Gate Latch question

[woodlandfarms]

OK, so now the wife has stepped in with an asthetic issue I cannot address. We need to lock this new gate (2 8ft sections). The county wants / needs to have a county lock for fire / electric blah blah blah...

Has anyone seen a "nice" latch that can handle two locks? I mean the short chain method can work, but the fashion police will be pounding on the wifes door (so she is concerned anyway).

Carl

 

[LarryD]

What if you made a little "U" shaped flatbar with holes at the end and a short piece to close the gap with matching holes. Then you could hang a lock at each end of the assembly and removal of either lock would open the gate.

You could then use any commercial gate latch the "fasion police" approve of.

 

[woodlandfarms]

I was thinking of doing something with a horse shoe. An old one. Just drill the ends and put padlocks on it. A little foo foo ie (can I say gay?) but it may work... Keep with the western theme...

 

[JoeinTX]

"What if you made a little "U" shaped flatbar with holes at the end and a short piece to close the gap with matching holes. Then you could hang a lock at each end of the assembly and removal of either lock would open the gate..."


Nice. Something I've never even considered but would work for dual locks.

The chain is the most common and the one we use the most since with multiple locks (utilities, oil/gas people, pumpers, etc) a gate could wind up with more than two locks on it.

 

[gotrocks]

"The county wants / needs to have a county lock for fire / electric blah blah blah..."

$0.02

What did I miss? Why not give the county a key to your lock?
Or have the county give you a key to their lock!

 

[woodlandfarms]

Exactly what I said... Nope, they don't want to issue a key to every lineman / fireman / meter maid, they just want the universal key used...

Whatever... They just made me inspect my septic system, yet did nothing for our drinking water....

 

[have_blue]

"The county wants / needs to have a county lock for fire / electric blah blah blah..."

$0.02

What did I miss? Why not give the county a key to your lock?
Or have the county give you a key to their lock!

The county has a key to my gate. It's about 24" long and has a pair of hardened jaws.

Seriously, in an an emergency, a $5 lock is a small sacrifice.

 

[JoeinTX]

"The county has a key to my gate. It's about 24" long and has a pair of hardened jaws.

Seriously, in an an emergency, a $5 lock is a small sacrifice.
__________________"


My GF manages a retail location and after one of the routine inspection visits from the city Fire Chief............he asks her for a key to the store in case of fire. He was serious.

She excused herself and called me since I work in retail management too. I was stunned. I told her to flat-out refuse and provide the Chief with her boss's number if he had an issue but to not give him a key for any reason whatsoever.


In case of fire, the fire department doesn't need a damned key to get in and fight it......they have plenty of other tools to accomplish that.....and there is no reason to have business door keys floating around amongst the municipality.


So, yeah, the county has all of the "keys' it needs to enter your place in an emergency and in an emergency only. A key? Tell them in no unmittigated terms to get lost and to heck with 'em if they don't like it.

And I've "PG"-d a lot of my thoughts and phrases here....enter the appropriate profanities as needed.

 

[studor]

My front gate requires a hydro company accessable lock which uses their universally keyed lock. Unfortunately from a fashion police standpoint it is secured by a short piece of chain and one lock through the other. Sounds like a U shaped piece would work as well
Rail as you might against them, my choice is to maintain the area under the power lines myself and read the meter and be there for them to do periodic inspection or allow them access this way.

 

[schmism]

your local utility should send you a notice in the mail for you to read your own meter... simply fill out the numbers and send it in.

the fire, police etc have many other means to get through your gate, and in case of emergency, they arnt going to spend time waiting for the guy with the key to show up.