Had a client point out my gate latch was backwards for 10 years

I was installing a simple latch on a cedar fence gate in Everett, and the homeowner asked why the lever was on the outside. I always put the lever on the inside for security, but he showed me it meant you had to reach over the gate to open it from his yard. What's your standard for latch orientation?

3 comments

3 Comments

julia_miller241mo ago

Remember helping my dad build a chicken coop gate as a kid. He put the latch on the inside "so the chickens couldn't escape." We had to climb the fence every single time to get in. Took us a whole summer to realize we weren't the clever ones.

violatorres1mo ago

Seriously though, @julia_miller24, maybe he just messed up the plan and stuck with it. Dads aren't always master planners, sometimes they're just winging it. The chicken security story was probably his best save.

claire_walker1mo ago

Imagine your dad secretly watching you climb that fence every day and trying not to laugh. He probably got a whole summer's worth of free entertainment out of it, like a homemade sitcom. That's some next level dad humor, sacrificing easy gate access for a good long joke. Makes you wonder if the "chicken security" thing was just a cover story all along.