Gate Repair in Five Corners - Same-Day Repair, Priced Before We Start

Gate Repair in Five Corners, WA

If your gate in Five Corners is sagging, sticking, or won’t close, the problem usually traces to one of three things: a hinge post heaved out of plumb by Clark County clay, cedar rot at the base from 43 inches of annual rain, or an automatic opener that quit after years of damp winters. We fix all three, and we do it with the gate still in your driveway, not on a truck headed to some shop. Call (877) 610-2993 and you’ll talk to a live person, day or night, no voicemail maze. Hal Gatewood has been at this since 2001, and the name on the invoice is the same one on the shop.

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Why Five Corners Homes Are Different

Five Corners sits in Clark County’s suburban growth corridor where rapid residential buildout from the late 1980s through the 2000s produced thousands of cedar privacy-fence gates now hitting the 20-to-35-year mark simultaneously. That means a large share of the local housing stock is cycling through first-time gate replacement all at once, and the conditions here accelerate every failure mode.

The clay soil drains poorly. Posts installed without adequate gravel footings twenty-plus years ago heave several inches through repeated wet-dry cycles, a pattern so common that our crew routinely carries extra concrete and gravel to jobs booked as simple hinge calls. The Pacific Northwest rainfall keeps wood damp eight months of the year, accelerating rot at post bases and rust on hinges, latches, and opener hardware. Add periodic east-wind events channeled through the Columbia River Gorge, and you get sudden lateral loads on gates that moisture has already weakened. The neighborhoods ringing the Five Corners commercial hub - subdivisions along NE 99th Street, streets east of NE 72nd Avenue, homes near NE 78th Street, and newer builds climbing toward Salmon Creek - all share this same soil, this same weather, and this same predictable failure cycle.

Gate Repair in Five Corners

Gate repair in Five Corners typically runs $120 to $600 depending on what’s failed, and most jobs are completed in a single visit. A hinge and latch adjustment on a standard swing gate usually lands at $120 to $220. Post reset and re-concrete runs $280 to $520 depending on how deep we have to auger and how much gravel the clay demands. Automatic opener repairs run $180 to $450 for common fixes like control boards, safety eyes, and battery replacement. Full replacement of a rotted post and re-hang of the gate panel runs $350 to $600. Every price is quoted and agreed before any work starts, and the number we give you is the number on the invoice. Gate Repair is what we’ve built this business on, and we still do it the same way Hal did in 2001: fix the actual failure, not the symptom.

Hinge & Post Repair

In Five Corners, we pull more heaved posts than anywhere else in Clark County. The clay soil drains poorly, so posts set without adequate gravel footings twenty-plus years ago heave up and down through every wet-dry cycle. A gate sags in the hinge post, not in the middle, and that’s where we start. We reset the post in concrete with proper gravel drainage, replace barrel hinges with heavier gauge where the load demands it, and get the latch to catch the way it did when the gate was new. Post reset and re-concrete in Five Corners typically runs $280 to $520.

Automatic Gate Repair

A lot of Five Corners properties run on acreage, with long driveways where running 120-volt mains power to the gate is impractical. Those properties rely on solar operators, and Clark County’s persistent October through April cloud cover starves them. We service Viking, DoorKing, and Ghost Controls operators and stock common control boards, arms, and safety photocells for Five Corners customers. If the operator is beyond repair, we’ll say so plainly and quote a replacement that’s right for the gate’s weight and span. Automatic opener repairs typically run $180 to $450.

Gate Realignment

Five Corners gates go out of square from two directions: wet-soil post movement and the sudden lateral load of east winds channeled through the Columbia River Gorge. A racked frame rubs, scrapes, or misses the latch entirely. We square the frame, tighten and re-weld corner brackets where they’ve loosened, and reset the hinge geometry so the gate swings without dragging. Show me the gate closing on its own and I’ll show you where it’s failing. A hinge and latch adjustment on a standard swing gate typically runs $120 to $220.

Why do so many gates in Five Corners subdivisions sag after only a few years?

The posts were set in Clark County clay without adequate gravel drainage, and clay heaves every wet season, lifting the hinge post a fraction of an inch at a time until the gate drags. The fix is to pull the post, auger a deeper hole, add gravel below and around the base, and set it in concrete, then re-hang with hinges sized for the actual panel weight. Call (877) 610-2993 for a free estimate.

