Conference moira::parenting

I don't know the company name but we have the wooden accordian type gates that
screw into the wall.  We bought ours at Wal Mart or K Mart a few years ago.

Dave

    I too don't know the name of the company, but we bought a 3-In-1 gate
    (that's the name, I believe) from TOYS R US and Rich's. It's plastic
    and can be mounted on one end and swings. We mounted it at the top of
    our statirs and swing it out of the way when not in use. When we use
    it, we slide it to the proper width and lock it. I bought a hook and
    eye combination to lock it, but the hook part has a spring loaded
    sliding mechanism that encloses the hook. the whole lock cost $2 or so
    at HQ. The gate was around $20 I thinks and can also be used as regular
    pressure mounted gate in doorway.
    
    Off white/grey plastic gate

We have a gate at home that does this.  I have seen them in catalogs and I
have seen them at Toys R Us.  I don't remember the manufacturer's name,
although I'll write a note to look. 

They can work as tension gates, with rubber stoppers on both ends. 

Or, you can install these hinge things, one part on the one edge of the gate,
and the other part on the wall.    The "eye" on the gate side slips over the
"hook" on the wall part and it's a hinge.     So you swing the gate closed,
and then clip the tension set (which smushes the rubber bumper on the free
side of the gate into the other side of the door jam.   When you want to open
it, you release the tension set, and it swings open. 

At first we thought it was cumbersome that you had to clip the tension set
each time, but it gets very regular in motion, and you get very used to doing 
it.   

I like it because the only other swing open types I saw were 1) the Graco 
which we have and it works great, but it has a tension bar along the floor 
that we didn't want at the top of a set of stairs because non-household 
members often trip over it, and 2) the kind that you grab the handle and the 
whole thing removes and then you put back - too much trouble for stairs we 
constantly go up and down.        

So we're thrilled with ours.  It's not one of the typical kid-stuff 
manufacturers, I'll try to remember to look at it.  Write to me if I don't. 

I think .2 and I (.3) have the same gate.   

Head's up, our 17 month old just opened it the other day.   The directions say
to install it so that the lock mechanism is away from the side the toddler is
on.   We installed it so that it was on the living area side (the side she's 
on) because it was easier for us and she was so young she could not possibly
do it.   I have to flip it over now so that the lock is on the stairs side, so
she can't get at it. 

    I'm noter .2 - we used out own locking system because we didn't trust
    the one on the gate. Cody is smart and opens just about anything. The
    lock we use can be manouvered one-handed by an adult, but a little one
    can't pull it back. (we hope. Cody is 21 months. He tries but gives up
    in less than a minute.)
    
    We also chose our own locking system because the molding on the hinge
    side doesn't line up with the other side.
    
    If you you'd like to know the type of latch I got, I can find out for
    you.... it works like a dream.

   Yes, we have two of those gates (one each at the top and bottom of the
   stairs) ... wonderful design, I believe.  There is only one flaw that
   I have discovered, however...
   
   The piece of the hinge that mounts on the wall is weak, and can be
   prone to bending if you're not careful.  Here's what you get:
   
        | 
        | (a)
        | 
        | 
        ======
           ||
           || (b)
   

                        [ gate installed in here ]
   
           ||
           || (b)
        ======
        | 
        | (a)
        | 
        | 


   The pieces labeled (a) are where this is mounted to the wall.  The
   posts labeled (b) are where the gate swings.  As you might guess, the
   gate will rest on the lower bracket.  What I found was that over time
   the gate was putting too much pressure on the brackets and causing
   them to spread out.  The downward pressure from the gate  was pushing
   the lower bracket down, and outward pressure was pushing the upper
   bracket up and out.  This caused the two posts (b) to spread apart to
   the point where the gate was in danger of falling off.  
   
   I called the manufacturer to see what they could do, and all they
   could offer was replacement brackets.  I ended up fashioning my own
   mounting brackets from angle brackets, bolts, and lock washers.  So
   far there has been no sign of wear on the new brackets.
   
