Door/gate closing set-up

[Andy Carson]

This design for a door closing system is loosely based on a set-up I saw in colonial Williamsburg last year. In the town itself, they used this sytem on all sorts of gates and doors and it was often linked to a latch that would keep the door/gate closed once shut. The ones in Wiliamsburg used nice round cast iron balls, that weighed about 10 pounds and some purpose built chain. As is my way, mine is made out of re-purposed cement weights that I wasn’t using, some rope left over from another project, and some bailing twine. Mine is a little heavier as I didn’t want to futz with a latch and it does get windy here. Same idea, though. You can probably tell that it’s simply a rope tied on one end to the door and on one end to the frame, with a weight hung in between. The length of the rope is important, but you can guess and check that easily enough. Simple as can be, but very effective. It’s not a big innovation, but someone asked about it, so I took a pic. By the way, old water jugs make great water haulers. Water doesn’t slosh out of them like 5 gallon buckets so you can fill them up all the way. If you make a small air hole in the top, they pour almost as fast too.

[Does’ Leap]

Andy:

Looks great. Thanks for posting that.

George

[Robert MoonShadow]

does the rope get in the way of things?

[Andy Carson]

Robert,
the rope doesn’t get in the way of things in this particular location. It is only about three feet out from the corner. I mostly use this space when the door is open and the rope is right up against the wal when the door is open. If you had a very snug spot, this system might not be the best. On the other hand, you could shorten the rope and add more weight and it would take up less room.

[Author]

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