Comments on: Avoid baby gates that require screws

By: Christine

Christine — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:26:06 +0000

Pressure-mounted or not, a gate is always in the way. When we bought gates for our very wide staircase, we decided to buy retract-a-gates, since they roll into themselves when not in use. They are actually the color of our walls, so when they rolled up, they are pretty much invisible.

By: Kelly T

Kelly T — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:23:05 +0000

Opps..pretty sure this should be edited as pressure point gates are NOT safe at the top of stairs:) And I should know…

The 1 yr old of a good friend of mine had the HORRIFYING experience of being just beyond an arm’s reach of her child who pulled himself up on a pressure gate at the top of a stair case(visiting relatives who didn’t want to install screw mounted) and the gate GAVE WAY. Thank god her 1 yr old who fell ALL the way down a WOODEN stair case was not severely hurt. HOWEVER- he permanently lost his front teeth! Until his next set comes in-anywhere between 5-8 years old!

And, the pressure mount ones have always driven me nuts. I was a nanny for years and was so over putting so much muscle into them, I just dealt without them! I just do not care for them. I would close doors and thankfully the limits I set for our munchkin were followed.

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:52:44 +0000

Please, please, PLEASE update the original post to say that these should never be used at the top of the stairs!

We used many pressure mounted gates downstairs when our daughters were younger and never really needed the fancy ones that have the doors — we could step over the gates and our kids couldn’t.

That said, they’re also nice for people trying to contain pets while keeping them in human contact.

By: Judy

Judy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:35:48 +0000

I agree with the majority here, NO pressure gates at the top of the stairs. Also, the pictured gate looks a lot like out gate by Summer. The convex aspect of the bars when adding the extensions are not taken into account when they took the measurements for the spaces they fit. The Summer version did not fit in a 37 inch space, unless you have a concave wall. Also, if you have a space that requires the maximum settings, the pressure screws become wobbly.

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:49:23 +0000

yes, heed all the warnings about installation at the top of the stairs! My six year old tried opening the gate at the top of the stairs and pulled the gate on top of him. He required five stitches.

Please update the post with the warning.

Thanks

Alex

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:20:44 +0000

My sister has used the gate shown in this post and it has worked great for her needs.

We have a very, very wide doorway in our house and the only gate we could find was one that required mounting with screws and brackets. Ugh. And the worst part? It didn’t stay up. The weight of the gate was too much for the hardware to hold.

By: Michele

Michele — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:05:01 +0000

A bit off topic, but pressure mounted gates may not work for dogs either. Our smaller guy could plow right through it with just a short running start.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:01:20 +0000

We have one of these gates and it was great, but it can still damage your walls (as others have mentioned). When we took it down, one of the rubber pads stuck to the wall and pulled a circular piece of paint right off the drywall. And if you put too much pressure, dents can be left behind. We sort of solved that last issue by using a scrap piece of 2×4 between the wall and pressure posts. It was actually necessary on one side because a door frame interfered with placement otherwise. It was still very sturdy and secure, in part due to the wide base, and only came down once when my husband forgot it was there and stumbled through it in the middle of the night.

By: Bonnie Blackburn

Bonnie Blackburn — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:03:54 +0000

For all who are complaining about this topic being inappropriate for an unclutter website: keeping my kid contained helps me keep the clutter contained. Lighten up, people!

By: Meg

Meg — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:01:14 +0000

Oops – sorry for the double post. I was trying to make a new line in my post, not submit it. I was also going to say that it seems like much more of a hassle to have to move a single gate around all the time, especially when you have a “helper” in tow. I’m definitely willing to deal with owning multiple gates for this very reason. It’s not really clutter if it’s serving a purpose.

By: Meg

Meg — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:59:07 +0000

That particular gate will take a chunk out of your wall if you leave it in one place long enough. I know this from experience. It does much more damage than screws.

By: Robert Reed

Robert Reed — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:45:07 +0000

“Welcome. Unclutterer is the blog about getting and staying organized.”

By: Erin Doland

Erin Doland — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:13:57 +0000

@BK I don’t have children, so for me to comment on a baby gate or even pretend to know about baby gates would be inauthentic. I am not in the habit of reviewing baby products. I could lie, but I have no desire to do so.

I do know for certain, however, that this blog covers topics beyond clutter.

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:43:16 +0000

My parents set up a gate that looks just like the one in the picture when my nephew was visiting… and discovered that it’s pretty simple to lift up the “step” to open the gate (instead of standing on it). It’s easy enough that my nephew can do it. And it makes this gate totally inadequate, if you ask me.

Oh, and I’ll ditto those who have asked, Why hasn’t the original post been updated to include the “not at the top of the stairs!” disclaimer?

By: Renee

Renee — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:52:20 +0000

OneStepAhead.com has a large selection of baby gates, if anyone’s interested.

By: Karyn

Karyn — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:15:22 +0000

Just going to agree–as a mom of three active boys–that pressure mounted gates are NOT meant to be at the top of stairs. They may be practical for keeping a toddler out of a downstairs hallway, but never, ever at the top of stairs.

If you are not handy with tools, then ask a friend to help you install a screwed-in gate. It’s well worth it to keep your child safe.

By: Marco

Marco — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 05:55:53 +0000

Pressure gates at the top of the stairs are a bad idea.

By: BK

BK — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:52:53 +0000

I enjoy reading this blog, but have to say…
1) I agree with Robert; doesn’t seem like this post fits the website described in your About page. But that’s minor compared to:
2) There seems to be an instant response to Robert’s question/criticism, yet no response or update to the original post following the onslaught of expected responses (at least from this father) regarding the safety hazards of pressure-mounted gates. I disagree with the statement “avoid baby gates that require screws”, since I see no reason to given their advantages in some situations, but would be more concerned that such one-sided advice could lead to injuries.

When looking into gates, I recall seeing the “don’t put pressure mounted gates at the top of stairs” advice on virtually every source of information I saw regarding gates. We have stair-rails on both sides at the top of our stairs, so I got some wood, tightly “tied” the wood to the rails with velcro straps, then screwed the gate to the wood. Has worked very well, even when our now-2-yr-old enjoyed rattling the gate rails like they were prison bars, putting all her energy into ripping the gate off it’s frame.

On the flipside, we have a couple pressure-mounted gates we’ve used in hallways and so on for temporary blocking (as recommended in blog post). Usually works fine, except we’ve had several cases of kids leaning into the gate and taking a nice tumble as the pressure-pads and gate frame skid down the wall.

By: infmom

infmom — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:33:52 +0000

We tried pressure mounted gates to keep our son out of the kitchen and the bathroom (house was all on one level). However, as you might imagine for a kid who grew up to be 6′7″, he quickly figured out how to push or pull the gates over. If your kid is large for his/her age and has more muscle power than the average kid that age, you’re not going to have much luck with these gates.

Granted, that was 30 years ago but I doubt the technology has changed all that much.

By: Michael@ Awareness * Connection

Michael@ Awareness * Connection — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:13:35 +0000

We had a couple of the pressurized version, which worked pretty well all told. Definitely more versatile, though the ones we had were a bit fussy on the adjustment. Ours even worked on the stairs, but at the time we were in recent construction so didn’t have the plaster wallls challenge Jose is mentioning. The zip tie dealies are an interesting solution. Even the conventional plastic ones are pretty darn strong when you wrench them down with some needle nose pliers.