Custom gates for ALL weather

Custom Welded Gates and Florida's Extreme Weather I like to joke that Hunters Woods Outdoors’ driveway gates are strong enough to survive the apocalypse and look good doing it.  When central Florida had in October 2024 had 2 major hurricanes in 2 weeks, I find myself repairing damaged aluminum gates, but the good news is that none of them were built in the HWO gate shop!

Here is what hurricanes Helene and Milton taught me about relative gate strength, what to change in my designs, and how to prepare for the next big storm.

Being an expert custom gate builder demands knowledge of failure points and points of highest stress on gates in operation. The last month has demonstrated that the two most common points of failure on custom driveway gates, both custom and regular production models, is the hinge point and operator attachment point. By far, the most common failure is broken welds where the operator arm attaches to the gate.

I am in the process of repairing 4 driveway gates that suffered torn out members at the arm attachment. In two instances the failure was a result of poorly executed welds. The other two were from the gate components being too lightweight to handle high winds for extended periods.

Using poor and "cheap" lightweight material is an easy way to deliver a lower priced gate, but that is a quality threshold HWO will never compromise. Hunters Wood Outdoors did not lose any welds, custom gates in the last few storms, but we are planning on making several improvements to our designs.

First, while we build for twice the strength we think the custom gate will need, all of our picket style gates will have extra heavy walled pickets in areas where operator arms attach. The welds won't change, but the wall thickness on all of those members will be thicker. The second change we will make is to be more proactive in providing our customers with pre-storm directives on how to secure their gates.

With any natural disaster, preparing beforehand can make a huge difference in outcome. Your particular components/design will determine what you do to prepare, and Hunters Woods Outdoors will be sure to provide specific advice for each different setup. Before Helene and Milton, I advised everyone to prepare by securing their gates in either the open or closed position and to detach the operator arms.

Moving forward we will be posting on social media with advice on storm preparedness. Even if you didn't buy a custom driveway gate from HWO, we want the best for everyone in our community so be sure to follow us on social media. While most fences are not built to withstand hurricane force winds for extended periods, your custom gate does not have to be in that category. Here is what you can do to be sure your driveway gate outlasts the next storm and hurricane season:

1. Buy from an established company who understands how both gate design and welding work together. The best welder can't make a poor design strong, and the best design can't make up for subpar welds.

2. Take a few moments to prep your gate before the storm hits.

3. Ask your gate builder to include features to make prep easier. Such as gate stops and/or posts to secure in the open position or magnetic locks to secure in the closed position. While there is no guarantee against Mother Nature, the above precautions will prolong the life of your gate and make one less thing to worry about while the wind is howling.