Advice: Finish the job before the storm comes.
Background: A week ago, I started repairing a gate damaged by the wind. I removed the gate, rebuilt it with a reinforced gate kit. This made the gate stronger than it was before. I was in the middle of attaching the gate to the fence when the storms came. I figured it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to stop installing the gate, it’s just a little rain I thought. By the time the storm had finished there were some pretty strong winds.
Setback: Instead of picking up the project where I left off, I had a new problem to deal with. Because the gate was not fully secured when I stopped, the force of the wind broke part of the post off that held one of the gate hinges. After the post damage, the other gate hinge could not hold the force of the wind and ended up being bent way out of shape.
Challenge: Fix the bent hinges and repair the broken post. When I looked at the wreckage, I wondered if I could salvage this project without spending any more money on it or would I have to rebuild the gate from scratch.
Solution: The solution required two additional tasks. First, the hinges had to be fixed. Second, the post had to be repaired. For the first task, a heavy hammer and some brute force were what I needed to rectify the problem. To start off, I took the hammer and pounded the bent hinges into submission. Fortunate for me, the hinges cooperated and yielded to my efforts at restoring their functionality. For the second task, I focused my efforts on repairing the broken post. The broken post was a 12 inch chunk that had broken off along the grain. I figured, I could glue and screw the post back together. To implement this plan I used Gorilla glue, clamps, and screws to hold it all together.
Result: With the post restored and the hinges functional again, I was able to remount the gate and completely secure the gate as I had originally intended.
Wisdom: A partial installation is a bad idea. 😉 When a challenge to its integrity comes, its weakest part may fail. Always give yourself enough time to complete the job before the storms come or wait until the weather improves.
