DIY PVC Pipe Gate With Snap-on Hinge

There are many details of this projects that are not outlined in the tutorial. Take a minute or two to watch. Also, there is an epilogue at the end where we share, in a casual conversation, more about the project.

Here's where the new gate will go. This was set up temporarily to keep Steph's greyhound in the backyard. It was awkward as we had to take it down if we wanted to go from back to front yard! It was time for a more elegant solution!

For the frame of the gate we are using furniture grade PVC from the company Formufit. The advantage to this pipe is it is UV resistant and does not have writing on it and they come clean, unlike regular PVC!

The measurements for our gate is based on the space where it is to be installed. It's basically a 3 foot square. There is about 3-1/2 inches between the center bars. To cut the PVC, we put the pipe in a vice and used a Husky ratcheting PVC cutter to make the cuts.

Once everything was cut we moved on to assemble. At this point nothing is secured permanently. Once the placement of the bars was finalized, the tops were secured with small stainless steel screws which we put on the backside.

Since we didn't want Mac to be able to get through the spaces in the bars, we put the frame in a doorway to see if she could get through. She could not so we moved onto installation.

Oh, we thought we were ready to install, but we decided the gate needed a bit more presence. We cut multiple sizes of PVC pipe and glued them into each side of the gate. See our PVC Privacy Screen for details on this process. Once all of that was secure, THEN it was time to install!

Once outside, we used a variety of tools to loosen and remove dirt for the PVC posts and wood posts.

The hinges are secured to the PVC post and then we set the posts in place and added Rapid Set concrete to secure them. We like this concrete because it sets up in about an hours.

The last step is to add the latch and test. We brought in Mac to check for quality control--it passed the greyhound test! She is safe and secure in the backyard, yet she can see the world outside the backyard.

Closer look at the PVC hinge.

All done. It's a perfect and functional addition to Steph's yard.

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