My gate blew open during an east wind event and now the hinges are bent. Is the panel ruined?

Usually not. We straighten bent hinge brackets or replace them with heavier barrel hinges, re-square the frame, and re-weld any cracked tube steel on site. The panel is rarely ruined; the hardware usually absorbed the damage. We’ll also look at whether your gate needs a mid-rail brace or drop rod to handle the next Gorge wind event. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll assess it in person.

Gate Installation in Five Corners

Gate installation in Five Corners typically runs $1,800 to $6,500 for a standard driveway gate, with pedestrian gates starting around $600 and custom double swing gates reaching $8,500 or more depending on size and automation. Most installations are scheduled within one to two weeks, not same-day, because good work here means setting posts in gravel and concrete that can handle Clark County’s clay soil, not rushing a frame into the ground before the next rain. Gate Installation is measured, ordered, and built to last.

Driveway Gate Installation

Driveway gates in Five Corners are usually 10 to 16 feet wide, and on these clay soils the posts carry a real load. We set 4×6 or steel posts in gravel and concrete at the proper depth for Clark County conditions, then hang the gate so it swings true on day one and stays that way. A typical driveway gate installation runs $2,400 to $6,500, with automation adding $800 to $2,200 depending on the opener.

Pedestrian Gate Installation

Pedestrian gates are the workhorses of Five Corners backyards, usually 3 to 4 feet wide and hung between a house wall and a fence post. Because they’re opened by hand dozens of times a day, hinge quality and post stability matter more than anything. We typically install pedestrian gates for $600 to $1,800, including heavy-duty hinges and a latch that won’t work loose after one winter.

Sliding Gate Installation

Sliding gates make sense on Five Corners properties where the driveway slopes up from the road and a swing gate would drag. They ride on a track and rollers, which means the ground prep has to be right or the clay heave will bind the track within a couple seasons. We handle the full install: concrete pad or footing, track, gate frame, and operator. Sliding gate installations typically run $3,500 to $9,000 in Five Corners depending on gate length and automation.

What’s the best gate type for Clark County’s clay soil?

Any gate can work on clay if the posts are set correctly. That means digging to the proper depth, adding gravel for drainage, and using concrete that can handle ground movement. For swing gates, we use 4×6 or steel posts instead of the original 4x4s. For sliding gates, the track base has to be a solid concrete pad. There’s no magic gate material that beats clay heave, but proper post work does. Call (877) 610-2993 for a free on-site measure and written quote.

Why do so many gates in Five Corners need replacement rather than repair?

The housing stock is aging all at once, and the soil here is hard on everything. Cedar gates installed between 1985 and 2010 are now 20 to 35 years old. The posts have heaved, the cedar has rotted at the base, and the operators are obsolete. You can patch a rotten post and hang new hinges on old wood, but something else fails next season. When the frame is gone, replacement is the honest answer. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll tell you which side of that line you’re on.

Gate Motor & Opener in Five Corners

If your gate opener in Five Corners stopped working, we can usually get someone to your driveway within a couple of hours, not days. Gate motor and opener systems here fail for predictable reasons: hinge posts heaved by clay soil, control boards fried by moisture or power surges, and motors that have been driving against binding gates long enough to burn out. We diagnose the root cause before we turn a wrench, because a new motor on a heaved post fails the same way in a year. Gate Motor & Opener service is what we do when speed matters and guesswork costs too much.

Motor Repair

Five Corners gate motors fail for three reasons more than anything else: a post that has heaved out of plumb, a control board that got wet or surged, or a motor that has been driving against a binding gate long enough to burn out. We diagnose the root cause before we turn a wrench. If the post moved, a new motor will fail the same way in a year. A typical gate motor repair in Five Corners runs $240 to $390 for diagnostics, labor, and common parts like limit switches, capacitors, or minor alignment work.

Linear Motor Service

Linear and slide gate motors see a lot of abuse in Five Corners. The rack and pinion mechanisms on gates installed 15 or 25 years ago were often put in without sealed housings, and 43 inches of annual rain rusts them gradually until the gate starts jerking or trips the motor overload. We clean and lubricate the rack, replace worn pinion gears when needed, and if the motor itself is still healthy, you do not need a new operator. Just a proper service. Replacing a failed control board on a newer operator usually lands between $380 to $650.

