered 5mm narrower at the top so the normal door hinges were not strained (the 5mm taken off the hinge side at the top of course). By the way I spent ages wading through loads of commercial door closure 'experts' trying to sell un-needed door closure products to impractical people get to this site to share practical diy skills and knowledge. Shed nerds rule the world!