   I believe that in our case most of the wear was due to the fact that I
   caught my kids hanging on the gates a couple of times when they were
   open.  I do believe, though, that even without this extra stress, the
   brackets would have started spreading anyway - it just would have
   taken longer.
   
   So I guess the moral is - keep your kids off the gates (if possible!),
   and be careful to periodically examine the hinges and brackets and
   such for signs of wear.
   
   Regards,

   - Tom

    I know I've written about our gate system in this file, but I'll write
    it again.
    
    We have a swing type gate at the top of our stairs.--the Nu-Line Walk
    Thru Ultra gate.  It's been installed now for over 4 years, and is in
    great shape.  Our banister has a curved piece on top, so we needed to
    install the gate on this.  Our solution was to get a board about 1/4
    inch thick by 4 inch wide and 14 inches long.    We painted that to
    match the banister.  Then we got white plastic ties.  (I don't know the
    name of anything!)  The ends of the ties slip into a plastic piece and
    they "ratchet" together.  They are impossible to remove without cutting
    them.  They are strong and of course, they don't ruin the woodwork.  We
    do plan on removing the gate once our children are older. (I saw this
    contraption at the baby store in Manchester, NH for over $20!)
    
    The gate's hardware was mounted on the wood we painted.  The beauty of
    the gate is that the gate then slides into the hardware and can be
    easily removed for cleaning, repainting, or if we are having a party. 
    (The only reason we remove it...)
    
    The gate slides open into the wall and there are small plastic
    protruding parts that fit into the hardware on the wall.  Our 4-1/2
    year old hasn't figured out how to open it yet, although she isn't very
    curious about it and has only tried to open it a few times. 
    
    We are very happy with this gate.  We'll probably use it for a while
    yet because we have a security system with motion detectors that will
    go off if someone goes downstairs without turning off the alarm.  I
    figure our kids will probably be 10 before they can remember.  The gate
    is a reminder and is a nice way to prevent the alarm from waking up the
    neighborhood. ;-) 
    
    This gate is very safe, since a tension-type isn't the best.  A child
    can bang against them and then go down the stairs...
    
    judy

    
    Sounds like I need one of these gates!  Those tension ones are a pain 
    in the neck!  At one setting they are too loose and easily fall out of
    the door and at the next notch they are too tight and really difficult
    to lock into place.  We usually use the tight locking setting and just
    step over the gate instead of contunually taking it out every time we
    want to pass through.  Well, no more of that for me!  I caught my foot on
    the top of a gate the other day, lost my balance, went crashing through
    the gate and landed with my foot underneath the gate and my body on top
    of the gate.  I now have a broken big toe with a black toenail that
    will eventually fall off and it is very painful!  Thank God I wasn't 
    holding Lauren at the time!
    
    Karen

    re: .8
    
    We have the same problem with out gates (tripping).  We climb over
    them as well.  Think we'll look into getting one of the gates you
    can open and walk thru... we have 3 gates right now to keep our son
    in the kitchen & family room and away from the formal living, dining,
    foyer and stairs (until he learns to climb/open the gates himself -
    then we'll have to come up with another solution).
    I can't tell you the number of times my husband has tripped over those
    gates... one time carrying 2 baskets of laundry.  Thank goodness Mitch
    was in bed - there were some pretty nasty words coming out of his 
    mouth!  ;-)
    
    The things we do to keep our kids safe... even if we break our own
    necks in the process.    
    
    

    Couldn't find out the name of the hook that we use on our gate noter
    .2, but it looks like this (sort of)
    
          ____
           |  )     the hook is normal and the flat piece in fron is
           | /      spring loaded, and you have to pull it back, up the
           L/       hook. It's not one that the closer swings in and
         | L|       locks. It doesn take some pressure, enough for any
         | L|       adult, but too much pressure and mechanics for a
         V L|       babe. Several friends have since swapped their hooks
           L|       with this. I'll find out the name if this hook if
           ()       any one wants to know what it is.

