Custom Steel Gates in Palmdale, CA

What happens at the measure

It begins with a visit. We measure the opening post to post, note which way the drive falls, look for power near the gate, and ask what has to pass through it, whether that is a car, a trailer or a wheelbarrow. We also ask for your lot area from the parcel record, because in Palmdale that number changes what a gate in the front setback may be.

From there the gate is drawn to the height and swing your spot allows. Take that drawing to Palmdale Planning if you want the city to confirm it before steel is ordered. Then the frame is cut and welded in the shop, the infill goes in, and the gate is finished and delivered. Estimates are free.

• Driveway gates: single or double swing, sized to the drive
• Slide gates: for a wide opening with a clear run beside it
• Walk gates and side yard gates
• RV gates: sized to the widest load that has to pass
• Pool gates: built around the pool barrier rules

Open steel, because the code says so

Palmdale Municipal Code 17.86.040 decides the product before anyone picks a style. Wrought iron is on its list of accepted fencing materials. Solid metal is on its list of prohibited ones. A gate faced in flat sheet steel is solid metal, so we do not build one for a Palmdale property. What we build is picket or bar steel welded into a frame, open from the top rail to the bottom rail.

The code does not spell out where open view ends, so keep the infill airy and let Planning confirm a design that is close to the line. On commercial and office lots where open view fencing is required for security and can be seen from a public right-of-way, the code asks for decorative fencing such as tubular steel or wrought iron, which a welded picket gate is.

Heights where the gate stands

Height depends on which part of the lot the gate sits in. Inside the required front setback of a home lot, anything sight-obscuring stops at 3 feet, and open view fencing may be allowed up to 5 feet. On a residential lot of 20,000 square feet or more, a 6 foot open view fence may stand in the front setback, and any gate for vehicles has to sit at least 20 feet back from the property line, so a car can park in front of it while it is closed.

Behind the front setback the numbers rise. In the street side, interior side and rear setbacks the limit is 6 feet, plus one more foot, to 7 feet, only where the part above 6 feet is open view. A side yard gate in open picket can use that extra foot. A new fence, wall or screening over 6 feet needs a building permit, in every zone.

Two details help a gate look finished. Posts or columns up to 18 inches wide may rise above the height limit by up to 4 inches, which leaves room for a cap. And each lot may have one entry gateway, trellis or similar entry structure in the front or street-facing setback, no more than 10 feet in height or width, with no solid obstruction over 2 feet across between 3 and 10 feet up. A steel arch over a walk gate is the kind of piece that rule covers. Ask Planning to confirm before we draw one.

Which way a driveway gate opens

This is the Palmdale rule that catches people out. When a gate crosses the driveway inside a home's front setback, it has to be an automated rolling gate or open inward, away from the public right-of-way. Any main gate opens away from the right-of-way too. So a pair of swing leaves for a front drive is built to open toward the house, and we check that the leaves clear the rise of the drive and anything parked inside.

The code names an automated rolling gate, so a manual slide across a front setback drive is a question to put to Planning first. If you want a slide gate with a motor, we build the steel and the operator comes from another trade. Under ASTM F2200 a powered slide gate needs openings screened from the ground up to 72 inches so a 2.25 inch sphere cannot pass, positive stops at both ends of travel, and a frame that cannot fall more than 45 degrees from vertical if it leaves its hardware. Those are welded details, so we settle them in the drawing.

Sizing the frame and posts

A gate leaf hangs off one post and pulls on it like a lever, and the pull grows with both the weight and the reach of the leaf. A wide single leaf loads one post and one pair of hinges with the whole opening. Two leaves split it. Our post sections step up as the leaf widens, and gate posts should go at least 36 inches below ground, deeper under a wide leaf. That is our shop practice, not a code figure. Palmdale's open steel rule helps here, because a picket leaf lets most of a gust through instead of catching all of it.

If a motor might come later, say so at the measure. The frame and hinges get sized for an operator, and a sleeve goes through the post as a protected cable path. The operator and its wiring belong to other trades.

A finish for the sun

Bare steel rusts, and Palmdale's code expects fences and walls to show no sign of rust or disrepair. Hot dip galvanizing to ASTM A123 under a powder topcoat is the finish to ask for. The American Galvanizers Association puts that duplex system at 1.5 to 2.3 times the combined life of the two coatings used alone, as long as the galvanized steel gets the ASTM D7803 thermal pretreatment before powder. For color, ask for an AAMA 2604 class powder.

Changes to a gate you already own are on gate welding in Palmdale. A fence to match the gate is on steel fences in Palmdale, and our steel gates page covers frames and finishes in depth.