I just finished a wood fence, using all pressure treated lumber. The gate
is a double gate, five feet wide each side. There is a gap of about 1 inch
between the two gates when closed. However it rained in the last few days
in Miami, and I noticed the gates have expanded, so much so the two doors
are not sort of fused together making it hard to open the gate. When it
dries it wil shrink and back to original size.

I had no idea it could expand this much.

I would like to avoid taking it apart and widening the gap, as that means I
need to redo the drop rod concrete block, as well as the latches etc...

When it becomes dry is there something I can spray of paint on the gate to
make it not expand so much?

Thanks in advance,

MC

On 6/20/2008 6:16 PM MiamiCuse spake thus:

When it becomes dry is there something I can spray of paint on the gate to
make it not expand so much?

Not really. Wood is hygroscopic.


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

- Attributed to Winston Churchill

MiamiCuse wrote:

I just finished a wood fence, using all pressure treated lumber. The gate
is a double gate, five feet wide each side. There is a gap of about 1
inch
between the two gates when closed. However it rained in the last few days
in Miami, and I noticed the gates have expanded, so much so the two doors
are not sort of fused together making it hard to open the gate. When it
dries it wil shrink and back to original size.

I had no idea it could expand this much.

I would like to avoid taking it apart and widening the gap, as that means
I need to redo the drop rod concrete block, as well as the latches etc...

When it becomes dry is there something I can spray of paint on the gate to
make it not expand so much?

Thanks in advance,

MC

Do both gates have a rod? The only thing you can do is rip the one without
the rod or rip both and redo the rods. Nothing will ever keep wood from
expanding or shrinking.

Good luck with that!

--
"You can lead them to LINUX
but you can't make them THINK"
Running Mandriva release 2008.0 free-i586 using KDE on i586

Quote: MiamiCuse wrote on Fri, 20 June 2008 20:16
----------------------------------------------------
When it becomes dry is there something I can spray of paint on the gate to
make it not expand so much?
----------------------------------------------------

It might be worth trying some deck weatherproofing/sealant.

--
Richard Thoms
President - Top Service Pros, Inc.
Connecting Homeowners and Local Service Professionals
http://www.TopServicePros.com

On Jun 20, 9:16 pm, "MiamiCuse" wrote:
I just finished a wood fence, using all pressure treated lumber. The gate
is a double gate, five feet wide each side. There is a gap of about 1 inch
between the two gates when closed. However it rained in the last few days
in Miami, and I noticed the gates have expanded, so much so the two doors
are not sort of fused together making it hard to open the gate. When it
dries it wil shrink and back to original size.

I had no idea it could expand this much.

I would like to avoid taking it apart and widening the gap, as that means I
need to redo the drop rod concrete block, as well as the latches etc...

When it becomes dry is there something I can spray of paint on the gate to
make it not expand so much?

Thanks in advance,

Post a picture, including the fencing on either side of the gate.
Expanding an inch in a couple of days seems like a lot - maybe there's
something else going on.

R

On Jun 20, 8:16*pm, "MiamiCuse" wrote:
I just finished a wood fence, using all pressure treated lumber. *The gate
is a double gate, five feet wide each side. *There is a gap of about 1 inch
between the two gates when closed. *However it rained in the last few days
in Miami, and I noticed the gates have expanded, so much so the two doors
are not sort of fused together making it hard to open the gate. *When it
dries it wil shrink and back to original size.

I had no idea it *could expand this much.

I would like to avoid taking it apart and widening the gap, as that means I
need to redo the drop rod concrete block, as well as the latches etc...

When it becomes dry is there something I can spray of paint on the gate to
make it not expand so much?

Thanks in advance,

MC

PT is sold nearly soaking wet and takes weeks to months to dry out.
You say you lost an inch, so the whole fence expanded, is it tighter
at the top, could the posts have leaned with the weight. Why cant you
just sand a bit where they meet together and wait till it realy cures
out. In decking with PT you butt it tight and in 6 months you have a
nice perfect gap inbetween every board, PT shrinks alot when it dries
out fully, but with continual rain it will be a looong time

On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:16:41 -0400, "MiamiCuse"
wrote:

I just finished a wood fence, using all pressure treated lumber. The gate
is a double gate, five feet wide each side. There is a gap of about 1 inch
between the two gates when closed. However it rained in the last few days
in Miami, and I noticed the gates have expanded, so much so the two doors
are not sort of fused together making it hard to open the gate. When it
dries it wil shrink and back to original size.

I had no idea it could expand this much.

I would like to avoid taking it apart and widening the gap, as that means I
need to redo the drop rod concrete block, as well as the latches etc...

When it becomes dry is there something I can spray of paint on the gate to
make it not expand so much?

Thanks in advance,

MC


Wood expands and contracts a lot so there are gate (and door) designs
to minimize the changes. Any finish will help, but the wood will
still move.

"RicodJour" wrote in message
...
On Jun 20, 9:16 pm, "MiamiCuse" wrote:
I just finished a wood fence, using all pressure treated lumber. The
gate
is a double gate, five feet wide each side. There is a gap of about 1
inch
between the two gates when closed. However it rained in the last few
days
in Miami, and I noticed the gates have expanded, so much so the two doors
are not sort of fused together making it hard to open the gate. When it
dries it wil shrink and back to original size.

I had no idea it could expand this much.

I would like to avoid taking it apart and widening the gap, as that means
I
need to redo the drop rod concrete block, as well as the latches etc...

When it becomes dry is there something I can spray of paint on the gate
to
make it not expand so much?

Thanks in advance,

Post a picture, including the fencing on either side of the gate.
Expanding an inch in a couple of days seems like a lot - maybe there's
something else going on.

R

Well it turns out I was not looking close enough in the rain yesterday, the
wood frames of the gates did not expand into each other, I mean it did
expand, but what made it much worse was the gate latch which is basically
two "angles" which added another 3/8" to each side, the latch were locked
into each other when the wood expanded.

So I will "notch" the wood a bit where the latch is attached tomorrow to
recess it, that should fix it.

Thanks,

MC