    
    I had the same dilemma a few months back.  I wanted a gate for the top
    of the stairs that was NOT a tension gate (because you could fall/push
    into it and knock it open), that was NOT an accordion style, because
    they don't seem to be able to withstand a toddler standing up and
    bashing/pounding on it, and something that could **EASILY** be opened
    from either the stairs or the top of the stairs, because I have 2 other
    kids that need to be able to easily get through.  It also needed to
    ONLY swing toward the landing, and needed to somehow lock both open (or
    it would make ME crazy!) and closed (for when the baby was upstairs). 
    It would also be nice if it "swung" shut automatically, instead of me
    having to close it every time I went through, and/or hoping the older
    kids remembered to close it. I  could never find one, so I ended up
    making one.  The whole thing probably  cost ~$35.00, for 2 gates, and
    took ~2-3 hrs per gate.
    
    What I did, basically, was took a cheap hollow-core door that was ~3-4"
    narrower than the top of the stairway. (A 36" door is $17.00 at Home
    Depot)  Figured out how high I wanted it to be (I believe the door is now
    ~3' tall), and cut the door to that length.  I then took 3 lengths of
    1"x4" boards, and attached them to each side of the wall at the top of
    the stairs, where I wanted the gate mounted. (I used 2 boards on the
    hinge side, and 1 on the side that opens/closes).  I then took a piece
    of 1"x2" board, and attached that to the side where the door
    opens/closes, to act as a "stop" so that the door cannot open over the
    stairs, but only towards the landing.  
    
    I used a set of "Screen door" hinges, which are spring loaded - not
    pretty (they're silver), but they work **GREAT**!  To finish the door
    part, I mounted it with the cut side up, pushed down the cardboard
    inside the door enough to be able to insert a piece of wood to
    strengthen the top of the door.  On top of that, I nailed a piece of
    1"x4", along the whole top of the door, and finished with a piece of
    1"x2" up under the corner, so it sort of looks like it's been routed;
    
    Sideview of the top of the door.
     __________
    |_        _|  <--- 1x4 board
      |_    _| <--- 1x2 board
        |  |
        |  |
      
    I also mounted the door a few inches off of the ground, so that when
    you're coming up the stairs, you can glance under and see if there's
    anyone right in front of it, and the baby thinks it's neat, because he
    can reach under, or look under it and see you. 
    
    To "lock" the door, I used a simple hook & eye.  One eye is on the
    wall, to lock it when the door's "open", and the another eye is on the
    top of the board that stops the door from opening to the stairs.  The
    hook in on the top of the door.  
    
    The kids never have had a problem with it at all, and it really works
    QUITE well for us!!  I had stained all the wood to match the woodwork,
    so it blends in too.  The only "down" side is that when/if it's
    removed, there will be kind of large holes in the plaster board, where
    the "framing" is screwed to the walls - but it is all repairable.  
    
    Also, I put a strip of felt on the piece of wood that the door hits, so
    that if it "slams" shut, it's not so loud.  If you decide to make this
    door, just make sure it's tall enough that if someone were asleep and
    walked into it, it would hit ABOVE the knees.  If it hits at or below
    the knee, there's potential for them to fall over it.
    
    If you would like any additional details, please feel free to ask!  It
    was really quite fun to make and is a joy to use, and I can get more
    details for size, if you'd like.
    
    Patty

Funny, that's exactly the plan I had in mind when i thought of making 
this "gate" solution, but then I found someone selling the one i 
described in .2 in the notes file.  

Glad to see it works.  And actually, i still like the idea better than 
the gate I have. 

Karen 

I think the one we bought was "Safety First", and I love it.
Bought it at Toys R Us and installed at the top of our basement 
stairs by our kitchen (1/2 wall, no door).  The red handle on top 
has a white slide-button to push while you pull up the handle, which 
releases the 2 blue rubber stoppers.  My husband installed it with the 
optional hinges.  My two year old daughter can't open it (she even 
knows to try to push it closed :-),  and I can work it one-handed while
carrying a laundry basket!  Worth the few extra dollars more than the 
other brand for easy opening,  in the $30-ish range.

-TBW