There is a wide range of colours, textures and styles that will suit every home. Our aluminium driveway gates are covered with a tough coating that gives them their colour or wood-look finish.
The range of long-lasting colours is almost unlimited so your gates could be red, black, green, blue, grey, any colour. The standard range includes, brown, anthracite grey, Bordeaux red, green, white and ivory. There are also textured finishes in grey, black and brown.
Our standard range of wood-look finishes includes dark oak, dark nut, walnut, light nut and golden oak. Specials include beach and other special order wood-effect finishes.
Installing Aluminium Driveway Gates
Hardwood gates are heavy and become even heavier when it rains and through damp winter months when they soak up water. Steel and iron gates can be very heavy but they’re also very strong.
Aluminium gates are ideal for gate automation because they are strong, but light. Aluminium is stronger than steel or wood gates with the same weight.
Because aluminium is so light, even large aluminium gates don't need gate motors that are strong enough to move heavy wooden or steel gates. This means that lighter gates and less powerful motors carry less momentum when moving the gates and are safer as a result.
Lighter gates also don't need heavy duty hinges, locks and gate stays.
Because they‘re light aluminium, gates also need less force from your gate motors to open and close them which makes your aluminium gates safer and more economical.
Looking After Aluminium Gates
Aluminium gates do not rust like iron gates and they do not rot like wooden gates. The coating that gives aluminium gates their colour or wood-effect finish is also an incredibly strong protective layer.
This surface coating also means that the most maintenance your aluminium driveway gates need is the occasional wipe down with a damp cloth to remove surface dirt.
Replacing Damaged Sections
As aluminium gates built to look like wooden gates are assembled from extruded sections, it is relatively simple to replace damaged panels.
Occasionally, gates get knocked by cars as they manoeuver in your driveway and a dent in your aluminium gate will spoil its overall appearance.
But by removing a few bolts and the non-damaged sections surrounding the dented piece, the damaged section can be replaced, and the gate reassembled.
Aluminium Gate Guarantees
The tough coatings bonded to our aluminium gates that gives them their colour or wood-effect finish meet the strict requirements of the Qualicoat quality standard for aluminium coatings.
This means that we can provide our aluminium gates with a 10 year guarantee.
As the surface coating is so protective, we can guarantee the actual structure of the gates for five years.
The Cost Of Aluminium Gates
Aluminium is the perfect long-lived alternative to wooden or iron gates, but does that make it more expensive? There may be a slight difference is the cost of new gates, but this is outweighed over the life of your new gates.
Owners of wooden and iron gates will spend time and money maintaining them if they want to hold back the rot or rust. But aluminium gates stay looking as good as new with an occasional wipe with a damp cloth to remove any surface dirt.
Considering longevity, low maintenance and purchase price, aluminium gates are some of the best value gates available.
Problems With Other Gates
Wooden Gates
Wooden gates are undoubtedly beautiful when first installed, but a lot of work is required to keep them looking that good.
Water only needs a tiny gap in a protective coating to pass through. As wooden gates have many joints and sections, there’s nearly always somewhere water can get in. Wooden gates absorb water when it rains and through the damp winter months. They expand as the water enters the wood and shrink as they dry out.
This cycle of expansion and contraction plays havoc on a wooden driveway gate’s surface coating and structure.
As they expand, the surface coating of paint or varnish stretches and eventually cracks. As the gate shrinks, the cracked varnish or paint starts to come away from the wood surface and flake off.
Once the surface coating is significantly compromised, water really starts to damage the gates which will eventually succumb to rot.
As gates expand, they also pull bolts through their holes as they push on neighbouring gate sections that have also expanded. When the gate dries out and shrinks again, the two adjacent sections of gate grip the bolt again and move away from each other leaving a gap where a tight joint was originally.
Eventually you realise that your beautiful wooden gate is now a grubby, rotting eyesore.
Wooden gates also change weight as they get heavier when they’ve soaked up water. This means that your gate automation has to work harder through the winter months when winds are stronger and pushing harder on moving gates.
Unlike wooden gates, iron gates don’t suffer from rot, but they do rust. Treating rust is like treating rotten wood. The affected areas needs to be cleaned of the rotten wood or rusty metal, treated with rot inhibiter or rust converter and repainted.
Aluminium Gate Examples
Aluminium Sliding Gates
Lightweight aluminium sliding gates don’t need powerful sliding gate motors, or heavy-duty wheels and driveway track.
They can be a single gate design, or built from two panels to look like closed swing gates from outside your property.
Aluminium Swing Gates
Aluminium swing gates are light and strong.
They can be operated by lower-power gate motors than similarly-sized hardwood or iron gates that weigh a lot more.
Aluminium Driveway Gates
Aluminium driveway gates deliver the optimum solution for anyone looking for automated gates at their driveway entrance.
They are light, yet strong, and practically free from corrosion.
Despite this, they can look just like traditional wooden gate designs or more modern, contemporary styles.
Wood-Look Gates In Steel Frames
Some gate manufacturers are now moving away from highly popular steel-framed wooden gates.
They're haven't stopped building gates in this style, they've just replaced the wooden centre panels with aluminium gate infill panels instead.
This gives their customers the same look but none of the problems with discolouration, flaking varnish and rot that comes with wood.
Aluminium Pedestrian Gates
Aluminium pedestrian gates are the perfect complement to aluminium driveway gates.
They are usually manual rather than automated and provide a safe pedestrian entrance separate from the much larger, powered driveway gates.
Find An Aluminium Gate Installer Near You
If you’re looking for a qualified aluminium gate installer or you want to buy aluminium gates, call the team at Linkcare on 01895 232 626 or complete our online
contact form and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Aluminium gates are strong, beautiful and free from rot or rust.
