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 Installation Across Sherman Oaks
Gate installation in Sherman Oaks means two very different jobs depending on which side of Ventura Boulevard you call home. South of the Boulevard, we’re usually retrofitting automated driveway gates onto posts set in concrete that cracked during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. North of the Boulevard, climbing toward Mulholland Drive, we’re engineering slide gates and cantilever systems for steep driveways where a swing gate physically can’t arc on the grade. Hal Gatewood has been building and fixing gates since 2001, and he’ll tell you straight: the post footing is where 80% of Sherman Oaks gate failures start. Call (350) 247-4763 and you’ll get a live person, not a voicemail.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Sherman Oaks’s Preferred Gate Installation Company
We’re not a franchise that sends a rotating crew from three counties away. Hal Gatewood’s name is on the shop, the shop address is published, and he has been owner-operated since 2001. When you call about a driveway gate in Sherman Oaks, the person who answers knows the difference between a flat-grid ranch home near Van Nuys Boulevard and a hillside property off Beverly Glen. That’s not marketing copy. That’s what happens when the same person has been crawling under gates in this neighborhood for over two decades.
Our Sherman Oaks customers tend to be homeowners who already had a bad experience with a gate company that quoted one number and billed another. They call us because Hal shows up in the window he promised, welds on site rather than hauling the gate back to a shop, and puts the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing on every single job. If it’s not right, one call brings him back. No runaround, no fine print.
For installations and measure-ups in Sherman Oaks, we schedule promptly and show up when we say we will. Free estimates, upfront pricing, and the price is quoted and agreed before any work begins. Not a penny more at the door.
Our Gate Installation Services in Sherman Oaks
Driveway Gate
Driveway gates in Sherman Oaks run the full spectrum: narrow single-car entries on 1950s ranch homes south of Ventura, double-wide automated gates on hillside estates north of Mulholland. We measure, fabricate, install, and automate. If your existing posts are plumb and sound, we build around them. If they’re cracked or leaning, we tell you before we quote, because fixing the panel without fixing the post means you’ll fix it twice.
Pedestrian Gate
A pedestrian gate next to a driveway gate has to match in material, height, and hardware, or it looks like an afterthought. In Sherman Oaks, we build a lot of matching pedestrian gates for ranch homes that added driveway automation later and want a secure side entry that doesn’t clash with the main gate. We weld on site, so the pedestrian gate gets fitted to your actual posts, not a template.
Sliding Gate
This is the workhorse of Sherman Oaks hillside properties. Where steep grades make a swing gate bind or drag, a slide gate on a rack-and-pinion track handles the slope cleanly. We install cantilever slides where the driveway is too steep for a ground track, and we power them with Viking or BFT operators. A slide gate is only as good as its footing, and in Sherman Oaks that means checking every post for Northridge-era micro-fractures before we bolt anything to it.
Swing Gate
Swing gates still dominate the flat grid south of Ventura Boulevard. The catch in Sherman Oaks is that a swing gate’s hinge post lives or dies by its concrete pad, and a lot of those pads cracked in 1994 and were never properly repaired. We set and shim hinge posts dead plumb before hanging the gate, because a half-degree lean at the post becomes a stripped drive gear at the operator within a couple of years.
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 Sherman Oaks
We’re certified to install and service nine major gate brands, and for Sherman Oaks customers we keep common hardware and control boards on the truck so we’re not waiting on a parts house in the middle of your job. If your automation is FAAC, BFT, Linear, or Viking, we know the failure modes specific to those units, and we stock the replacement parts that Sherman Oaks’s heat tends to kill first. A live person answers our phone 24/7, so if your FAAC operator fails on a Sunday morning, you’ll talk to someone who can actually help.
Common Gate Installation Problems We See in Sherman Oaks Homes
- Northridge-era post footings that look fine but rock under load. A pillar that held a manual gate for 30 years gets a heavy slide gate bolted to it, and the hairline crack from 1994 finally opens up. The drive gear strips, the roller jumps its track, and the root cause was hidden underground.
