Top of Stairs Gate

I have 3 year old twins and found an awesome gate that retracts and can be operated with one hand when you are carrying something. We now have 3 of these because it is so easy to use and unobtrusive. One at the top and bottom of the main stairs and one at the top of the basement stairs. Everyone who sees it loves it. I posted pictures of it on my blog along with a link to the manufacturer: http://www.mamabeartales.com/2009/06/products-i-love-retr...

1 mom found this helpful

I absolutely agree with everyone that you MUST use hardware at the top of stairs...and i'll add this: be sure to screw them into the STUDS. NOT drywall. If you cant secure a heavy mirror into drywall, than you shouldnt trust the awesome power of little fit throwing toddlers to drywall either. Push toys smashing into them, or even yourself once in a while smashing into it accidently. Definitly get one with hardware screwed into the studs. if it wont fit directly into a stud (obviously you only have so much room at the top of the stairs...than, you'll have to drill a piece of wood connecting two studs and than screw the gate into that pice of wood. we just movedinto a bilevel, had to put a gate up, and there wasnt studs fro whatever reason on the exact spot we needed the gate to be. we found a piece of leftover pergo flooring in the basement and drilled it into the wall. yeah, it looks silly, but, how terrible would my life be if something happened to my kids that i should have prevented!

I'm not sure how the top of your stairs are, but we have a vertical bannister on both the left & right side (i.e. no wall on either side of the top of the stairs. We bought a retract-a-gate. http://www.retract-a-gate.com/

It's wonderful. I didn't want to screw anything into my bannister & damage the wood. This has vertical posts which tie around the bannisters with heavy duty straps. Very, very secure, pretty quiet and when the kids are older I can remove it & not have to replace damaged bannisters.

T.
www.mydiaperbabycakes.com

I just wanted to weigh in on the importance of a permanent gate opposed to a pressure mounted gate...you are right, a pressure mounted gate will inevitably get knocked down. I have a permanent gate mounted and have had it up for over 11 yrs! LOVE IT! It is great peace of mind and also, you don't have to worry about remembering to put it back up every time...it becomes habit to just close it each time (like turning off a light after leaving the room! :)

Also, back in the 70's before gates and steps were as much of a big deal, I fell over the edge of some basement steps at 18 months old...broke my neck and didn't know it was broken for 11 yrs...bones were too small. I was VERY fortunate...and after 3 major surgeries over 5 yrs as a teenager, am totally ok...no paralysis or permanent damage, just some limited mobility from wires in my neck...that being said though, I NEVER wanted to have to go through this w/ my own child...hence the permanent gate!!!!

Best of luck to you!

I used an Evenflo pressure mounted gate at the top of my stairs, and my 9 month old pulled himself up on it and the gate gave way and fell down the stairs. Luckily, I was standing right there and caught him. But I was terrified! I quickly purchased a new gate that screwed into the wall and have not had a problem since. Please don't buy the pressure mounted gates for the top of the stairs...go with the hardware. Good luck!

I had a pressure gate that was supposd to be excellent for the top of the stairs. I got it brand new from a friend of mine and it did have on it that it was top of stairs safe. I was still trying to find one that was the right size. My daughter's friend knocked into it and if she hadn't been aware, and my daughter had not thought to try to grab her, she would have fallen down the stairs. I hate the idea that my 21 month old might have done that. This happened 2 weeks ago.

One thing you might want to consider--I certainly am--is a gate that has bars rather than a mesh or other similar pattern. I can't really think of the words to describe but a gate with bars would lesson the chance of your child climbing the gate. Believe me, there will be a day he climbs everything.

Pressure mounted gates are okay at the bottom of stairs since you will not actually fall down the stairs (used to stop your little on or pet from going up) but I am still on the lookout for a good gate that will fit my back stairs. We have an odd angle for a hardware mounted gate but that is what it is going to be. No chances.

S.,

I don't like pressure mounted gates at the top of the stairs, so many kids get hurt(I was a professional nanny for twenty years). I did however find a Safety First gate at Babies R us that can be pressure mounted and/or screwed in. We used the hardware at the top of the stairs leading to our basement(we live in a tri-level), only five steps. I have not had any problems yet. My son is two and is a big kid, 37 inches and 34 pounds. He has not been able to rip it off, it is as secure as it was when we put it in. The plus is you can take it out of the hardware and use it as a pressure gate somewhere else in the house then put it back in. I also found a top of the stairs gate at babies r us that was very reasonable, around $50. The Safety first gate, I call and asked for more hardware so we could use the gates on our deck and for two sets and shipping it was around $9.00.

Good luck.

K.

Hi S.!

It's me. ;) Our iron gate from the old house was screwed into the banister. When we removed it, we were able to patch the holes with wood putty that matched the wood. Unless you were looking for the holes you couldn't tell that they were ever there. We now have the same gate at the new house but we have it pressure mounted (it's a ranch so it's used more to block off access than for safety reasons). It's wobbly and we have to re-adust it pretty often.

Please just get one that screws in- you won't ever regret putting his safety first!

Contact Hal at Home Safe Home Childproofing 1-800-531-9527

He is a really really nice man and super knowledgeable with years of childproofing experience. If you have a weird shaped space or someplace like a staircase that is just particularly dangerous, he can recommend the best thing to safety-proof it, or even custom make something to fit just right. I totally recommend him!!

I agree with pp, don't use it. Put in the hardware and secure the gate at the top of the stairs. Kids will push, kick and climb on them at some point and you don't want the gate to fail.

Pressure gates should NEVER be used on the top of stairs - I don't care what the catalog/manufacturers say. They are not the ones running your baby to the ER if something happens.