Arched Cedar Gates

These gates are exposed to full sunlight reflected from a light colored stone and chilly, foggy rain. Temperature could be in excess of 100 degrees to 25 degrees. The panels are free floating. To hold the panels centered, I drilled 1/2" holes in the style groove that hold the panel. In the hole I inserted springs that projected into the grooves just enough to hold the panel tight. At the bottom of the gates the groove detail was treated differently. Not wanting water to pool up in the lower groove I removed most of what would have been the bottom of the groove. I left only a small shelf for the boards to sit on. Just below the shelf was a chamfered dado that allowed water to drain. On one side of the gate I removed the bottom dado side to create the chamfer and also to enable the panels to be removed for maintenance down the road. This will allow the grooves to be oiled at any time and dirt cleared from the bottom drainage groove. A sturdy wood strip is installed with three stainless steel screws at the bottom to complete the bottom groove detail to hold the panels in and a groove to let the water out. The panels can be removed by pushing one board against the spring pressure so that a center board can be pulled out and the other boards can be removed. I have never seen anyone else do this but I must say it worked out nice. It made it easier to install the gates and transport without the panels in too.