How To Install Baby Gate Without Drilling

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The beginning half dozen months subsequently bringing our baby home were relatively peaceful, at least equally far as chasing him around went. For the almost role, we could expect to detect our son where we final left him. We did non sleep much so it was probably nature'due south manner of saying "hey, I know you are a scrap sleep deprived then we'll keep your baby immobile for a while, OK?"

When he turned over for the first time we were very excited! Finally he was doing something too just laying there. Then he started trying to clamber – offset a couple of inches, and so a couple of anxiety and presently he could cross the entire room at an ever-increasing pace. I infinitesimal he was sitting on the floor and then the next minute he was already at the lesser of the stairs trying to figure out how to brand a crawl for the second flooring. At this point it was obvious that we needed to get some infant gates to ready up the perimeter.

We inherited a pair of Safety 1st Perfect Fit baby gates from a generous co-worker who wanted nothing to do with them after his kids grew out of "I'm gonna throw myself down these stairs as soon as yous turn effectually" phase. These really do piece of work Perfect-ly in any area where you have a flat surface to work with on both sides of the gate. It will even adjust to fit base moldings and other slightly uneven surfaces. We fix them up downstairs to limit escape routes and even use it on the deck to close off a gaping pigsty for the stairs in the railing. Unfortunately, these baby gates don't work that well on our main stairs inside the house and we still need something more permanent for the acme of the stairs.

We purchased a metal baby gate that comes with a banister kit. (An update after several years of use: This particular model has been working great for u.s. and then I highly recommend it).

Just like the picture in the link shows, the gate works but fine if you take a banister on 1 side and a wall on the other. However, we have two banisters at the top of the stairs. To install the gate, I would have to drill into one of the banisters which would exist less than ideal. Alternatively, I could spend almost $70 on a stairway gate installation kit designed to solve this trouble… Whoa, that's expensive! Time to improvise.

In my garage I had a couple of 2×four'southward that would make a great drilling surface for the gate, just how do y'all attach information technology to the banister without drilling? Nil ties, of grade. I use them for lots of things when working on cars then I always accept a agglomeration of dissimilar sizes on mitt. Lots of plastic clips that hold everything from trim pieces to bumpers break easily when you try to remove them, and oftentimes times the best solution is to use cipher ties to put stuff dorsum as they are easier to piece of work with and, for the about part, stronger.

Of course for something equally critical as a infant gate that will go at the summit of a 12 foot drop y'all would not want to employ some flimsy zip ties. Nosotros are talking virtually industrial strength ones rated at 175 lbs each.

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The banister kit supplied with the Summer baby gate actually comes with ii brackets that use nil ties to secure them to the round banister, which was reassuring me in my determination to go with zip ties. Actually, I replaced the ones supplied with the kit by the industrial ones I already had because I was able to tighten mine much better than the kit ones that are meant to be reused.

I cut a piece of a 2×4 to exist the same height as the banister, sanded and stained it with some Golden Oak stain I had left over from when I ripped the carpet off the stairs and refinished them. This is an optional footstep just it helps the two×4 blend in a niggling better.

I used 3 zip ties to secure the two×four to the banister. When you grab the 2×iv and shake it the whole banister should shake and there should non exist any play any.

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Now I was ready to install the hardware that was supplied with the gate. After it was finished it looked like this:

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In the following motion-picture show you lot can the final effect – a baby gate securely installed with absolutely no damage to the banisters. Keep in heed that this method should piece of work with other gates that don't come up with a banister kit. In that instance, I would just utilise some other 2×4 with nothing ties on the right side and then install the gate as if I were drilling into the wall studs. You can certainly save a scrap of coin since you don't take to buy expensive banister kits.

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The method described worked and so well that I installed a 2×4 at the bottom of the stairs which allows us to use our Rubber 1st baby gate every bit needed. There is nothing permanent at the lesser and nosotros can quickly put a gate up if necessary. This is not as secure as the Summer gate at the top, which has a special rubber lock practically impossible for a piffling one to figure out. That'south fine, because if our son got through the bottom gate information technology would become noisy and we would have enough time to run to the stairs and get him.

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This simple and cheap method has been working great for us for over a year and counting. I hope this mail service is helpful to some of you lot looking for a simple DIY solution for installing a babe gate without drilling into a banister. If so, don't hesitate to leave a comment below!

*Obviously, none of these methods are a substitute for common sense such as knowing that leaving your minor kids unattended is non a good idea. Do I even have to say this??

If you lot are looking for more than ideas to babe proof your home you may want to bank check out this 68 footstep list!