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Automated gates are growing in popularity as more homeowners appreciate their security and aesthetic appeal.
They provide your property with kerb appeal, and with it a potential advantage over the competition when you come to sell your property.
Meanwhile, the added security and convenience they give to commercial premises is valued by business owners.
If you are considering installing electric gates at a residential or commercial property, one decision to make is whether to opt for swing or sliding gates.
At Linkcare, our experts are often asked: Which is best?
When it comes to automated gates, it's a big decision.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each, and much depends on the layout of your driveway.
Swing gates are usually mounted in equally-sized pairs on posts either side of your driveway.
They swing open into the driveway from the outer edges and meet in the middle of the entrance again when they close.
Sliding gates are usually a single gate that moves across the driveway entrance – often along a wall or fence to one side.
The space available for a gate to move through when opening and closing plays a big part in the selection. A sliding gate tends to be used when other types of installation aren't possible.
For example, swing gates travel through an arc inside a property's entrance. No obstacle can be present in this arc or the gates will hit it as they open.
That includes parked cars, walls or fences, sheds or the house.
If a driveway slopes upwards onto your property, then it is more complicated to install swing gates because they will hit the ground as they open. There are hinges that open swing gates at an angle to accommodate rising drives, but these put additional strain on motors.
Alternatively, mounting the gates on traditional hinges so that they don’t hit the drive as they open requires a large gap below the closed gates.
A low wall, a shrub or a tree that can't easily be moved can block the path of an opening swing gate. In these cases, a sliding gate might be easier to install if you don't want to make alterations to your landscaping, providing of course that you have room for a sliding gate to open into.
If an adjacent wall or fence doesn't angle onto the property within the distance required by a sliding gate to clear the driveway entrance, a sliding gate offers a better solution.
If the front of your property is narrow, or bounded by landscape features on either side, then you may not have the space for sliding gates to run into at the side.
In this case, swing gates are likely to be the most practical option.
Any automatic gate system installed without due consideration of its use, who will have access to it, and where the possible danger areas are, is potentially unsafe.
Sliding gates move across stationary surfaces, so have the potential to cause shearing and crushing injuries.
Swing gates can cause pinching and crushing injuries at the hinges, and impact injuries as the gates swing open. The risk of injury with either swing or slide gates is minimal, however, when a full safety audit is carried out and potential safety issues are identified.
The installation should then be designed to eliminate the possibility of these as far as possible. A qualified gate automation installer, who fully understands the unique safety requirements of your chosen gates, will assemble and install the safest possible system no matter which type you choose.
Automatic swing gates and sliding gates provide benefits in different situations.
If you’d like to discuss your particular requirements, why not get in touch with the experienced and knowledgeable team at Linkcare?
We have aluminium gates, gate automation motors and other essential components for electric gates for every kind of driveway, whether commercial or domestic.
If you'd like professional advice about any aspect of electric gates, then don't hesitate to call us on 01895 232 626, or send an email to [email protected]
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