Gate designs and colours are gradually evolving. Elimia Male, a fabricator and proprietor of Kutegeragana Metal Fabricators in Ntinda Kigowa says lately people are drifting away from metallic gates and embracing fiber-sheet decorated gates.

Male estimates that in a month, he gets about five orders of gates enhanced with fiber sheet.

Fiber sheet is a single layer of carbon, fiber-reinforced with additional layers of glass fiber resulting into a great value glossy sheet with the appearance of genuine carbon fiber.

Fiber sheet is added on fabricated gates as finishing. They cover up the gaps but also serve as decoration. Charanjit Singh, a manager at Crane Roofings Uganda confirms that the fiber sheet decorated gates trend is catching up and replacing iron with fiber.              Singh explains that to use the fiber sheet, a fabricated gate is made depending on the customer’s preferred design.

Later, the fiber sheet is screwed onto the gate sealing off the gaps. Male says using fiber sheet is not restricted to a particular type of gate. It can go on either sliding or swing gates.

He affirms that fiber sheet is available on the market in two millimeters (2 mm) thickness. It comes in different colours, for instance gold, clear, green, yellow and even black.

You can also get those with different patterns. But Sigh is quick to say that the clear design is most popular because it blends with all colours from gold, cooper, silver or black. A square meter of the fiber sheet costs between sh90,000 to sh12,000 depending on the design and colour, he explains.

Advantages

Singh describes a gate as the face of the house and says for that reason, it should be beautiful and attractive. “So fixing fiber sheet to a fabricated gate adds beauty to the face of the house,” he says. Additionally, Male says compared to steel gates, the fiber sheet decorated gate is lighter, which makes it easy to manually open or even with an electric motor.  

“Generally, a fiber sheet decorated gate weighs half the weight of a steel-made one. “For instance, if the gate made of steel weighs 150kg, then the fiber sheet enhanced one weighs about 70kg,” Male explains and adds that as opposed to metal or steel-made gates, fiber sheet does not rust or in need of repainting.

Maintenance

Singh says fiber is washable. You can use soap and water to wash off the dust. Alternatively, you can wipe it clean with cloth or towel to get rid of the dirt. However, Male advises one to build a shade over the fiber sheet gate to protect it from effects of rain and dust.