Permie ideas for wonderful gate latches

I desperately need a new gate for one of my garden areas. We've used a number of latch mechanisms over the years and as I was contemplating that today, I thought permies needs a spot to gather all these ideas in one spot.

Every situation is different. What you're trying to keep in, and what you're trying to keep out varies tremendously based on factors like size, dexterity, mass and cussedness, so the idea here is to give people lots of options to choose from, so they can get the best latch for the job!

1. Hubby added a simple wooden swivel to a door in our coop which worked until it accidentally dropped with him inside. Yes, every latch has pros and cons!

2. We replaced it with a chain and hook with the chain just long enough that he could slide his hand through the gap and unhook it if someone locked him in...

3. For an old run I had a ring of wire that I made which was captured on one side and fit over the top of the fence post on the other. This is great for 1 hand operation. A more complicated version of this was more secure, but as fenceposts gradually leaned over time, it no longer lined up. We have dry summers and wet winters, so wood expands and contracts, and this can be a big problem that must be accounted for when choosing a fastener.

So what are your favorite ways, most successful ways, most permie ways to keep a door or gate latched?

And if you make one yourself, there are some BB's you can earn that way!

https://permies.com/wiki/138850/PEP-BB-homesteading-straw-latch
https://permies.com/wiki/127986/PEP-BB-roundwood-wood-nicedoorlatch

I'm a big fan of hook-and-eye type hooks, and that includes just making a loop out of wire to catch on a nail on the other side on wooden surfaces.

Of course this means having a space for you to get your hand through if you're on the other side, but the part of me that enjoys making things more complicated than they need to be says that if you use a hook rather than a loop, you could connect a string/chain and have it go through a hole into the inside so you could pull it and free yourself, if necessary). Many years ago I worked at a shelter for rescued birds and we had a huge flight cage for the hundreds of parakeets that were rehomed, after getting myself trapped inside several times I set up this very scheme.

For a chicken coop door where the coop was a “house” built with 2x4 framed walls, and a regular door that opened to the outside

At the top of the door, on the edge that swings open, I attached a cable which ran through a screw-eye on the jamb side.

The wall had a board across the bottom, a regular part of “stick-built” wood frame construction, maybe it’s called the sill …. “no digging under”

The cable was long.  It hung down about 4 feet when the door was closed.

At the end of the cable I hung a weight from an old double hung window.  The weight was sufficient to hold the door closed and the door fit tight enough in the opening that no predator ever managed to open it.  

I couldn’t get locked in.
One handed operation.
But the door has to be tall enough that a person can walk under the cable, and the door and hinges have to be strong enough to bear the weight and torque, if torque is the right word.

If i needed to clean the chicken house, I would unhook the cable from the door.

Another thing I liked about it was that the chickens could not see that I was about to open the door, so they did not mob the door when I opened it.

What worked well for all our garden fences, made of chickenwire over cattle panels, with a gate of the same, is a bungee cord. Hook one end to the gate and the other to a wall of the enclosure, and the gate stays firmly closed. When I'm inside it's not tightly fastened, but I don't think rabbits and such are getting in when I'm in there working; they get in when I walk away without latching it, just to go to the house for a tool or sunglasses or whatever, and then get distracted and forget I left the gate partly open...Mostly I can latch and unlatch with one hand, except for one garden that takes a firm stretch of the bungee cord which I find takes two hands.
Gotta mention--my husband once got locked in the chicken coop, just as someone mentioned here, and was wondering whether he'd have to try to escape through the chicken door, which would likely require shedding all his clothes, by the time I heard him yelling and let him out. I then had an image in my mind of him crawling through that hatch and down the ramp naked, and I gotta admit, I was thinking what a lovely video clip that would make...

A couple of decades ago I picked up a coffee can full of the "hook and eye" latches at a garage sale.  I have used them all.  I have found that several of the latches need to be readjusted almost every year because of the shifting of the gates with the weather.

On my chicken coop door I have a simple 2x4 about 12 inches long with just one screw in it so it swivels shut to keep the door closed.  The "latch" is fairly tight so it doesn't fall closed on its own.  But the coop door swings open on its own when unlatched so not afraid of getting locked in.  

A few years ago I searched for homemade gate latch ideas.  It was a fun rabbit hole to go down.  Must have spent 3 or 4 hours one evening looking at all the various ways to build them.

Dennis Barrow wrote:...  I have found that several of the latches need to be readjusted almost every year because of the shifting of the gates with the weather.

This is a problem for me with both 'hook and eye' and 'wood swivel' style of latches - the difference in wood sizes between summer drought and winter constant wet is very noticeable.

