Baby Gate Advice

[Davey S2]

Ok I've looked on line and at several reviews but no purchase is complete without obtaining the thoughts of the PH massive.

The time has come for me to fit baby gates in the house to prevent our 8 month old from chasing the cats up and down the stairs.

We need one for the top and one for the bottom of the stairs. It's a new house so pretty standard stair widths. There is a wall on one side and a banister post on the other which the gate wil be fixed to.

I've been looking at the Babydan Flexi Fit Metal http://www.babydan.com/page1073.aspx?recordid1073=...

I dont mind having to screw it into the wall and banister.

The only stipulation is that it can't have a permanent bar across the bottom.

Anyone else have any other recommendations?

Thanks

[SlidingSideways]

We have the Mothercare ones at the top and bottom of our stairs, not had an issue with them:
http://www.mothercare.com/Mothercare-Safest-Start-...

Just remember to fit them near enough to the floor that the child can't wriggle underneath (not that I'd do anything that stoopid! <whistles>)

[BoRED S2upid]

We bought two one expensive one cheap as chips from Aldi the Aldi one is much better but it has a bar across the bottom both are push fit so no screwing to walls handy as you can move them around the house if you wanted to lock the little blighter in the lounge for a day.

[anonymous-user]

Both mother care and Argos sell a gate that is fixed to the but folds ways sideways like a blind. I've just fitted one and it's a great bit of kit, much better than the gates that always seem to be in the way

[JumboBeef]

I'm just gland you are fitting them: I've seen too many houses without them.

[C0ffin D0dger]

We've got these: http://www.kiddicare.com/p/Lindam_Extending_White_...

Sturdy, cheap and easy to fit.

I like the idea of the ones that pull out like blinds but at £100 a piece I couldn't justify the cost of them.

[surveyor]

Push fit's are crap against newel posts. There's always a bit of movement and you will always be tightening the thing up while the post gets pushed out of vertical.

[SwissJonese]

[quote=Davey S2
I've been looking at the Babydan Flexi Fit Metal http://www.babydan.com/page1073.aspx?recordid1073=...

[/quote]

We had these in our rental house and where perfect. I have now installed them when we moved into our bought house. They work great and the twins (now 3) never try to open them. They are very secure and I feel full confidence in the one being at the top of the stairs which was my main worry.

We did try the BabyDan Guard Me after seeing it in Mothercare as I liked the idea it could use up less space. When I installed it the twins thought it was a game and kept pulling it until it broke - so no and it was more expensive.

[scubadude]

C0ffin D0dger said:

We've got these: http://www.kiddicare.com/p/Lindam_Extending_White_...

Sturdy, cheap and easy to fit.

I like the idea of the ones that pull out like blinds but at £100 a piece I couldn't justify the cost of them.

THIS ^

I have three at home, all work superbly well and are very robust.

Remember the gate to stop you 8month old will also have to withstand your 30month old toddler climbing and swinging on them so take time and mount them properly :-)

Also V easy to open one-handed while carrying stuff

[ladderino]

We have the Baby Dan extending ones in our new house: http://www.kiddicare.com/p/Babydan_Multidan_Metal_... - the Lindam ones posted before look more attractive than these.

In our previous house, we fitted the pressure fit ones. They were a PITA - the design of our stairs meant that they had to be installed a few steps in rather than at the very top and bottom. As a result, people were always tripping over the bottom bar.

I'm also much happier knowing that the gates we have now are secured to the wall with several inches of screw.

[Norwegian Blue]

I fitted the BabyDan ones. As far as I can tell, IKEA also sell it (as theirs, naturally): certainly they are both made in Denmark. I chose it as they all had to be fitted at angles, and this was pretty much the only gate that would do it. Fitting is OK, though not as simple as pressure gates. They're solid when fitted and closed. The only issue I had was a couple of the screws were made of monkey metal so were replaced with proper bolts.

[LivingTheDream]

Get the retractable ones - yes they are expensive but they are brilliant.

We sold our Lascal ones on the Bay once we had finished with them for two thirds of the purchase price.

Edited by LivingTheDream on Wednesday 4th March 18:13

Edited by LivingTheDream on Wednesday 4th March 18:15

[DrDeAtH]

The wooden gate from toys'r'us is rubbish in its operation. Please avoid.

[dazwalsh]

We too have the lindam extendable ones. Does exactly what they are supposed to do. We had pressure fit ones before but they were awful and had bars on the bottom.

[league67]

Lindam ones.

[squicky]

They're all a pain in the bum in various different ways - the fixed ones have the stupid bar you trip on and the pressure pads can damage the wall.

The lascal extending ones can be awkward to extend/retract one handedly but do need to be screwed to the wall.

Also got a babydan playpen which can be opened out to block a longer area (we've got one going from one side of a fireplace past the door to the other wall.

I definitely prefer the lascal ones, I've picked up all of mine from ebay for a lot less than retail. Will be able to put them back on there and easily get the same amount we paid.

[crxdave]

Don't buy a sprung one. I lost count of the number of times I either nearly fell to my death, or was battered in the ankle by the bd thing.

[Davey S2]

Thansk for all the replies folks. Looks like it wil the babydan ones or the Lindam ones then. I need to check if they can be mounted straight or need to be on a slight angle.

[JuniorD]

ladderino said:

We have the Baby Dan extending ones in our new house: http://www.kiddicare.com/p/Babydan_Multidan_Metal_... - the Lindam ones posted before look more attractive than these.

I fitted on of these at the top of our stairs, it works well I have to say. I was origianlly averse to the idea of putting screws into the newell post but it's the only way to be sure if you want something sturdy and to avoid a lower cross bar (trip hazard). I attached the the hinge brackets on the other side to the stud wall using spring toggles.

Davey S2 said:

Thansk for all the replies folks. Looks like it wil the babydan ones or the Lindam ones then. I need to check if they can be mounted straight or need to be on a slight angle.

You can get one that fits across angles - e.g. DabayDan Flexi Fit

Edited by JuniorD on Thursday 5th March 10:12

[muppetdave]

surveyor said:

Push fit's are crap against newel posts. There's always a bit of movement and you will always be tightening the thing up while the post gets pushed out of vertical.

Not so, we have one against the newel post and I've never had to adjust it. The one in the kitchen door though has to be tightened maybe once every week or so. Top of stairs one though did have little 'lugs' that I screwed to the post/wall though so it doesn't wriggle which probably helps. Think I got that from Argos.