As you begin shopping for an iron or aluminum fence or driveway gate, you’re probably coming across all sorts of new terms you’ve never heard of. One that commonly trips folks up is double gate vs single gate. While it may sound self-explanatory, I wanted to touch on the differences between the two and why some options are available while others are not.

Before we dive into the differences between the two, I wanted to clarify that this video is going to include discussions that apply to driveway gates and walk gates as well. The terminology applies to both, so this video should help whether you are only looking at a driveway gate, or for walk gates that are part of a yard enclosure.

We’ll start with simpler of the two: single gates. Like the name implies, a single gate is made up of one piece, or leaf, as its commonly referred to.

A single gate is going to have hinges on one side and a latch on the other side of the gate opening. The whole single piece will swing as one. So, if we had a 6ft wide single gate, that means that you would have one 6ft wide gate piece, or leaf, that would swing like this.

The single gate size offerings will vary by manufacturer and style, but what you’ll commonly see is single leaf driveway gates in a 10ft or 12ft width single configuration and single leaf walk gates in a 4ft, 5ft and 6ft wide configuration.

Now let’s jump to double gates. This is typically where things start to get a little confusing for some folks. In a double gate setup, you have two gate pieces, or leafs, that open in the center as such. So, in a double gate configuration, you will have hinges on both sides of the gate opening and the gate latch will be in the center. With double gates, you also will need a drop rod to help the latch keep the gate shut.

Where the confusion can set in is in the stated width of double gates. When you hear a double gate size stated, that is covering both halves of the gate as a whole. Always take the stated size as the total gate size regardless of it being a single or double gate.

Let’s use a 10ft double gate for example. If I state a 10ft double gate on a quote, that means that two 5ft halves add up to 10ft total gate opening. It does NOT mean two 10ft halves make up a 20ft gate opening. Double gate does not mean double the stated size. That’s usually where the confusion lies.

With single gates, you don’t want too large of a leaf that its difficult or unwieldy to open and close. You may think a 16ft wide single gate for your driveway sounds great. But in reality, that leaf would be straining the limits of your hinges, posts and automation systems. Super wide single leaf driveway gates can also be difficult to ship, offload and install.

What you’ll typically find is driveway gate single leafs in a 10ft and 12ft width. Single walk gate leafs will come in a 4ft, 5ft and 6ft width. Any larger than those stated sizes and its gets too difficult to open or install. Any smaller and the openings don’t allow enough clear access for people, larger outdoor items and vehicles.

With double gates, you’ll find the opposite is true. You don’t want too small of a double gate where it’s difficult to operate and fit through smaller openings. Keep in mind that opening a double gate has extra steps involved compared to opening a single gate. For a single leaf gate, you walk up to it, open the latch and push or pull the gate. For a double leaf gate, you walk up to it, open the latch, pull up your drop rod and then push both leafs open.

Not a huge difference in operation, but this is where you want to keep too narrow of a double gate in mind. Our smallest double walk gate is 8ft wide. That is wide enough that you can walk up to it and only open one 4ft half to walk through it. You only need to pull up the drop rod and swing the other leaf if you are taking something larger through.

Let’s take that same example, but go with a custom 4ft double gate that has two 2ft halves. In that scenario, you likely aren’t going to comfortably squeeze or shimmy through a 2ft opening vs the 4ft opening in our prior example. So while a small double gate may sound ideal, they can make using the gate more cumbersome.