"Wayne Boatwright" wrote in message
5.247...

As far as gates are concerned, we had planned on three 4' wide gates, one
at each side of the house and one in the middle of the back span.

I think you should seriously consider making one of the side gates much
wider -- maybe by combining two 4-foot wide gates to enable at least an
8-foot opening if needed. You never know when you will need to drive a
pickup truck into the back yard to load or unload dirt, mulch, bricks/stones
for a new patio, etc. Many lawn service companies use mowers that are more
than 4 feet wide.