My back fence gate has been dragging through the dirt for months because the wood warped over the winter, and I finally got sick of lifting it up every single time I had to let the dog out. I went to the store, bought some heavy-duty metal hinges and a basic bracing kit, and thought I’d have it swinging perfectly in about ten minutes. What a total disaster.
The old screws were so rusted into the main post that my drill instantly stripped the heads off three of them. I had to go find some vice grips and manually twist the rusty metal out millimeter by millimeter, which took forever. Then, when I finally got the new hinges on and hung the heavy gate back up, it was completely crooked. If you don’t get the angle exactly right on those hinges, gravity just wins, and the whole door sags right back down into the grass.
I ended up having to unscrew the whole frame, shove a piece of scrap wood under the bottom to hold it straight, and redrill fresh holes into the fence post. Of course, the old wood split on the last screw because I didn’t drill a pilot hole first. I was literally out there sweating, kicking the dirt, and yelling at a piece of wood while the neighbors watched me from their kitchen window.
It shuts now, but the latch doesn’t even align properly with the catch, so I have to use a stupid bungee cord to keep it from blowing open when the wind picks up. The yard looks messy, my tools are lying all over the grass, and I’m just leaving it like that because I don’t even care anymore.
One small fix turns into a full battle with warped wood, rusty screws, and gravity fighting you the entire way. At least the gate finally closes now — even if the bungee cord became part of the design 