Anyone else found it impossible to fit stairgates in their house?

[Hther]

Ok, so I am useless at DIY and have no-one around who can help (although did pay a handyman to fit one that collapsed before I realised that it was too small anyway), but I'm not sure if any gate will fit.

My stairs are wide so thats probably why the handyman made such a bad job of it, although I did tell him that if properly safely fitted the red line wouldn't show and he still insisted that even with that there it was right. So my HV got me some gates and also extensions with them and even silly me managed to work them out and fit the extension onto the gate but they still don't fit.

\without the extension the gate is too narrow for the opening and with it, the gate is too wide. You don't seem to be able to adjust the extension. Has anyone else had this problem. Its a babydan one I've got. Can anyone suggest a gate that I can adjust properly. I have a baby and toddler and desperate for gates!

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

Could you commission a local joiner to make a wooden one?

[Quattrocento]

Oh we couldn't fit them and the chap we got out to make some said it would be difficult so in the end we didn't bother. The DCs are both still alive some years later. We just watched them - the stairgate phase lasts not very long so not worth getting angstridden about.

[MollieO]

I couldn't fit stairgates either. No way of fixing them at either the top or bottom of the stairs because of the position of the stair tread and wall. Instead I put one in the recess to the bedroom door and was vigilant when ds was downstairs in case he decided to try and get up the stairs. I removed the stairgate once ds was opening it himself .

[sb6699]

I couldnt fit them across the stairwell either as it is so wide - even the extendable ones are too small.

I did the same as MollieO and fitted one across DD's bedroom door and one across the living room door. At the time they didnt need to be any other rooms very frequently so was just vigilant when they were. Seems to have worked.

I had the Lindam extending ones and you just pull the extension out as far as you need it, then secure to the stairwell. Were pretty easy and not that expensive. Think I got them in Argos.

[ilove]

I got a cot from a car boot sale, and used teh cot sides cut to size and fitted with hinges and a bolt...worked really well.

[trixymalixy]

We use babydan configure gates as stairgates at the bottom of our 2 sets of stairs. They are both stone so there's no way we could get away without having them.
they totally wrap round the bottom of the stairs.

You can also get those roller blind ones that are good for the top of wide stairs (kiddiguard?).

[thumbwitch]

I have stairgates at the top of both flights of stairs but nowhere to attach them at the bottom of either - mostly DS (18mo) has been fine about not going up the stairs and I have now taught him how to climb up and down them on hands and knees, always on the wall side (we have no banisters), but always with one of us behind him.

[PrincessLayer]

I couldn't get a stairgate to fit, so in a fit of blue-peter-ness I got a sheet of plywood and cut it as high as I wanted the gate, and about one and a half times as wide as my stairs.
I just curved it between the walls and it did the job
OK, so it wasn't the best looking stairgate, but, I made it higher so kid/s couldn't reach up and pull it over.

It lasted about 6 years. We only took it down when we thought youngest was old enough to be trusted.

[Merle]

We didn't have stair gates. We could have fixed them but it would have involved wrecking the victorian, mahogany newel posts at both the top and the bottom of the stairs. Children were fine. Got very good at climbing very early on.

[extremelychocolateymilkroll]

Would kiddy guard be any use? It's a retractable gate you can roll up when you don't need it. Really useful on our kitchen door.

[Hther]

thanks for replies. To be honest its more to do with convenience at the moment than safety, as toddler walks up and down stairs easily and baby not climbing yet. I have a 4 yer ol and 5 year old too and its such hard work, i don't want them going uspatairs trashing the place as I have enough work to do downstairs! And as baby wont be put down much, i don't want to keep going upstairs with him in my arms to get the others down.

[Haylstones]

I have a similar problem- stairway is too wide for normal stair gate but with the extnsion kit it is too wide. To get round it, I got a plank of wood the same height as the gate (mine is a spare laminate wood panel), screwed it into the wall and then attached the gate to this. It narrowed the gap slightly, is totally secure and still looks OK. Even without screwing the plank into the wall, the pressure should holdot secure(but still better to screw in imo)

[Haylstones]

Sorry for typos- with the extension kit the gate is too wide for the space.

[grumpalumpa]

We have 'awkward' turning stairs and found the Lascal kiddi guard fantastic. It is like a roller blind so when not in use you don;t see it, it can go at an angle and is also fairly wide - I have it in the cupboard at home if you want me to measure how long it goes accross???