Now I'm hoping that you all are as savvy about baby gates as you are owls........
We have a little bit of a problem. We definitely have a toddler in the house! She is able to get up the stairs, but still has no clue how to get down. There is concrete at the bottom of the stairs so we need a gate quick!
An anonymous comment was left on my baby gate post recently. Anonymous suggested that my husband needs to take lessons in carpentry and load distribution! I was defensive and deleted the comment right away, only to find out that "Anonymous"......was my husband. Ha ha.
So there are 3 problems with the baby gate:
1. Extra wide staircase...4ft. 3 in
2. No stud opposite of the post
3. Next post is halfway up the staircase
4. Big kids who will need to frequently go upstairs.
5. And remember....concrete at the bottom of the stairs.
Are there baby gates for this scenario? Surely we are not the first ones with this problem!!!
6 comments:
We use a "baby" gate for our fur covered babies. There is a great one available either from Petsmart of Petco (I can't remember which) for about $65-70 that comes with an extension that should fit your stairs. It has screws that can be permanently mounted or used as if they were temporary. ie, you could use the temporary stuff for the post and permanent anchors for the wall (which could later be repainted). They make one that has a small door in the bottom for smaller fur covered babies to enter/exit, and one version that does not have that small door. There is a very easy to use swing gate in the middle, with a handle, that allows human access to the stairs. It's perfect for us because it prevents our 65-115 lb dogs from destroying the bedrooms while it allows our cats to get upstairs away from the dogs when necessary. Buy two and put one at the top of the stairs as well!
Hope this helps.
Natalie
www.adoptyaroslav.blogspot.com
I LOVE this gate: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=8465717
Wal Mart, $110, but... it's 3 'bendy' pieces. Looks like you cound mount it on the FLOOR to the stair post and then to the nearest stud on the floor. You can use all 3 panels or just 2 and it's a 'swing away' gate so you just slide a button with your thumb and lift up and the door opens and swings. Kristopher works ours just fine and has since we got it about 18 mos ago so I'm sure even your youngest that is ALLOWED to operate it will have no problem. There's a pic of Micah by ours (we have a large 10' opening to the kitchen we use it in) on my blog today :)
I'd let the kid roll down the stairs a couple of time, bang their shoulders and head on the fall down, and they'll get the idea that it isn't a good idea to go up. That is what we did in 1944, we were a smart generation.
Run a nice thick (decorative)trim up the entire left side of the wall, securing it to the studs. Then, attach the gate to that. ( I didn't read any other comments, so maybe someone already said that.
The other thing (we had stairs in another house), is just to use it as a very important lesson in "no." It's a non-negotiable like playing in the street.
I don't have any ideas, I was just leaving a comment to say that I hope you never delete my comments!
Your Dad cracks me up. And so does Johnny....load distribution. I think that term describes why I'm not a runner.
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