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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AfterFast, Reliable Gate Repair Across Terrell Hills
If your driveway gate in Terrell Hills is sagging, grinding, or refusing to open, the fix usually starts underground, not at the hinge. Gate repair in Terrell Hills typically runs $180-$680 depending on whether we’re releveling a footing, replacing an operator gear, or realigning a heavy ornamental gate, and most jobs are completed same-visit. Hal Gatewood has been repairing gates since 2001, and the shop answers live around the clock at (877) 610-2993. When you call, you get a person who knows Terrell Hills’ clay soil and live oak roots, not a voicemail.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Terrell Hills’s Preferred Gate Repair Company
Around Terrell Hills, a lot of the gates we work on were built by ornamental iron shops decades ago, then retrofitted with openers at three different points since. That layered history means most repair calls aren’t simple. Hal has seen every combination of 1970s ironwork, 1990s swing-arm operators, and modern control boards, and he knows which layer is failing before he pulls a panel off.
We’re Gate Repair specialists, and we carry parts for the brands homeowners in this part of San Antonio actually run: Viking, Ghost Controls, DoorKing, and Elite among them. When a Terrell Hills gate goes down, someone from our crew is usually there the same day. The name on the shop is Hal Gatewood’s, and the shop is down the road. That’s the oldest accountability there is.
Every job carries our 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If it’s not done right, one call brings us back. No runaround, no “we’ll send somebody next week.” And if you have a written estimate from anyone else, we’ll give you a free second opinion before you spend a dime.
Our Gate Repair Services in Terrell Hills
Hinge & Post Repair
This is the repair we do most often in Terrell Hills, and it’s the one most often done wrong elsewhere. A gate sags in the hinge post, not in the middle. When black gumbo clay heaves after a wet spring, one post tilts while the other stays put, and no amount of hinge shimming fixes that. We cut the footing, relevel the post, and weld it back plumb, then set it in fresh concrete so it stays. We weld on site, in your driveway, rather than hauling the gate off.
Gate Realignment
A gate that drags, binds, or won’t latch is a realignment job, unless it’s a footing job, and we can tell within a few minutes which one you have. On the big estate lots off Elizabeth Road and along the quiet streets south of Terrell Hills Elementary, gates run 400 to 600 pounds or more. A half-inch of settlement in a post there translates to a gate that slams or stays open. We realign the hinges, set the latch throw, and reset the opener travel limits so the gate closes the way it did when it was built.
Weld & Rust Repair
Ornamental iron in Terrell Hills runs older, and older iron rusts at the joints first. Hairline cracks at the hinge welds, flakes at the picket bases, a bottom rail rusted thin from sprinkler spray. We grind the rot out, weld in new steel, and repaint the repair so it matches the rest of the gate. On a 1950s custom gate off Vandiver Road, the repair should be invisible. We take the time to make it that way.
Electric Gate Repair
Automatic gates in Terrell Hills are often a retrofit, an old manual gate that someone added an opener to 20 or 30 years ago. That mixing of old iron and newer electronics fails in particular ways: loop detectors drop out, limit switches drift, gearboxes seize after a rare hard freeze. We repair the opener and the gate together, because fixing one without checking the other is how you get called back in a month. We service FAAC, Viking, Ghost Controls, DoorKing, and Elite openers, which covers most of what’s installed around here.
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 Terrell Hills
Most gates in Terrell Hills run on a handful of opener brands, and we stock parts for the big three we see in this area: FAAC, Viking, and DoorKing. If you have a Ghost Controls or Elite system on a side gate or pedestrian entry, we handle those too. Because we keep common parts in the shop and the shop is close, we don’t have to tell a Terrell Hills customer to wait a week on a board or a bearing. Hal has been certified on all of those systems for years, and if your opener is the original one that came with the house, we’ll tell you honestly whether it’s worth repairing or whether you’re better off putting a new operator on the gate you already have.
Common Gate Repair Problems We See in Terrell Hills Homes
- Vertisol clay heave tilting gate posts. After a wet spring, the expansive black gumbo clay under Terrell Hills swells and pushes one post up and out of plumb while the latch post stays fixed. That’s the diagonal sag you can’t fix with hinge adjustment, only with a releveled footing.
- Heritage live oak roots lifting footings. The big live oaks that shade Terrell Hills yards have surface roots that run for decades under concrete. One root under a gate post can crack the footing and throw a 500-pound gate out of alignment until the root is cut and the footing replaced.
