What we did to babyproof stairs

MommyToAshley wrote: I mentioned quite a while back that we could not put a gate at the top of our stairs because the railing ended before the stairs (if we attached a gate from the wall the the railing then there would still be enough room for Ashley to fall) We've been keeping Ashley away from that part of the house, but it is becoming harder to do so now. So, we decided we had better figure something out. I remember someone else saying that they had a similar situation and was looking for a solution as well, and I thought I would share what we did (Well, actually DH did it).

DH got a nice tool set as an early Christmas present with a circular saw and table, some other kind of saw, a power drill/screwdriver, a power sander and some other goodies. And, he's put them to use. We decided to use some sturdy wood and extend it out from the railing. DH screwed/drilled the wood (a piece of 2X8) to the railing itself -- it is really sturdy. We thought about clamping it so that it wouldn't ruin the railing since we are planning on moving in a few years, but Ashley's safety was more important. We had another problem in that there was no stud where the other side of the gate would attach to the wall. DH tested some of those expanding screws for drywall, but he didn't feel that was safe enough. So, he used a two pieces of wood (one for the top and one for the bottom of the gate) and attached them to the corners of the wall where the studs were and attached the gate to the two pieces of wood. Does that make sense? It might not look all that pretty but at least it is safe. (This spring I am goign to paint the wood white that is attached to the wall and stain the wood attached to the railing)

Our second problem was the railing itself. Our living room, office, bedrooms, are on the second floor so we spend a lot of time up there. The railing does not angle down with the stairs, it's straight across, similar to a loft. So, we were afriad of Ashley falling off the second floor, and landing at the bottom of the stairs. We tried the stuff they make for this kind of railing and it was not very secure. (They took the one that looks like plastic off the market for safety reasons and make a net for it now) We were not happy with any of these products, so we cut some lattice to the height and length of our railing. We used cable ties (the kind that can't be pulled lose, you have to cut them) to attach the lattice to the railing. Again, the cable ties are not all that pretty, but the lattice is very secure and there is no way Ashley could fall.

This feels like such a weight has been lifted... I have worried about these stairs and how we were going to babyproof them since the day Ashley was born. Everyone that has seen the stairs didn't have a good idea how to attach the gate... thanks to DH for his creative thinking!

A&A'smommy replied: good job tlcdad and what a great idea!! We are lucky we are able to put up a gate at both ends!!

coasterqueen replied: Sounds like it will work nicely! Thanks for sharing that with us! You're right it might not look nice, but her safety is much more important. I know when we put baby gates up throughout house DH thought they looked so horrible and our friends commented on how bad they looked and that we should have spent the MUCH extra $$ to get the wooden, niced stained ones, but I didn't care because Kylie's safety is much more important than looks. Geesh, my house doesn't look all nice and neat and "pretty" with all the toys clutter in the livingroom instead of all my nice breakables But it's a short moment in our time, right

Kirstenmumof3 replied: Dee Dee That is so wonderful that you thought of Ashley's safety ahead of how pretty your gate was going to look! It sounds like your DH did a great job!

Shooter replied: Clever idea with the lattice.
I still need to come up with something for ours.

Kaitlin'smom replied: hummm sounds safe! and at this moment I woul dnot care hwo nice it looks just as long as she is safe. I bet it does not look that bad anyway. I cant waite to see it!

TLCDad replied: I did have to remove the wood against the dry wall. It cracked and I was afraid it would pull in the middle and break. So on that end it is just attached to the drywall using hollow wall hangers. They are a little loose at the bottom but since they are hangers they attached on the other side of the dry wall. The other side is a board of oak and it is very tough... pretty hard to drill into I might add. The board itself cost over $20 but well worth the cost. The lattace is the best solution. We were even able to pick out a color that actually matches almost 100%. In fact other than the ties, you would never know it was not how it was to begin with.