- Summer heat over 105°F binding aluminum and steel gates. Sherman Oaks regularly runs hotter than coastal LA, and that expansion at the hinge post causes bind and motor control board burnout faster than the manufacturer’s rating suggests.
- Santa Ana winds slamming unlatched double gates on hillside driveways. The wind forces the gate open, the swing arc fights the grade, and you get bent frames and sheared operator bolts.
- Retrofitting automation onto posts that were never set for a motorized gate. The original ranch home gate post was set for a lightweight wood gate. Add steel, an opener, and a decade of heat cycling, and the post starts leaning. We correct the post before we mount the operator.
Pricing for Gate Installation in Sherman Oaks, CA
A single driveway gate installation in Sherman Oaks typically runs $2,800-$5,500 for a standard steel swing gate with automation, depending on width, material, and whether we’re setting new posts or working with existing ones. A sliding gate on a hillside property usually falls between $4,500-$9,000 because of the track, footing work, and the heavier operator required for slope loads. Pedestrian gate installations run $900-$2,200. Solar-powered slide gates on properties without mains power at the post run toward the top of that range. Every quote is written, itemized, and agreed before any work starts. Call (350) 247-4763 for a free measure and a real number.
We Also Serve Cities Near Sherman Oaks
Our Gate Installation team serves Sherman Oaks and the surrounding valley: Van Nuys, Encino, Tarzana, and Panorama City. If you’re just over the line in one of those neighborhoods, the same crew, same pricing, same 90-Day Done Right Promise applies. Read more about our work across the area on our Sherman Oaks service page.
Serving Sherman Oaks, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Sherman Oaks 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 Installation in Sherman Oaks
The crack is almost always in the concrete footing below grade, not in the visible post. South of Ventura Boulevard, a lot of footings were poured in the 1950s and 1960s and micro-fractured during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The post looks solid, but when a heavy gate cycles, the footing rocks and transfers stress upward. We check every post footing with a load test before mounting anything to it. If yours is compromised, call (350) 247-4763 and we’ll tell you straight what it needs.
Yes, but panel placement matters more on shaded hillside lots than people expect. A solar gate opener needs direct sun for enough hours to keep the battery charged, and a north-facing slope off Mulholland Drive may not get it. On one long driveway off Mulholland, we installed a Viking solar opener on a 16-foot slide gate because trenching AC mains meant cutting through granite and chaparral. We positioned the panel high on a pole where it clears the tree line. If your site is too shaded, we’ll say so before you spend money on solar. Call (350) 247-4763 for a site assessment.
Sherman Oaks heat is doing the work. At 105°F, the steel frame and aluminum panels expand, and if the hinge post was set even slightly out of plumb, the gate binds as it expands into the latch side. The fix is usually re-shimming the hinge post and resetting the clearance to account for thermal expansion. It’s a fast job for us because we’ve seen it a thousand times on the flat-grid ranch homes south of Ventura. Call (350) 247-4763 and we’ll come look.
Yes. California requires entrapment protection on automated gates, and we install safety photocells, edge sensors, and loop detectors on every motorized gate we put in. That’s not an upsell from us, that’s code and basic safety. A gate moving under motor power can seriously injure a person or pet. We handle the full compliance on your install; you don’t need to figure out the UL 325 requirements yourself.
Nearly every time, the post was rocking and transferring load into the drive gear. The rack and pinion should carry the gate smoothly; if the footing wobbles, the pinion takes the abuse and its teeth shear. We see it on slide gates that were bolted onto existing posts without checking the footing first. We don’t make that shortcut, and that’s why our installs carry the 90-Day Done Right Promise. If your drive stripped, we’ll weld the fix on site. Call (350) 247-4763 for a free estimate.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Sherman Oaks since 2001.