I'm building a rolling gate on the side of my house. My lot is at the end of a court, and my house is set back from my neighbor, enough that his side fence runs almost to the end of my front yard. It makes my front yard nice and secluded. The lot widens as it goes to the back yard, and my side yard is very big. I'm landscaping the back yard, and I'm installing a large rolling gate to tie the front and back together when open. Once the landscaping is done it won't be used very often for vehicles, but it will be nice to have that option available. The total gate/fence length is 31'. The gate opening is on the house side, 15' wide, with the open gate sliding away from the house. It will run on a V channel attached to a new 12" wide concrete strip.
My problem- the land slopes up away from the house slightly, in the direction of the gate opening. From the closed side post to the open side post, it rises up about 1" over the next 15'. From that post to the end, it slopes up another 4.5" over the last 15". I do plan on leveling out the land a bit- I'll be taking about two inches off the high side, but that is about it. That leaves me with a 2.5" rise over the last 15', 3.5" total over the total 30'. The gate weights around 200lbs, and rolls on steel v grove wheels with bearings on track. Would that be too much of an incline? I want to make sure the gate opens easily, and don't want it to run away when closing. It would need a latch in the open position. This option would be easiest, look the best, and manage debris and water the best.
Option 2 would be to pour the concrete level and have it recessed below grade a few inches on the high side. My concern is that I 'd have to shore up the edges of land that would sit above the track, and and recessed strip would accumulate water and debris. I'd be adding drainage (adding one anyway on the backyard side of the strip to the front side) but there are lots of trees in that area.
Option 3 would be to raise the house side 2" and make the far side just slightly recessed, keeping it level. Not really a fan of this, as it would rely heavily on drainage back to front, and this effectively makes a dam if not drained property. I also want to front and back to flow together when open, and I think a 2" speed bump would distract from that.
What do you guys think? Pics aren't uploading for me, I'll try again later.