Slide Motor Service

Slide gates in Five Corners subdivisions tend to be longer and heavier than swing gates, which means post movement and track misalignment show up as motor strain first. We see plenty of slide motors that are not actually dead. They are working against a track that settled out of level or a rack that has rusted and seized in spots. Fixing the track and the rack often costs less than a new motor. A full operator replacement, including the motor, board, safety photocells, and installation, runs $1,200 to $2,400 depending on gate size and whether posts need resetting.

My 20-year-old swing gate operator in Five Corners still works but has no safety photocells. Can you retrofit it?

No, and we will not pretend otherwise. Pre-UL 325 operators from the 1990s use control boards that cannot accept current entrapment protection photocells or safety edges. The board has no input for them, and the motor control logic cannot be updated. The honest answer is that this is a replacement situation, typically $1,200 to $2,100 in Five Corners depending on your gate size. A gate without entrapment protection is a genuine safety hazard. Call (877) 610-2993 for a written quote.

Why does my Five Corners gate operator fail every winter after heavy rain?

The most common cause is a hinge post that has heaved in the clay soil. When Five Corners gets its fall and winter rain, the expansive clay swells and lifts the post, which throws the armature out of alignment. Then the motor strains against a gate that cannot swing freely, and either the overload trips or the board errors out. The fix is resetting the post with a proper gravel footing, not replacing another motor. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll find the real problem.

Gate Access Control in Five Corners

Gate access control in Five Corners usually means one of two things: a keypad or card reader that has stopped reading, or an operator that has stopped listening. Most of the time the real problem is under the post, not inside the box. Clark County clay heaves every wet season, and when the post moves, the wiring moves with it. That is the failure we see over and over on the 20-to-35-year-old gates that dominate Five Corners neighborhoods. Gate Access Control is only as reliable as the post it’s mounted on.

Keypad Entry

Keypad entry is the most common access control on Five Corners driveways, and it fails in predictable ways here. The keypad is usually mounted on the hinge or latch post, and when that post heaves in the clay, the low-voltage wiring inside the post pulls loose at the splice. The keypad still has power, but the signal never reaches the operator. Sometimes you get intermittent function; sometimes nothing at all. We do not just swap the keypad. We open the post, check the splice, rebed the post if it moved, and fix the root cause. Keypad entry repair or replacement in Five Corners runs $180 to $420.

Remote Control

Remote control systems on Five Corners gates handle a lot of weather. The average rainfall here is around 43 inches a year, and October through April stays wet enough that receiver boards and antenna connections corrode faster than they would inland. When a remote works at 20 feet and not at 40, or only works after you press it three times, you are usually looking at moisture in the receiver box or a corroded antenna lead. We test the receiver with a signal meter, clean or replace terminals, and seal the enclosure. Remote control receiver repair runs $120 to $260, and adding remotes is $50 to $90 each.

Phone Entry

Phone entry works well for Five Corners properties where you want visitors to call your cell from the gate instead of carrying a remote or knowing a code. These systems run a cellular or landline link from a call box at the gate to your phone, and you press a button to open. The weak point here is the same as with keypads: the wiring at the post and the weather sealing on the call box. With 43 inches of annual rain, a call box that is not sealed correctly fills with condensation and fails. Phone entry systems run $450 to $950 installed in Five Corners.

Why does my keypad work sometimes and not others on my Five Corners gate?

The most common reason for intermittent keypad function in Five Corners is a hinge post that has heaved in the clay and moved the low-voltage wiring inside it. When the ground is wet, the post shifts, the splice loosens, and the keypad loses connection to the operator. When the ground dries, it may work again for a while. The fix is not a new keypad. It is resetting the post with gravel and concrete, then rerouting the wiring in conduit. Call (877) 610-2993 for a free diagnostic.

Can I run a gate operator on solar at a Five Corners acreage entrance with long shade?

Yes, but you need the solar system sized for the shade and the duty cycle, not just the gate’s weight. A Five Corners acreage entrance with mature trees along the drive will produce less sun than an open pasture, especially through the persistent overcast months of October through April. We size the panel, battery bank, and regulator for the worst month, not the best one. Solar gate opener installations run $1,400 to $2,800 including panel, battery, and regulator. Call (877) 610-2993 for a site assessment.

