Gate repair in Tarzana
Taller front gates, and the repairs that come with them
Tarzana's zoning allows more height at the front of a lot than its neighbors' does. Tall iron, wide driveway gates and long drives with a motor at the end each fail in their own ways. Describe the problem and we connect you to a licensed installer who handles Tarzana gates.
Six foot front gates are allowed on most of Tarzana
About 72% of Tarzana's residential land, by area, is zoned RA or A (City zoning map data, checked September 2026). There the city allows a fence, wall or gate up to six feet in the required front yard. In R zones the limit is three and a half feet. With a Zoning Administrator's approval, either can go to eight. (LAMC 12.22 C.20(f)(2))
In Sherman Oaks, past Encino, the figure is closer to 4%. Tarzana still has R zoned streets, so check your address, but a six foot front gate here is often simply allowed. How the height rules work
Share of residential land zoned RA or A, by area. City of Los Angeles zoning map data, checked September 2026. Not a count of homes; check your own address.
What goes wrong on tall and wide gates
Height and width add weight, and weight finds the weak point.
- Leaves that dropA six foot iron leaf across a wide drive loads its top hinge and post. When a big gate drags, the post or hinge has usually moved first. Straightening the gate without fixing the post only buys time.
- Operators working too hardAn operator sized for a smaller gate will stall, overheat or trip its overload on a heavy one. Swapping like for like can fail the same way, so ask whether the operator is rated for the gate.
- RackingA wide leaf with no diagonal bracing can twist out of square and miss its partner or latch.
- Rust at the bottom railTall iron over lawn and planting gets sprinkler water on the same few inches every day.
Long drives and access
When the gate sits far down the drive, the parts that let you in and out matter more:
- Keypad or intercom placement. Within arm's reach of the driver's window, with the car fully off the street.
- Wiring runs. Long runs are where power and signal problems start: a nicked cable under the drive, a wet junction box, voltage drop.
- Exit sensing. A loop or probe on the property side opens the gate as you drive out, so you skip the trip back for the remote.
- Backup power. A gate a long walk from the house is the last one you want to open by hand in the dark.
Walk gates in tall fences
A six foot front fence often has a walk gate, and that small gate can see more use than the driveway gate. The common calls: latches that no longer catch, self closing hinges that lost their spring, and a gate that has dropped onto its path.
Streets where setback matters
A gate in the public right of way on an arterial street should sit twenty feet back of the curb face, per the city's permit manual, so a car can wait off the road, unless LADOT approves otherwise. In Tarzana the arterials include Ventura, Reseda, Tampa, Wilbur, Corbin, Lindley, Mecca, Oxnard, Burbank and Victory. (LA Bureau of Engineering, Revocable Permit manual)
Where the lot has room, a gate set back with a paved apron keeps a waiting car off the road even where it isn't required.
Tarzana's arterial streets
City of Los Angeles street layer, September 2026.
South toward Mulholland
The Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan reaches into Tarzana's hills too. Within five hundred feet of the Mulholland Drive right of way, gates visible from Mulholland must be one of a listed set of materials, and black or dark green wrought iron is on it. (Ordinance 167,943, Section 5)
Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan, Ordinance 167,943, Inner Corridor.
Questions from Tarzana
Can I have a six foot gate at the front of my Tarzana lot?
If the lot is zoned RA or A, the city allows six feet in the required front yard under LAMC 12.22 C.20(f)(2). About 72% of Tarzana's residential land is zoned that way by area. On an R zoned lot the limit is three and a half feet unless a Zoning Administrator approves more.
My big iron gate drags on the driveway. Is it bent?
Usually not. On a heavy leaf, the hinge post or top hinge moves first, and the gate drops at the latch end. The fix is resetting or reinforcing the post and hinge, then re-hanging the leaf. A gate twisted out of square may also need bracing.
Why does my gate motor keep stopping on a wide gate?
Often the operator is working near or past what it was built to move, or the gate drags somewhere in its travel. Either one trips the overload. Ask whether the operator is rated for your gate's weight and width before replacing it with the same model.
Is a walk gate worth adding to a tall front fence?
Usually. Visitors and deliveries get in without opening the driveway gate, and on an automated gate it keeps people out of the moving opening. Build it with the fence, or to match it, so the bar spacing, height and finish stay the same.
Tell us what the gate is doing
Call, 8am to 7pm every day(818) 873-7383- One licensed gate installer who covers your street gets your note.
- They call you back to talk it through and set a time.
- The quote, the work and the warranty are theirs.