Diagnose the gate before buying hardware
A gate that will not latch is usually telling one of three stories, and each has a different fix. Story one: the gate has sagged — the latch and its catch no longer line up vertically. That is a structure problem, and our sagging gate repair guide is the fix; new hardware on a sagged gate just gives the sag a shinier target. Story two: the hardware itself has failed — a sprung latch, a bent hinge, screws pulling out of soft wood. Story three: the posts have moved — a gate post leaning a degree moves the catch an inch at latch height. Push each post at the top: movement there means post work before hardware work.
Hinges: the hardware that carries everything
Hinges carry the gate's whole weight, levered. The common failures are undersized hinges for the gate's width and weight, and screws too short to bite sound wood — both original-installation shortcuts that fail on a schedule. The repair: replace like-for-like in size or go one size up, and fix with screws long enough to reach sound wood through the post face. If the screw holes themselves are stripped or the wood around them is soft, move the hinge position slightly or repair the wood first — a longer screw into rotten wood is a postponement, not a repair. Lubricate the hinge knuckles once the gate hangs true; a dry hinge's resistance is often what owners mistake for a latch problem.
Latches: line up, then latch
With hinges sound and the gate hanging level, set the latch: hold the gate in its closed, resting position — not forced — and mark where the latch arm naturally meets the catch post. Fit the catch to the latch as it hangs, rather than bending the gate to meet a catch fitted by eye. Gravity latches forgive a few millimetres of seasonal movement; thumb latches and ring latches are prettier and fussier. In freeze-thaw and wet seasons, wood gates swell and shrink across the grain — a latch set perfectly in a dry month may bind in a wet one, which is an adjustment, not a failure.
Self-closing and pool gates: two special cases
Some gates carry obligations beyond convenience. A gate to a pool area is commonly required by local code to be self-closing and self-latching, with the latch positioned out of small children's reach — if your gate serves a pool, treat a tired latch or a hinge that no longer pulls the gate shut as a safety repair, not a cosmetic one, and confirm your local code's exact requirements before choosing replacement hardware. Heavy double gates are the other special case: their meeting point moves twice as much for the same hinge wear, so diagnose both leaves, and expect the fix to include a drop rod or cane bolt that has been doing quiet structural work all along. In both cases the diagnostic order on this page still holds — hang first, hardware second — but the standard for "fixed" is stricter: the gate must close and latch itself, every time, without a hand helping it home.
When the fix becomes a decision
If posts move, rails are soft and hardware is failing together, price the honest comparison in our DIY or hire a pro guide and the repair ranges in our fence repair cost guide — a gate is the most-used moving part of the fence, and the one whose repair quality you will feel every single day. Note that latch and hinge work involves no digging and therefore no 811 call — but the moment a gate post must be reset or replaced, call 811 and have underground utilities marked before the first hole, exactly as our permit and property line checklist sets out. Add the fixed gate to the seasonal rounds in our fence maintenance checklist: hinges oiled, screws checked, latch tested — five minutes, twice a year.