ᐅ A side sectional door as a driveway gate? Would a swing gate be a better option?

Hello everyone,

we have a fairly large courtyard in front of the house, facing the street. When entering the courtyard from the street, the garage is located on the "right" side. The driveway takes up about one-quarter of the property frontage, while the rest is a beautiful rubble stone wall that should be preserved. Initially, I didn't want a gate for the courtyard, but thanks to a Hovawart dog who can push door handles as easily as he devours dog food, combined with the desire for a property without additional doors or gates, we have decided to install a gate after all.

The simplest solution would be a "swing gate" (is that the correct term?), hinged on the "left" corner of the property, with electric opening. However, the courtyard slopes slightly upward toward the garage, which would prevent such a gate from opening normally. For garages, there are side sectional doors, which are guided both at the top and bottom. Do such gates also exist for courtyards? That would be ideal because I could guide it inward along the property boundary.

I’ve gathered all my basic drawing skills and sketched out a rough plan—not to scale. The red represents a "swing gate," which is less suitable due to the slight slope in the courtyard, and the green represents the side sectional gate if such a thing exists.

I also find a side sectional gate appealing because, depending on access needs, it could be opened only about 1 meter (3 feet) wide. We already have various access control devices for the house, so this could easily be integrated to differentiate between pedestrian and vehicle access.

The gate would need to cover a width of nearly 7 meters (23 feet)... is there something like this that I’ve somehow missed while searching online?

How about an electric sliding gate? The height difference along the boundary should then not be a problem.

You mean along the street side? Yes, that would be an absolute last resort. I would have to relocate the doorbell system, as it is currently mounted on the mentioned wall, while the “opening” of the gate in “pedestrian mode” would then be at the other property boundary.

The garage in the drawing appears to be accessed from the street rather than through the yard (?) – but you also want to be able to drive through the yard (?)

untergasse43 schrieb:
The simplest solution now would be a "swing gate" (is that the correct term?), installed on the "left" corner of the property and electrically operated. However, the yard slopes slightly up toward the garage, which would prevent a normal opening of such a gate.

The slope does not prevent a conventional yard gate; this can be taken into account when installing the hinges. For pedestrian access, I would design the gate as double-leafed, with a wing about 1 meter (3 feet) wide on the side facing the garage. By the way, swing gates are something different: these were common for garages before sectional doors became popular.

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Sorry, the garage door is on the long side, and there is only a wall facing the street. This is a garage with space for 2.5 vehicles side by side. So, I have to drive into the courtyard. As I said, none of this is to scale 🙂

The slope causes the swing gates to tilt upward when open. A neighbor has this, and it really looks awkward when open.

I’m starting to get used to the sliding gate along the wall…

I currently have one of these, and there is really nothing to get used to. I find it better both visually and practically than these swing gates.

I didn't understand the pedestrian mode. You wouldn't want to open the gate just by ringing the bell, right? Most can be programmed for a partial opening, but I would rather provide a regular entrance gate at the corner for that.