Free on-site gate assessment - hinges, posts, and your LiftMaster or Nice gate operator checked before anything is quoted
The assessment is free and the quote is the invoice.
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AfterFast, Reliable Gate Repair Across Van Nuys
A gate repair in Van Nuys usually runs between $180 and $650 depending on what failed. If the gate won’t open, sags on its hinges, or the motor grinds and stops, we can typically get to your property the same day. Hal Gatewood has been fixing gates in the Valley since 2001, and he answers his own phone. Call (818) 873-5061 and you’ll get a live person, not a voicemail.
Van Nuys isn’t like Beverly Hills or the Westside. The housing stock here is denser, older, and a lot of it sits on concrete that moved in 1994. We know the apartment complexes off Vanowen and Victory, the tract homes along Sepulveda, and the tight shared driveways where a swing gate can’t happen because there’s no room to swing. That local knowledge matters when the fix has to happen fast and the gate has to keep working for tenants, deliveries, and the mail carrier.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Van Nuys’s Preferred Gate Repair Company
We’re not a franchise. Hal Gatewood founded this company in 2001 and his name is still on every invoice. If a weld fails or a hinge post goes out of plumb, you’re not calling a 1-800 number. You’re calling the guy who did the work, and he’ll come back under the 90-Day Done Right Promise. That promise is in writing on every job. One call brings him back. No runaround.
Customers across Van Nuys keep our number saved because the person who shows up is background-checked, uniformed, and has been doing this long enough to spot a Northridge-shifted track footing before it kills another motor. We answer calls 24/7, and when you call (818) 873-5061, you talk to someone who knows the difference between a gate that needs a new capacitor and one that needs realignment on a heaved slab.
Our Gate Repair team works all over the San Fernando Valley, but Van Nuys is home turf. We know the dingbat apartments, the garden courts, and the block-wall perimeter gates that developers installed in the late 80s and 90s. A lot of those gates are now 30-plus years old and running on original tracks that were never re-leveled after the earthquake. That’s work we do regularly.
Our Gate Repair Services in Van Nuys
Most Van Nuys properties have either a sliding automatic gate or a wrought iron swing gate. Both fail in predictable ways around here, and we fix all of it on site. No hauling your gate to a shop. Hal welds in your driveway, which means less downtime and a repair that actually fits your post spacing and your concrete.
Gate Realignment
If your sliding gate drags on one end or the motor sounds like it’s working harder than it used to, the gate itself may be fine. Around Van Nuys, the real problem is frequently the concrete under the track. The 1994 Northridge earthquake shifted slabs across the neighborhood, and a gate that ran smooth in 1993 now runs a quarter-inch uphill on one side. We reset the footing, grind the high track section, and get the gate running level again.
Automatic Gate Repair
Automatic gates in Van Nuys take a beating. Summer heat pushes past 100°F and steel expands enough to jam rollers and overheat motors. When an opener stops halfway or reverses for no reason, we check the drive gear, the track, and the limit switches together, because one failed component usually takes a second one with it. We stock parts for LiftMaster, FAAC, Mighty Mule, and Elite openers, so we don’t wait on a warehouse in Ohio to ship a capacitor.
Hinge & Post Repair
A sagging swing gate is almost never a bent gate. The hinge post moved. Van Nuys has thousands of wrought iron gates hung on posts set into concrete that heaved or settled over the years. When Santa Ana winds hit, aged welds at the hinge post snap and the gate drops until it locks against the pavement. We fix the post, not just the hinge. Fix the panel without the post and you’ll fix it twice.
Electric Gate Repair
Electric gate systems fail most often because water or heat killed a component. In Van Nuys, the heat island effect means motor capacitors and circuit boards run hotter than they were rated for. We diagnose the whole circuit, not just the obvious part. If a safety edge stops working, we replace it. If the photo eyes are misaligned because a delivery truck clipped the post, we square them up and test the reversal force before we leave.
Lock Repair
Manual and automatic gates both need locks that work. Van Nuys landlords know that a broken gate lock is a security problem the same day, not a project for next month. We replace and rekey gate locks on swing and slide gates, and we match the new hardware to the existing post so the gate closes true and latches on the first try.
Weld & Rust Repair
Wrought iron gates in Van Nuys rust from the inside out. The Valley isn’t coastal, but sprinkler overspray eats the bottom rails and hinge welds fast. We grind out the rust, weld new plate where the post meets the rail, and prime and paint it so the patch doesn’t announce itself a year later. On older apartment gates, we’ll often find the lower hinge pin has rusted through entirely, which is why the gate suddenly leans at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Van Nuys
We’re certified to work on nine major gate brands, and around Van Nuys the three we see most are LiftMaster, FAAC, and Elite. Those are the openers that apartment owners installed in the 90s and early 2000s, and many of them are still running with original parts. We keep common boards, capacitors, and drive gears in the truck for these brands specifically. When a Mighty Mule on a small pedestrian gate stops responding, we don’t have to order the part and come back next week. We fix it on the first visit, most of the time.
