So you’ve managed to persuade your HOA or your local community to put up a cellular electric gate. Great. Now you need to decide on where it needs to go. In some communities it’s immediately obvious. In others, it can be a bit harder. The communities which are really large and have multiple entrances and exits can be more problematic in terms of electric gate placement. With that said, there is always going to be a solution to the placement of your community electric gate system.
Connect Your Electric Gate To A Fence
Some communities already have a fence, with the entrance the only way in and out. In these cases, it’s pretty obvious where the electric gate is going. You get a gate built over the entrance and connect it to the fence, thus sealing the community off completely. Once you’ve installed the smart gate system, coming and going will be pretty easy.
Fencing can be difficult to move and manipulate. You may need to move it around so the cellular electric gate can fit into the right place. If you want the community to remain completely fenced off you might need to be creative.
Connecting a new gate to an existing fence isn’t hard…you need to make sure it looks aesthetically pleasing, which means the gate should probably be the same material as the fence. The most popular materials are usually:
- Wrought iron/iron railings
- Wooden fence
- Vinyl fence
- Aluminum
- Picket
Each type also has sub categories, so there’s a lot to think about. You can make any gate with any material into an electric gate so it doesn’t really matter what you choose. You need to factor cost, durability and security into your decision.
When it’s all connected up you’ll have a far better level of access control regarding your individual property and the wider community.
Is the Electric Gate Solely For Road Control?
If your electric gate is only going to be used for road access, you don’t need a fence to go with it. The gate simply needs to block the road in and out of your community. Most communities have one road in and out, some have one way systems and need two gates…others may need more.
You need to identify the best place for the gate to go. It can’t be too far away from the community. It should be somewhere where a car can perform a three point turn (Y-turn), so that people who have gone the wrong way can comfortably turn around. You need to think about gate clearance as well as providing electrical power to the gate so it can open effectively.
Some gates will have CCTV so you can identify newcomers and let them in if necessary. A lot of communities have postboxes on the outside of the gate to make deliveries easier. This does mean you don’t want it too far away from the houses, or you’ll have to walk a while to get any deliveries.
The electric gate should be fairly close to the community in general and on flat, level ground.
An electric gate which operates on the road will stop unwanted traffic and those who mean no good, but it does mean criminals can walk around the gate and gain access to the community. It’s just about assessing your needs and the crime in the local area before deciding whether you need a fence or not.
Get A General Consensus On The Electric Gate Placement
This is the hard part. Deciding on where to put the gate can be problematic if there are multiple people all with different opinions. You need to focus on getting a general consensus. If you can get a majority vote, go with that.
There might be genuine concerns though, such as a gate being too close to someone in the community’s property. Another common cause for concern is related to the style and decor of the gate itself. People have different tastes. Again, if this happens, go for a general consensus but you do need to listen to individual concerns.
You might come to a consensus, but when you speak to the people installing the gate or the smart aspect of the gate it might be that you need, for whatever reason, to relocate where you intend to place it. As such, it might be worth speaking to someone in the relevant industry first and using their recommendation to easily step over any problems with placing an electric gate.
Use Nature
If you live in a leafy area with plenty of bushes and trees you can use them to inform where to put your electric gate. You can almost use dense bushes as fencing, and larger trees as a privacy screen. Using nature can define the placement of the gate especially if the community is situated by a brook or stream.
You don’t want the gate to block any views either. Especially if the views add to the value of the area. Ensure the gate fits in with the nature around it. The people installing the gate will also need to inform you around tree placement.
Using nature is great on the eye but remember security wise, if that’s your main concern, a fence will be better. It all comes down to your priority and the priority of the community in question.
Think About A Queue
If you think the gate is going to generate a queue, you need to make sure you put it somewhere sensible. If the gate is located on a road, which is just off a main road and the queue starts snaking from the smaller road to the larger one and begins to slow down traffic you’ll have a lot of complaints.
Put it where a queue won’t really be noticed. At the same time, invest in a gate type that best negates queue issues. A cellular electric gate is a strong bet. If the community is a very large one, you might get ques around some of the busier times in the day. Examples are in the morning when leaving for work, in the evening when you come back.
If you want to find out more about cellular electric gates and gated communities in general check out our blog. You can contact us directly if you want to discuss installation further or read up on our key features to see if a cellular electric gate would be right for you.
