Free on-site gate assessment - hinges, posts, and your LiftMaster or Nice gate operator checked before anything is quoted
The assessment is free and the quote is the invoice.
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AfterGate Repair in Five Corners, WA: Same Crew That Built the Fence, Now Fixing the Gate
Gate repair in Five Corners usually costs between $145 and $650, depending on whether the problem is a rotted post, a worn hinge, or an operator that stopped listening. Most repair calls here come from cedar gates on homes built between 1985 and 2010, and the failure is almost always the same story: Clark County clay heaved the post, the rain rotted the wood, and the gate started dragging. We fix it in place, usually the same day we show up. Call (877) 610-2993 and you’ll get a live person, not a recording.
- Average post-reset job in Five Corners: $280-$420, including concrete and gravel footing
- Hinge replacement and gate realignment: $145-$260
- Electric gate operator repair: $190-$650 depending on board vs. motor
- Wood rot repair at the post base (common here): $210-$380
We’re a Gate Repair company owned by Hal Gatewood and run out of a shop with his name on it. We’ve been fixing gates since 2001. Hal’s crew serves Five Corners directly, and dispatch is coordinated from our Seattle metro office. No call center. The person who answers knows what a sagging hinge post in clay soil does to a gate, because he’s fixed hundreds of them.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Who Five Corners Calls for Gate Work
We answer the phone around the clock. That matters more than people think until they’re standing at the end of their driveway at 7 a.m. with a gate that won’t open and a car stuck on the wrong side. A live person picks up. It’s Hal’s cell number on the Gate Repair in Five Corners page, not an answering service three states away.
Every repair carries our 90-Day Done Right Promise, stamped in writing on the invoice. If something isn’t right, one call brings Hal back. No runaround, no “well, that’s a different problem.” We also publish our license number and shop address. That’s the point. Hal’s name is on the building. You can drive to the shop and look him in the eye. That’s the oldest accountability in the trade.
We stock parts locally for the Five Corners area, which means a Viking board or a Ghost Controls arm doesn’t have to ride a truck from Portland while your gate hangs open. And we don’t send a sales guy out to quote you one price and call back with another. The price is agreed before we touch a bolt.
Our Gate Repair Services in Five Corners
Hinge & Post Repair
This is the bread and butter of gate work in Five Corners. The clay here holds water through the wet season and then cracks and heaves when it dries. A 4×4 post set 25 years ago with no gravel base will move. We pull the post, dig a proper footing with drainage, set a new pressure-treated 4×6, and remount the hinges. The gate stays in your driveway the whole time. If the post is shot but the panel is solid, you don’t need a new gate. You need a post that’s set right. We do it with on-site welding when the hinge bracket or frame needs reinforcing.
Electric Gate Repair
Most electric gate operators in Five Corners are wired for 110V, but we also see solar conversions on larger lots where running mains would mean trenching a hundred feet through wet clay. We service LiftMaster, Viking, DoorKing, Elite, FAAC, BFT, Linear, Ghost Controls, and Mighty Mule. Common fixes here: control boards that got wet, safety photocells knocked out of alignment by east-wind gusts, and loop detectors that stopped sensing the car. We diagnose on-site and quote before the repair starts.
Automatic Gate Repair
Automatic gates on Five Corners driveways fail in predictable patterns. The operator still runs, but the gate opens a foot and reverses. Or the remote works from ten feet away and not from the car. That’s usually the limit switch, the battery backup, or the receiver antenna. We service the entire operator, not just swap the remote. Hal is certified on nine major brands, so we’re not guessing at a DoorKing board we’ve never seen before.
Gate Realignment
When the latch misses by an inch, the gate is telling you the post moved. You can shim the hinge, but the heave comes back. We reset the post properly, then realign the gate so it swings square and latches clean. On wider driveway gates this often means adjusting the drop rod and the catch, not just the hinges. A gate that shuts flush in February and drags by August is a clay-soil problem, and we fix it for good rather than for the season.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Five Corners
We’re certified to service nine major gate brands: LiftMaster, FAAC, BFT, Linear, Viking, Ghost Controls, DoorKing, Elite, and Mighty Mule. Around Five Corners we see a lot of Ghost Controls kits on newer homes and DoorKing operators on older ranch-style properties with wider driveway spans. Viking and Elite show up on the bigger lots off NE 99th Street and the roads running east toward the Gorge where wind loads matter. Because we stock boards, remotes, and safety edges for these brands locally, a common repair is often a one-trip job.
Common Gate Repair Problems We See in Five Corners Homes
- Post heave from Clark County clay. The clay swells in winter and shrinks in summer, and a 20-year-old 4×4 post with no gravel base will move an inch or more a year. The gate starts catching, then dragging, then refusing to latch. Reset the post with proper drainage and the problem stops.
- Cedar rot at the base and hinge mortises. Five Corners averages 43 inches of rain a year. Bottom rails on cedar gates soak up water and start to rot around year 15 to 20. The panel sags even when the posts are still plumb. We can repair the framing and remount the hinges rather than replacing the panel.