The more I try to get away from plywood to gick-free local lumber, the greater this factor appears to be. I'd really like to see a few more "sliding latch" ideas and definitely ideas that cope with expansion/contraction better. Theckla's weighted rope set up could work in some situations. I use a similar idea to raise and lower two of my Roman shades - combination of the right amount of weight and the friction of the cord allows the drape to be stopped at any point in the rise.

My current "gate" ( a piece of 2" chicken wire stretched between two T posts) is secured with a "latch" made by stuffing the top of the tpost into the top of the chicken wire, then bending the bottom bits inwards.

I also have a a few wire "gates" that are  secured to fences with carabiners.

I look forward to better options!

I prefer latches that can be operated with only one hand.  So often I am leading an animal, carrying one or more various items.  If I need to use both hands to get the gate open, then closec, things can get complicated in a hurry!🤣

Here are a couple favorites of mine.  They are bought, but I am sure the concepts can be modified to suit many other situations

The first is a sleeve with hook or pin that slides up to open, and disengage the connection.

Aaaaaah!  The internet ate the second half, in which I described this simple hook system

https://www.tough1.com/qwikee-gate-latch.html

I had three pictures.  I will have to post them one at a time.  The key component is a ring that changes position.  Look for it in the pictures…

It’s a chain with hook and an oversized staple.  The chain is installed on a post, the staple on the other side of the same post.  The hook on the end of the chain is threaded through the gate and onto the staple.

Pivot the ring to disengage the hook.  Requires digital dexterity we humans have, beyond most farm animals.  Thumbs are handy too!

Unusual to have it freeze, except freezing rain could immobilize it.  The commercial one is galvanized, so it doesn’t rust.

Here is my gate latch true story:My goat pushed up the latch on the chain link fence and came into my back yard.  The horse seeing the gate open sauntered in. Meanwhile my dog had figured out how to open the sliding glass door lock by hitting it with a paw and then letting himself out into the backyard. Well over the course of the day my goat wandered into the house. The horse followed. Then came the chickens…. The horse ate all the dog food out of the large 40 lb bag, then drank all the water out of the fish tank. Then she relieved herself all over my living room - manure 6-8 inches deep. The chickens meanwhile also found their way in and roosted on the sink probably for hours in the master bathroom. Then my daughter came home from school… She calmly walked to the barn and got the horse lead and lead the horse out of the house. Not one piece of furniture was knocked over. What a mess!!!  So moral of the story is make sure the gate latches are animal proof!!!  Btw I got new rugs and furniture….

Oh Jan - that is such an evocative story - it has all the ingredients of a funny children's book about a wonky day on the homestead. Thank you for sharing that!!  

Jan Cook wrote:Here is my gate latch true story:My goat pushed up the latch on the chain link fence and came into my back yard.  The horse seeing the gate open sauntered in. Meanwhile my dog had figured out how to open the sliding glass door lock by hitting it with a paw and then letting himself out into the backyard. Well over the course of the day my goat wandered into the house. The horse followed. Then came the chickens…. The horse ate all the dog food out of the large 40 lb bag, then drank all the water out of the fish tank. Then she relieved herself all over my living room - manure 6-8 inches deep. The chickens meanwhile also found their way in and roosted on the sink probably for hours in the master bathroom. Then my daughter came home from school… She calmly walked to the barn and got the horse lead and lead the horse out of the house. Not one piece of furniture was knocked over. What a mess!!!  So moral of the story is make sure the gate latches are animal proof!!!  Btw I got new rugs and furniture….

I believe it!🤣
Sorry to laugh, but it’s my weird sense of humor and automatic survival mechanism.  I am sure it was a long clean up process.  I have had goats and dogs and cats that can open a door with a lever instead of a knob.  I have brought goats and piglets and a horse into the house… for various reasons, but supervised if not penned.  What an unholy  MESS that must have been

Thekla McDaniels wrote:Aaaaaah!  The internet ate the second half, in which I described this simple hook system

https://www.tough1.com/qwikee-gate-latch.html

I had three pictures.  I will have to post them one at a time.  The key component is a ring that changes position.  Look for it in the pictures…

The thing I love about this one, is that you can fairly easily adjust which link of the chain you use to make it tighter or looser. For wimpy livestock, like chickens, I betting I could DIY it (do it yourself).

Jay Angler wrote:

Thekla McDaniels wrote:

https://www.tough1.com/qwikee-gate-latch.html

The key component is a ring that changes position.  Look for it in the pictures…

The thing I love about this one, is that you can fairly easily adjust which link of the chain you use to make it tighter or looser. For wimpy livestock, like chickens, I betting I could DIY it (do it yourself).

