Baby stair gates

[DaveL]

We lived in a bungalow when Joe was small, I got a stair gate to keep him in his bedroom, when required. Seemed like a good idea.
I had to do the pressure pads up so tight that the then SWMBO could not undo them, any looser and Joe just undid the gate and moved it out of the way. :roll:
He did escape once by piling up toys on his side, after tossing over a large teddy to break his fall, when he rolled over the top from the pile of toys! ](*,)
Boy did I shout at him, but I did admire the thought process in planning the escape.

 

[Mailman14]

Quote "to use the pressure ones and get the silly bottom brace bar below the level of the steps, so hopefully this will be the answer..."

Right, we've used these in two houses, tried the fixing-to-wall-type first (D'oh!), so were, of course, left with holes to cover - redecorating the whole house sorted those holes out!

I have heard of newel posts becoming loose because of the pressure ones, but, if your staircase is in good nick I wouldn't be too worried about it... Ours now go up and come down 'cos my grandson lives in a single story flat, so when he visits "STAIRS" is/are (?) the first thought his mum has...

To overcome the problem - IF your stairs / newel post / skirting board (believe me - I've had every problem... :evil: ) allow, then ,moving the bottom cross rail to "just in front of the step" makes this method safer (I'm also H&S at work :roll: ). The top also accepts this method in my house...

IF however, you can't get a stair gate to fit at the top, a baby / potty combination at the ground floor seems the most realistic answer IMHO.

Good luck - and if it doesn't work, babies bounce well for the first couple of years. :roll:

'Bvt

 

[wizer]

but I did admire the thought process in planning the escape.

Yes, quietly I'm quite proud that my little ray of sunshine has worked out stuff like this. But quite how we're going to prevent it, I don't know.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Now that is a good idea, I will see what comes out of tonight and might just do that. I have some oak that will match almost perfectly.

So the next question is, when you say 'channel', how would that look to someone like me?

Make a shallow channel with wood so that the inside dimension is 100mm wide by maybe 40-50mm deep and the length of the post that you want the gate to reach to.

That will cover the inner faces of each post and provide fixing points for the gate and will be solidly located.

To stop the channels from coming off make up 'U' shaped straps to go around the outer faces of the posts. The ends of the straps can over lap the sides of the channel with a half lap dovetail so that it doesn't pull away. A small screw through the centre of the dovetail into the channel will stop the dovetail pulling outwards. I will try and do a sketch.

Thanks NT.

I have a gate coming round tomorrow to test so will see how the pressure type works and whether it looks like it's going to cause any problems with the newells. If it isn't right then this looks like a great option, thanks for taking the time.

Mailman - I've looked at it and providing the newell posts can take the pressure there is enough room to set the bar in front of the top step (so being level with the top of the tread) so this is much better.

Will let you know tomorrow.