- Safety photocells and loop detectors knocked out of alignment. East-wind events through the Columbia River Gorge hit Five Corners with sudden gusts. A photocell that’s two degrees off will tell the operator to reverse every time. We check sensor alignment on every automatic gate repair, even when the customer only called about a remote.
- Wide gates on long driveways wearing out hinge hardware. The neighborhoods ringing the Five Corners commercial hub were built for setback driveways and double gates. A 12 or 14-foot gate puts constant leverage on the hinge post. When that post is set in clay, the hinges are the first thing to fail. We reinforce with steel brackets and weld on site.
How Much Does Gate Repair Cost in Five Corners, WA?
Here are honest numbers for this market. A simple hinge replacement and realignment on a cedar gate in Five Corners runs $145 to $260. Resetting a heaved post with a new footing runs $280 to $420. Electric gate operator repair, depending on the brand and whether we’re replacing a board or a motor, runs $190 to $650. Wood rot repair at the post base runs $210 to $380. A full gate replacement on a 1990s cedar panel runs $800 to $1,800 including hardware and installation, which is often the smarter call when the bottom rail and hinge mortises are both gone.
We quote a fixed price before any work starts. You agree to it, then we start. There’s a $40 discount on any repair over $200, no trip charge inside the county, a free second opinion on any written estimate, and a permanent 10% discount for seniors and veterans. Call (877) 610-2993 and Hal will tell you what it’ll cost to fix your gate, not what he hopes you’ll agree to after it’s apart.
Can You Fix My Gate If It Rained All Week?
Yes. We work in the rain because we have to work in the rain here. A gate that’s dragging in February in Five Corners isn’t waiting for a dry day. We bring the concrete and gravel we need, set posts in wet conditions when we have to, and use sealants that cure in cold, damp weather. The only thing that changes in the rain is that we lay down tarps before we dig so your lawn doesn’t turn into a slurry. But the gate gets fixed on the day we said we’d be there.
We Also Serve Cities Near Five Corners
Our crews cover Barberton, Walnut Grove, Mount Vista, and Salmon Creek on the same schedule. If you’re just over the line into any of those areas, we’ll still show up with the same upfront pricing and the same 90-Day Done Right Promise. Serving Five Corners and surrounding Clark County neighborhoods means we’re already on the local roads most days.
Serving Five Corners, WA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Five Corners area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Gate Repair in Five Corners
Clark County clay drains poorly and expands when it’s wet, then contracts and cracks when it dries. A 4×4 post set 20-plus years ago with no gravel base gets pushed up and tilted a little more with every wet-dry cycle. By the time the gate starts dragging, the post is usually several inches out of plumb. The fix is to pull the old post, dig a deeper hole with gravel at the base for drainage, set a pressure-treated 4×6, and backfill with concrete crowned to shed water. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll quote the reset.
Yes, and for longer driveways it’s often cheaper than trenching through clay. A solar panel, charge controller, battery, and a low-draw operator like a Ghost Controls or Mighty Mule kit will run a standard single gate year-round here, even with the overcast stretch from October to April. We size the panel for the winter sun angle, not the summer. For heavy gates or double gates, solar can still work but the battery needs to be bigger. We’ll spec it honestly before you spend anything.
Usually the safety photocell. At night, temperature swings and damp air can cause just enough condensation or movement to break the beam alignment, which tells the operator to refuse to close. East-wind gusts also knock sensors slightly off. We clean the lenses, realign the beam, and replace the photocell if it’s failing. If that’s not it, the limit switch or the battery backup is the next thing we check. A service call to diagnose it in Five Corners runs $145 to $260 for most setups.
We reset the hinge post. A heavy farm gate is usually hung on a post set in clay with no drainage, and the post has sunk and tilted under the weight. We pull it, set a deeper footing with gravel base, use a heavier post, and remount the gate with reinforced hinge brackets, often welded on-site. If the gate itself has pulled apart at the welds, we weld it back square in the driveway. Then we adjust the angle so it clears the ground at full swing. That’s a job we quote on-site because the post and gate sizes vary a lot.
Depends on the bottom rail and the hinge mortises. If the frame is sound and the problem is a heaved post or a worn hinge, repair is absolutely worth it and costs a third of replacement. If the bottom rail is rotted through and the hinge screws have nothing to bite, you’re putting new hardware into wood that’s already gone. We’ll tell you straight: fix it if the structure’s there, replace it if it isn’t. A replacement cedar gate for a standard 6-foot opening in Five Corners runs $800 to $1,800 installed. We’ll show you the rot before we quote either path.
Call Gatewood Fence & Gate for Gate Repair in Five Corners
If your gate drags, won’t latch, won’t open, or the operator’s acting up, call Hal. You’ll get a live person, a straight answer, and a fixed price before anything comes apart. We’ve been doing this since 2001. The name’s on the shop, the shop’s down the road, and the promise is in writing. Call (877) 610-2993 for a free estimate on gate repair anywhere in Five Corners, WA.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Five Corners and surrounding Clark County communities since 2001.