The idea is definitely a keeper, and I bet you COULD definitely devise a DIY.

Jay, for your coop, have you tried rare earth magnets? Harbor Freight has them super cheap and for their size, they are ridiculously strong! Use Super Glue to mount them and the metal mating plate.

John Duffy wrote:Jay, for your coop, have you tried rare earth magnets? Harbor Freight has them super cheap and for their size, they are ridiculously strong! Use Super Glue to mount them and the metal mating plate.

My, oh, my, ridiculously strong is an appropriate description. Hubby installed them on a cupboard door using the screw on cups that Lee Valley sells for them. He insisted on installing two of them, one on the top and one on the bottom. The handle eventually broke due to the force I had to exert!

He was away at the time, so I could fix it as I saw fit. I can't remember if I was able to remove the lower magnet, or only the metal plate, but that reduced the force needed. I found a new handle and spaced it out better with longer bolts and a bunch of washers, so the force on the handle would be better distributed. It is still more than strong enough for the cabinet door. A smaller diameter magnet would have been plenty.

So, yes, magnets of appropriate strength in a well designed system can make wonderful door latches, and possibly some sort of gate latch, just do a bit of experiementation.

Bungees and similar are my favorite. For a non-elastic version we've used the long springs that used to be used for screen doors all the time (before the pneumatic ones), and are still sold. The bungees already have hooks on both sides so are ready to go, and last quite a long time, but not as long as the springs. Sometimes it's nice to close one of those hooks into a loop so it is affixed to one side, and easier to do with one hand. The springs have loops (part of spring usually) on either end that you can attach directly to one side and attach a hook to the other, or hooks to both sides. The springs have a stronger pull than the bungees so are good for different uses.

In terms of getting locked in, we usually have a way to hook the loose end onto the door/gate. Sometimes we also have a spring as a loop that is pulled over an upright which closes things in a way that can be undone easily from inside as the top is reachable from either side.

There's also the standard kind that lifts up to open it and has a hole to tie a rope onto in order to lift it from the other side. You make a hole through the fence/gate/door above it so that when the string is pulled on the other side it lifts the latch to unlock it (or if it's as close to the top of an open topped thing like the picture you just reach over). Generally we'd have the latch not at the top and put rope through so the rope is on the outside and the latch on the inside, and tall enough so that people can reach, but not shorter critters that might tug at it.

 

My favorite gate style is shown in the picture below. A spring attached to the post on the hinge side, and then attached to the gate on the side that opens. Simply push on the gate to open it, and let the spring pull it back shut against the stopper. No remembering to shut the gate, no hands really needed (I often have 0 available hands for getting latches!). Obviously set it up so it opens inward if using on a livestock pen, so if the stock push on it they can’t get it open. This one I added a piece of old rubber conveyor belt that I got for free, so that little lambs didn’t escape underneath. I’m unsure if this could be done well enough to be bunny proof on a garden.
If you’re doing a garden, why not get fancy like the second picture and copy these drive over gates? These are getting very popular in my area with the ranching community. If you made one that was good and right all around, or completely solid, it may successfully keep rascally rabbits out of the garden. And how handy if you’re frequently going through the gate with a wheelbarrow, stroller, wagon, etc!
For my chicken coop, I like the latch in the last picture. It probably wouldn’t work well for Jay’s wood swelling issue, but that isn’t a big issue for me. I don’t know that there’s anything that makes it a “permie” latch, but it checks all the boxes for me:
Relatively cheap and easy to find ✅
Easy to install ✅
Operates from both sides, so you can latch the door shut while inside but not get locked in ✅
My 3 year old can operate it herself ✅

Over the weekend, I was with family in an equestrian facility, and saw some gate latches that were new to me, and really functional there at the barn. Easy to operate both ways, not easy for animals to operate. There is an upright metal bar on each side of the latch that can be pulled up to release. The curved bar at the base of the latch allows the gate to swing closed.

$30 at Tractor Supply https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/speeco-two-way-lockable-gate-latch-3603506
$27 at Blain's  https://www.farmandfleet.com/products/545711-agratronix-agralink-two-way-lockable-gate-latch.html

Anybody using these with an opinion about them?

I think I have a latch like that, a panel from a dog kennel type thing.  It’s pretty good, but I have been using it less than a year, and it’s not high traffic.

I had a setting guinea hen in a shed, and I wanted the keets to have a week to get themselves sorted out.  It’s a big change from life inside the shell.  I didn’t want my five cats to have access.

Unfortunately, the eggs didn’t hatch.  I don’t think they were fertile.

I will look at the latch in detail later…