How to Calculate the Length of an Arch for a Gate

Garden gates do not last forever. If your metal gate is rusted or your wood gate has worn down, you may want to replace it. Alternately, you might need a gate for an entrance to a new home garden. You can peruse your local home goods warehouse for ideas. Though a store clerk can tell you the height and width of potential gates, the arch length is not always available in the product information. It would take a complicated trigonometric calculation to figure out the length of the arch through mathematics. Your best bet is to measure it yourself.

Things You'll Need

• Tape measure

Show More

Instructions

1. • 1

     Ask a store clerk to help you measure the length of an arch for a gate.

   • 2

     Position the starting point of your tape measure at one end of the arch.

   • 3

     Instruct the store clerk to press her finger down on the end of the tape measure to hold it in place.

   • 4

     Pull the tape measure tautly over the edge of the arch until it reaches the other end.

   • 5

     Read the measurement at your end of the arch to the closest 1/8 inch.