Like the railings, the gate would be made of 2 x 4 rails and stiles and 2 x 2 balusters. How the gate would operate was the issue. I did not want anything on the pool deck to help with the gate that would cause toes to be stubbed. I thought about a sliding gate, but I settled on a bi-folding gate made of 4-foot hinged sections. The gate would have swiveling wheels under each section and would fold up against the railing.
The snow fence was put to pasture. For a few years, the gate worked as planned. The kids usually just opened it up enough to get into the pool. We would only open it up completely when we had pool parties. We would use a metal pail handle to secure the latch on the gate. It was a way to make it difficult for curious children from entering the pool.
Over time the gate structure would loosen up. Mother Nature was not kind. Not only would the deck itself display the effects of the sun, water and winter, the gate needed constant maintenance. I would renail and rescrew the wood parts. The boards would twist, bend, split and crack. A few times I needed to rebuild the gate. The gate would no longer stay plumb. The gate sections leaned one way or another. It was an eyesore. I eventually installed metal cross-bracing on each section to straighten them up. It helped, but it was not a great solution as the decking was starting to twist causing uneven spots were the wheels on the gate rested.
Efiwym always wondering why I would open the gates completely when we had people over during the summer. Sometimes people were not even going into the pool. I just did not want people to comment on the ugly gate that I already knew was ugly. In good time the pool deck and the pool would show its age. I was no longer concerned about the ugly gate as it matched the other ugly parts of the pool deck.