Common Gate Repair Problems We See in Van Nuys Homes
- The ‘Northridge lean’ on sliding gates. A post looks plumb to the eye, but the slab under it heaved in 1994. The gate runs slightly uphill on one end, the motor works harder every day, and a shallow groove appears in one end of the track. That groove is the tell. If you see it, the track needs re-leveling before the next motor burns out.
- Summer heat jamming and motor failure. Van Nuys regularly hits 100°F or more in August. Steel rollers and tracks expand enough to bind, and opener capacitors cook. Coastal LA gates don’t see this; Valley gates do. If your gate only grinds or stalls on hot afternoons, expansion is typically the culprit.
- Santa Ana wind snapping old welds. Wrought iron gates on 1960s garden apartment complexes take heavy lateral force during Santa Ana events. Hinge-post welds that have been flexing for 40 years eventually go. The gate sags, scrapes the pavement, and won’t latch. We re-weld the post connection and reinforce it so the next wind event doesn’t repeat the job.
- Shared driveway and right-of-way conflicts. Van Nuys has a lot of side-by-side duplexes and small apartment courts sharing a single driveway. A gate that binds or won’t open affects every tenant. We work around the access needs: the gate keeps working for cars and pedestrians during the repair whenever possible, and we schedule the work so hours of downtime stay low.
Pricing for Gate Repair in Van Nuys, CA
A straightforward service call in Van Nuys, like a limit switch adjustment or a capacitor replacement, runs about $180 to $280. Hinge and post repair usually lands between $300 and $550 depending on the weld and how much concrete work the post needs. Automatic gate repair with a new board or drive gear is commonly $350 to $650. A full track re-leveling for a Northridge-shifted sliding gate runs $400 to $800 depending on length and how much grinding the high side needs. These numbers are the quote, not the starting point. We give the price before work starts, and that’s the price on the invoice. No surprises at the door.
We offer $40 off any repair over $200, no trip charge inside Los Angeles County, and a free second opinion on any written estimate you’ve received from another company. Seniors and veterans get a permanent 10% discount on every job. Call (818) 873-5061 and tell us what the gate is doing. The estimate is free.
We Also Serve Cities Near Van Nuys
Our gate repair coverage extends into the surrounding Valley communities, and we’re in Van Nuys nearly every day. If you’re in Sherman Oaks, Panorama City, Studio City, or North Hollywood, we can usually get to you just as fast. The same pricing applies, the same 90-Day Done Right Promise holds, and the same live person answers the phone.
Serving Van Nuys, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Van Nuys area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Gate Repair in Van Nuys
It’s heat expansion. Van Nuys gets 15 to 20 degrees hotter than coastal LA in the summer, and steel tracks and rollers expand enough to bind. The grinding you hear in August is the motor forcing the gate through a tight spot. Left alone, that friction kills drive gears and motors. Call (818) 873-5061 and we’ll check the track and roller clearance before the next heat wave finishes the job.
What you’re seeing is the Northridge lean. The 1994 earthquake shifted concrete slabs all over Van Nuys, and gate posts set into those slabs moved subtly. A post can look plumb while the slab under it runs slightly out of level, which makes a sliding gate drift uphill and bind. We see it on dingbat apartments and garden courts throughout the neighborhood. The fix is resetting the footing and re-leveling the track, not replacing a gate that’s structurally fine.
Yes. Van Nuys has lots of tight shared driveways where a swing gate barely clears. When the hinge post moves even a little, the gate can’t complete its arc or it scrapes the concrete. We reset the post, re-hang the gate, and test it with a vehicle and on foot. If the driveway is so narrow that a swing gate will never work well, we’ll tell you honestly and talk through options, including converting to a slide gate where the space allows.
It could be either, and in Van Nuys it’s frequently both. A track that it shifted during the Northridge earthquake loads the motor more on one side of the travel. The motor overheats, the thermal protection trips, and the gate stops halfway. If we only replace the motor, the same track problem kills the new one. We measure the track level first, then test the motor under load. That sequence saves you from paying for the same repair twice.
Santa Ana winds hit Van Nuys hard because the Valley funnels the wind. A wrought iron swing gate is a big sail, and all that force concentrates at the hinge post. If the welds there are 40 years old and rusted from sprinkler overspray, they fail. We see snapped hinge welds after nearly every Santa Ana event. The repair is a full post-to-hinge re-weld with reinforcement, not a quick tack that’ll fail again next season. Call (818) 873-5061 and we’ll come assess the damage.
Get Your Van Nuys Gate Fixed Today
If your gate is down, sagging, or making noise it didn’t make last month, call (818) 873-5061. Hal Gatewood or someone from his crew will answer, talk through what’s happening, and give you a straight answer about what it’ll cost. The estimate is free. The work is done right or we come back under the 90-Day Done Right Promise. No voicemail, no chatbot, no runaround. Just a local shop that’s been fixing gates in Van Nuys since before the earthquake rebuilt the neighborhood.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Van Nuys since 2001.