- Aging retrofit openers failing during freezes. A lot of Terrell Hills gates had swing-arm openers added in the 1980s and 1990s, with newer control boards wired in later. When a hard freeze hits San Antonio, those older gearboxes seize and the boards can fault out. After the thaw, the gate grinds or won’t move.
- Rust at weld joints on older ornamental gates. Gates built in the 1940s and 1950s have decades of paint and decades of rust underneath it, especially at hinge welds and picket bases near sprinkler heads. The structural steel can be sound while the weld is failing, and that’s exactly what we look for.
Pricing for Gate Repair in Terrell Hills, TX
Here’s what gate repair actually costs in Terrell Hills, based on what we quote in this area. A basic hinge adjustment or latch repair runs $180-$320. Releveling a single tilted post, including cutting the footing, resetting it plumb, and rewelding, typically runs $450-$680 depending on soil conditions and whether a root has to come out. Opener repairs, like a new gear or a replacement board, run $240-$550, and full operator replacements run higher because the gate itself usually needs welding and alignment work at the same time. You’ll get a written quote before we start, and that price is the price. We don’t quote one thing on the phone and charge another at your door. If you have a written estimate from another company, bring it, and we’ll give you a free second opinion. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll walk you through it.
We Also Serve Cities Near Terrell Hills
If you’re in Terrell Hills or just outside it, we cover the surrounding area too, including Alamo Heights, San Antonio, Windcrest, and Kirby. Scheduling is coordinated from our San Antonio office, and a live person answers 24/7. If your gate is down, call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll get someone headed your way.
Serving Terrell Hills, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Terrell Hills 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 Terrell Hills
Because the Vertisol clay under Terrell Hills swells with spring rainfall and shrinks during summer drought, and that seasonal movement tilts the post the hinges hang on. A gate that sags in April and straightens slightly by August is telling you the footing is moving, not that the hinge is worn. The permanent fix is releveling the post and setting it in a footing deep enough to sit below the active clay zone, which is exactly the repair we do most often on the estate lots around here. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll tell you what’s actually moving under your gate, for free.
Yes, and in Terrell Hills it does more than any other single cause we see. A live oak root grows slowly under a post footing for decades, lifting one side while the other stays fixed. The hinge itself rarely breaks first; what breaks is the weld or the post’s plumb, and then a 500-pound gate hangs diagonally and tears the top hinge out. We cut the root, relevel or replace the footing, and repair the hinge properly, so the gate swings straight again. If you’re seeing a gate that’s always been “a little off” in one specific corner of your yard, we’ll give you a free second opinion on any written estimate you may already have.
Yes, and most gates in Terrell Hills that were retrofitted before the early 2000s don’t have current entrapment protection. A gate that heavy can seriously injure a child or a pet, and the same clay soil that tilts posts also changes the gap at the hinge side, where fingers and paws get caught. We install and realign the safety photocells and edges as part of any opener repair, and we’ll tell you plainly if your older gate is missing what it should have. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll check yours the same day.
Usually not, but a grinding underground operator is not something to keep running. After a hard San Antonio freeze, the thrust bearing in an underground FAAC or BFT actuator can seize, or the gearbox can strip a tooth. We open the canister, replace the bearing or gear, reseal it against the clay moisture that’s always present in Terrell Hills soil, and set the gate traveling again. Waiting usually turns a $300 bearing into a $1,200 operator replacement. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll check it before it gets worse.
Intermittent keypad entry on a Terrell Hills gate is almost always a signal issue: a loop detector dropping out, an antenna wire crimped during a post relevel, or a control board cycling between two different states of its own. Rarely it’s the keypad itself. We test the loop, meter the board, and trace the wiring before we sell you a part you might not need. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll diagnose it over the phone in five minutes.
Call Gatewood Fence & Gate for Gate Repair in Terrell Hills
If your gate is down, sagging, or making a sound it never made before, call (877) 610-2993. You’ll get a live person, not a callback, and we’ll give you a free estimate over the phone or in person. We repair what other companies want to replace, we weld on site in your driveway, and we stand behind every Terrell Hills job with our 90-Day Done Right Promise. Hal Gatewood’s name is on the shop and on every invoice. That’s the way it’s been since 2001.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Terrell Hills since 2001.