Rolling Redwood Gate

This was a project that came about by necessity…have you seen the tractor that Debbie drives in her Tour series??? The tractor she is sitting on is the actual tractor (via the magic of doug) that was in my back yard earlier this summer…our goal before we started the redwood fence project was to bring in a tractor to rip up our back yard over the summer…and despite an 80 foot opening—-he could not fit between our house and our neighbors…so he came in from the other side…and I had to take down the gate on our patio side…

Once down I decided it would be really cool to design something different…fearing we may have other equipment needs down the road I wanted to build something that would roll open 180 degrees…so the entire fence rolls open across our driveway…while very handy for all the work done on our house…I also like it because at 90-degrees open it acts as a nice wall while I work in my shop/garage…I can run into the bathroom and not worry about my tools…

Also the back patios is now extended it we have a party…this become a great space to have the BBQ…

The fence itself is about 11 feet in lenght…I feared with 2×4s it would be too heavy…so the support pieces are 1×6 that sandwich (3ply on the “posts”) the fence…the right side sits on a large wheel I got at wood craft that locks down in place…

Overall it works well…it does feel a bit flimsy if I pull it open from up high—-just at the beginning of the roll…once it is rolling is feels fine…I may put a wire across the back—-but I think that would look bad.,..

-- Matt, Napa, CA...SING WITH ME: "Sum...sum...sum...summ...summ...summ...summertime..."