Little wooden gates warped!

[rt18]

I built these little wooden swinging gates for the top of the steps on our deck area. I built them square and flat, kept them in the garage for a few weeks whilst I painted them. And now they're warped, which you can see from the misalignment of the top part where they come together (the bottoms are ok).
They're mounted square on swinging hinges (saloon door type) which are ok, the hinge side alignment is all good, and they're horizontally level. But twisted along their lengths resulting in the misalignment at the cantilevered end.

They're made from pine, cut with my bench saw and were definitely square when assembled, I think the twist has occurred over the weeks since assembly.

They feel totally solid (I can't force untwist them) so I'm not sure if they're a lost cause or can somehow be encouraged to untwist? I guess I'd need to unmount them and place under something heavy for a few weeks to reshape them?

 

[big-all]

have you "sighted" the posts to check they are 100% vertical??
you will be looking at repositioning diagonal hinges to average the twist to all 4 corners or just the one post to the twisted gate

 

[rt18]

My spirit level tells the mounted vertical supports are exactly vertical, and the inner vertical posts are not vertical. I guess that confirms the gates are non-flat?

 

[big-all]

if you cant deconstruct the gates at all then you can try is over wynding[twisting]the gate but super carefull and not to any great level
in my opinion less than 30% chance off any change to the good but an equal chance off damage ??

 

[big-all]

another thought
why have you chosen a design with a ledge for water to settle on ???
this will come back to haunt you as water can settle and find cracks to penetrate rather than fall off

 

[rt18]

The entire deck has this railing with a flat top and rounded edges, designed to support leaning, cups and small plates. It's quite common in New England style porches, which is the look we've gone for. The wood is weather treated and double painted, so I'm doing my best to prevent water damage.

 

[foxhole]

Really need to be hard wood , pine not ideal outside and if it was not very dry the recent hot weather will dry it further causing warp.

 

[big-all]

The entire deck has this railing with a flat top and rounded edges, designed to support leaning, cups and small plates. It's quite common in New England style porches, which is the look we've gone for. The wood is weather treated and double painted, so I'm doing my best to prevent water damage.

not so much the top its the bottom rail where the water will run down pails collect and as things go on this will be the point where the paint cracks as the horizontal and vertical timbers expand and contract differently

looks a really nice job by the way

 

[rt18]

Really need to be hard wood , pine not ideal outside and if it was not very dry the recent hot weather will dry it further causing warp.

I can't imagine the cost of hard wood compared to pine, but point taken, thank you. The warping could be due to the drying out of the pine then. Darn.
Do you have an idea how I can unwarp?

 

[JohnD]

Wait for rainy weather and they will warp back.


Sometimes if you can brace them very strongly they will settle to shape.

 

[foxhole]

Maybe clamp on top and bottom may partially correct some of the warp , or a gate latch.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heavy-Throw-350mm-Galvanised-Latch/dp/B07893PF1G/ref=asc_df_B07893PF1G/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7037714695120552682&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006637&hvtargid=pla-2281435178058&psc=1&mcid=0f00c67ac92930aca23b3ad86be4717b&hvocijid=7037714695120552682-B07893PF1G-&hvexpln=74&gad_source=1