We also have a deck off the second floor. I am going to attach lattace to it this spring and put a gate on the stairs off the deck.

kimberley replied: good for you guys! glad you found a solution to that.. you are so creative! here's to many happy and safe years with our babies!

surfing replied:
wouldn't it have been easier to just put the baby gate across the hallway?

we couldn't do that with ours as our hallway was too wide for our gate. we have a dresser in our hall for out of season stuff [winter gear in summer, everyone has their own drawer; and rain gear in winter] so we just put the gate between it and the wall on the opposite side. and as we only need in that dresser twice a year, it wasn't a pain in the neck or anything [unless you forgot it was in there during a middle-of-the-night-trek-to-the-can].

i originally was going to put a gate at the top of the stairs, but as the upstairs railing has a bigger square piece on top, it wasn't secure. but before i discovered that i was already having second thoughts about having a gate there. in standing at the top of the stairs, i'd been imagining the sight from a child's point of view; much farther away to downstairs when you're shorter. and as there's an outside wall three feet after the bottom step [which is two layers of brick in the outside wall] all i could invision was one of the kids pushing over the gate and sliding down the stairs on it like a toboggin and bashing their brains out on that wall. so it was a relief to see that it wouldn't work to put a gate there. much safer in the hall.

decorating the wood sounds like a good idea to make it less slightly looking.

Jamison'smama replied: Great job! WHATEVER it takes! We have a set of stairs with no wall on one side--just a railing on the other but it does have a doorway at the top to put a gate--just couldn't figure out how to put one at the bottom---took as while to figure out what to do. THe wrap around gates didn't work. We asked all kinds of child proofing experts. We are like you--did'nt want to do anything too permanent due to wanting to move but oh well. YOu do what you need to do and you get pretty creative when it comes to making the house safe. It never really matters what it looks like. Hey, all my decorating went out the window anyway--I never knew I would be decorating in primary colored plastic.

Kaitlin'smom replied: I saw what they did first hand and i tell you it does not look bad at all. I think they did a great job!

no, the way there house is thats not a possibilty.....

jcc64 replied: Hey Dee Dee
I know you're the picture queen, so is it possible for you to post pics of both the top of the stairs, and the lattice setup? I'm more of a visual type, can't really "get it" by the description.
Thanks!

jcc64 replied: bump

MommyToAshley replied:
Sure, I will have to take a picture though.... I don't think I have a pic of the top of the stairs. I will post it tomorrow since I am about to give Ashley her bath and put her to bed.

MommyToAshley replied: I had a few minutes and I just went to take a pic for you and the camera batteries are dead...all of them. Most likely, I won't be able to take a picture tomorrow because we have a major proposal to get out the door (The RFQ was over 20 pages long!) So, I figured that I had to have a picture of it somewhere in the pictures of Ashley.

Here is a close up of the lattice (from Ashley's milk dispenser picture) Those black things in the picture are the cable ties. We tried some of the commercial products for baby proofing the stairs and we just did not feel it was secure enough. We feel very comfortable with the lattice. I am also including a wider view of the railing/lattice in the second picture.

MommyToAshley replied: In this picture you can see the board we drilled/nailed into the railing to extend it. (The railing ended before the stairs) It is not very pretty but I plan to stain it the same color as the railing. I have to wait until spring to stain it though so I can leave the windows open.

We really didn't want to drill into the railing, but it was the safest choice. When we remove the gate (or move) I can just fill the holes, sand and restain it. I would rather stain it a lighter color anyways. We're replacing the upstairs carpet with a lighter color so a lighter color stain would look better.

MommyToAshley replied: And, here is the gate... the other end is attached to the wood in the above picture.

MommyToAshley replied:
So, what did you end up doing at the bottom of the stairs?


LOL on the decorating with primary color plastic! I can relate!

MommyToAshley replied:
She's right, this just isn't possible. You can go three different directions when you come up the stairs. Blocking off the hallway wouldn't do any good. And, there is nothing to gate to in the other directions. This house was not built with child safety in mind, and we didn't think about that either when we bought it (several years before we ever got PG)

Jamison'smama replied:
We bought a banister pole--what you would use at the base of a banister and screwed (huge screws) it into the bottom step then we were able to put a gate from the banister to the wall. Then we had to add another small gate piece from the banister to another part of the wall to keep her from climbing up the side of the stairs. Pretty complicated to explain and not that attractive but we also bought the house before we were thinking child proofing!

jcc64 replied: Thanks alot Dee Dee. We have the same gate, btw. Isn't it great?