PRIVACY WOOD DRIVEWAY GATES #6

Privacy Driveway Gate #6 is Base Price + 12%
> Go to Base Price Table

Marin County, CA

Several gates were created for the new home of novelist Isabelle Allende, including the original privacy driveway gate #6 on the right.

Marin County, CA

The design objective was to provide privacy while in turn linking the aesthetics of the wooden vehicle gates to the Spanish colonial architecture of the house. A mildly distressed finish was applied by the site.

See Recommended Finishes

Marin County, CA

Most civic codes require that driveway security gates swing in toward the property, away from obstructing the sidewalk while also allowing the arriving homeowner to pull into their drive while waiting for the gates to fully open instead of stalling the flow of traffic. It is also why most civic codes require the gates be at least 12′ in from the sidewalk easement.

The overall opening requirements differ from county to county. Often, if the driveway gates are more than 300 feet from the residence, the opening must be a minimum 14-16′ between columns, which is wide enough to allow a fire truck to enter. If the gates are less than 300 feet from the residence, the gates can be less than 13′, as the fire truck hoses can reach the house from the truck parked at the gates.

All civic codes require automated gates have a universal access code for the fire department to gain entry.

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco, being San Francisco, requires dealing with sloping grades.
The pedestrian garden gate slopes down only 1″ over the 44″ opening. So we leave that alone.
The wooden privacy drive gates, however, drop 7″ over 9-1/2-ft. To much to ignore.

San Francisco, CA

For perspective, register the bottom of the photo frame against the bottom of the gate.
To build such a wood driveway gate, the woodworker must create the radius, taking the center-point vector of that and measuring over to the center of the two gates to ascertain the off-set. The top arching rail is then laid out to that skewed radius.

The bottom rail of the driveway gates are cut to an angle where it joins to the two vertical stiles. That angle is determined by the trigonometric Tan-A formula. The angle is crucial; if the cut is made 1/2-degree off, the bottom rail is off by as much as an inch from being parallel with the slope of the grade.
For more on Sloping Grades

San Francisco, CA

The finish stain was applied on site.

San Francisco, CA
(Only one mid-rail)

Driveway gate #6-5 with a rough opening of only 101″ stucco-to-stucco. Shown with the Rocky Mountain latch E414 and the Lockey mechanical dead bolt #2210.

San Francisco, CA

Have you noticed how when we travel, with our checklists of sights to see, those sights and their accompanying memories are so much more interesting when populated with happy faces. Or perhaps it’s not the sights–the prowell gate–that incites these insouciant smiles. There’s a neighborhood deep in the heart of the heart of San Francisco peopled with happy faces. Known to only a few. If you live in the City, or the Bay Area, or visiting from Cincinnati, take an afternoon holiday with an urban hike around Forest Hills. And while there be sure to visit the historical clubhouse, designed by Bernard Maybeck in 1925, where Charles so happily resided for a smiling stretch in his mid-20’s.

San Francisco, CA

While we’re at it, a rare surviving photograph of Charles at the Forest Hills Clubhouse, with Lily the cat/kitten who stopped growing at 2 months old. Forever a kitten. On the left, his 2-story apartment. Nary a single right-angle on either floor. Camped ceilings, cubbyholes, niches, and that favorite sunroom in a neighborhood where the fog drizzles off the redwoods like a Scottich mist.

Mill Valley, CA

In-Ground automated privacy driveway gate #6-4 in the hills above Mill Valley, California. Embedded steel frames.

Mill Valley, California

A look at the residence, built like so many of the homes in Marin County, on a steep grade allowing just enough room for a terraced lap pool.

Los Altos, CA

A pair of automated driveway privacy gates #6-4 in Silicone Valley, California, accompanied by the pedestrian gate style #29.
Coastal Bronze ornamental Hinge-fronts #20-125

Los Altos, CA

Showing the property side of the driveway security gates, with their grade-mounted motors and the exposed surface-mounted steel frame.
*Note: Steel frames/hinges, for openings beyond 12′, are fabricated by the automation contractor as per prowell’s drawings.

Los Altos, CA

There is not a lot of detail to the privacy driveway gates #6, nor its favorite partner, the Pedestrian Gate #29. And yet they are two of our more popular products. Partly the privacy offered and partly the link to Spanish Colonial architecture, which is so prominent in California. Our east coast patrons may be keen on Colonia, but not Spanish Colonial. Two very different aesthetics.

Note: The below finish was provided by a third party, involving a sealer top coat that will last only so long–perhaps two years–before requiring maintenance. If not maintained, it will crack and peel and require sanding. Avoid using any finishes that are layered seals. This includes any finish with sheens, such as marine spar varnishes and exterior urethanes. The cedar wants to breath without the restrictions of a sealant finish.

The cedar, moreover, has no real use for any finish whatsoever, beyond your own aesthetic preferences. This is true only if the product is properly designed to consider expansion and contraction for decades; proper self-drainage; proper joinery to provide structural integrity for decades; and the proper species and grade of species and the age of its harvest (20 growth rings per inch minimum).

See more at Finish Options

Los Gatos, CA

Wooden front drive gates #6-1 set between a pair of unusual columns, clad in a copper relief. Here we have a 16′ overall width between columns, with the steel frame embedded, or invisible to the eye. The finish was managed by the homeowners and we’re told it is Olympic Maximum Semi-Transparent Stain, Espresso. The Columns, as an interesting aside, are hammered copper & brass that clads a block platform wrapping 6×6 steel post cores.

Los Gatos, CA

Both sides of the automated entry gates #6-1 are identical, with the invisible steel frame embedded into the wood frame. Showing a rare wintry scene in the hills overlooking the Silicone Valley south of San Francisco. .