Gate Parts & Welding in Five Corners

If your gate in Five Corners sags at the latch, drags a corner on the concrete, or won’t close square, the trouble is almost always in the hinge post or the hinges themselves, not in the middle of the panel. We repair and weld gate frames on site, which means your gate stays in your driveway instead of riding across town in a truck. Hal welds in the driveway, running leads from the truck’s generator. That means the repair fits the gate exactly as it hangs, not as it sits on a bench somewhere. Gate Parts & Welding is how we fix what other companies want to replace.

Hinge Replacement

Most gate sags in Five Corners trace back to hinges. Not the latch, not the panel, not the pull handle. Hinges. Twenty-five years of seasonal clay movement in the 98662 zip code will strip hinge screws, elongate the mortises, and bend the leaves until the gate hangs at an angle that scrapes the driveway on the latch side. We stock heavy-gauge tee hinges, strap hinges, and weldable barrel hinges in sizes that match the original mounting pattern. Hinge-only replacements on a cedar swing gate in Five Corners typically run $140 to $280.

Post Replacement

Clark County clay is expansive, and that’s a polite way of saying it swells when wet and shrinks when dry, pushing posts up, down, and sideways over the years. A 4×4 cedar post set directly in clay without gravel in 1992 has usually moved several inches by now, and resetting the gate on a moving post is throwing money away. When we replace a post in Five Corners, we dig out the old one, pour a gravel drainage bed, set a new pressure-treated post in a concrete collar, and let it cure before we hang a gate on it. A full post replacement with concrete and gravel footings runs $320 to $600 for a single 4×4 post in clay soil.

Custom Welding

Not every fix is a part swap. When a steel gate frame cracks at a weld, a gate roller bracket tears off, or a latch housing needs a custom tab welded in place, we fuse it on site rather than hauling the gate to a shop. Hal welds in the driveway, running leads from the truck’s generator. That means the repair fits the gate exactly as it hangs, not as it sits on a bench somewhere. On-site custom welding runs $120 to $280 per weld point, which is often far less than buying and shipping an entire new steel gate frame.

My 1990s cedar gate sags only in winter and straightens out by July. Is that normal?

In Five Corners, yes, and it’s the clay doing exactly what clay does. The clay swells when it’s wet, heaving the post up and out of plumb, and the gate sags at the latch. When the ground dries out in late summer the post settles back, so the gate appears to fix itself. The problem: every cycle of movement tears the hinge mortises a little more, and after enough wet seasons, the damage is permanent. Call (877) 610-2993 before the post is gone.

Can you weld a repair on a gate that has already sagged from clay heave, or does the post have to be replaced first?

Sometimes, but the root cause has to be addressed before the gate gets welded or rehung. If the post has heaved or rotated in the clay, welding a new hinge leaf onto the gate doesn’t fix the post. In most Five Corners cases we replace or reset the post, then repair the gate itself. A weld that holds a gate to a post that’s still moving is a weld that fails twice. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll sort out the right sequence.

Brands We Service in Five Corners

We stock parts and are certified to service nine major gate brands: LiftMaster, FAAC, BFT, Linear, Viking, Ghost Controls, DoorKing, Elite, and Mighty Mule. That means when your Viking or Elite operator fails in Five Corners, we’re not waiting on a national backorder. We carry common control boards, safety photocells, and armature assemblies on the truck, and if we don’t have it, we know who does. our brands

Pricing for Gate Repair in Five Corners, WA

Neighborhoods We Serve in Five Corners

We work throughout the residential neighborhoods that ring the Five Corners commercial hub. Typical response in Five Corners is one to two days, same day for an emergency where a gate won’t secure or a panel is hanging off its hinges.

• Subdivisions along NE 99th Street
• Streets east of NE 72nd Avenue
• Homes near NE 78th Street
• Newer builds climbing toward Salmon Creek
• Residential streets north of the Five Corners intersection

Service Area - Cities Near Five Corners

We dispatch and schedule from our Seattle office, but crews serve Five Corners locally and carry the parts for this soil and this weather. We also work in Walnut Grove, WA, Barberton, WA, Five Corners, WA, Salmon Creek, WA, Mount Vista, WA, and Vancouver, WA. If you’re on the border, call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll tell you straight whether you’re in our route.

FAQs About Gate Repair in Five Corners