On 5/9/2008 1:09 PM Norminn spake thus:

So that leads to my questions. Are there other remedies to consider. Can I
shim the hinges? Can I somehow buy some sophisticated hinges that are
capable of adjustments inward and outward that would make it less noticable?

Any ideas appreciated.

I'm not a fence builder. Can you put a wheel on the inside ends of
the gates so it takes some of the weight off the fence?

I'll just answer this part of your post: yes, you can. In fact, I just
did that recently for two large gates I built that seem uncannily like
the ones the O.P. described: each about 5' wide, 6' tall. I bought 2
casters from Grainger with fairly solid but resilient treads and put
them under each gate. So far, they seem to be working fine. (You must,
of course, level the path the wheels take.) It takes most of the strain
off the hinges.

I actually had the same problem he seems to be having--the posts not
lining up with each other--but in my case they were only off by a little
more than an inch. I suspect he simply wasn't careful enough plumbing
the posts when the concrete was setting.


--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.

- Attributed to Winston Churchill