to think this stairgate manufacturer is taking the piss?!

[thepobblewhohasnotoes]

Today we bought this stairgate from Mothercare.

I - naively it now appears - assumed that because it's called the "BabyDan Super Flexi Fit Metal Extending Safety Gate", because the guy in the shop said it would fit and because the effing picture on the box shows the kind of stairs that we have (OK, less posh, but same principle!) that we would have stairgates on tonight.

But no. This stairgate is not designed for the kind of stairs shown in the picture - with a wall with skirting. It's designed for a flat wall with no skirting. If you look closely at the picture you'll see a grey post-type thing against the wall, that the stairgate is attached to. This is a custom made thing. It does not come with the product, and if we want to use it, we'll have to bodge make something similar or it won't work.

Grrr.

Why use that picture FFS? It's meant for a flat wall. Why sucker people like me into buying it? I've just got to take them back tomorrow, and I won't trust them again.

Anyone got any recommendations for stairgate which would actually fit the stairs / wall in that picture, I'd be ever so grateful!

TIA :)

On the wall 1st and screw it to that. That's how ours always was. Much safer than a pressure fit! Quick trip to b&q tomorrow and it will all be sorted. No need to return anything!

babydan screw fit

These adjust by turning a nut and long screw so are suitable for uneven walls skirting etc.

I think it was a pressure fitted one. Ours also has to sit a few steps up, and was, as a previous poster said, a right bugger when carrying a load of washing. It did withstand my rather heavy handed dh though, and nobody tripped over the bottom bar

I HATE the trip frame ones - so dangerous.
We have the roller blind type ( can't remember the make). Expensive, but I can't recommend it enough ( although we did have to fit a bodged bit of wood!!).

"How about teaching your DS how to open and close it properly? If he will climb over it anyway, at least this way he wouldn't get hurt."

Yup, that's a nice idea. DS won't climb over it because he can't open the gate. He'll do it because he thinks climbing is more fun, or he's in a hurry, or he just can't be bothered to open it.

Of course I'd try to teach him not to, but where safety is concerned, there's no way I'd trust DS to never do something because I've asked him not to.

We resorted to a strip of wood on the wall to take into account skirting boards (and strips of wood on the fancy banister on the other side).

It's a pain in the arse, because the pictures are misleading, but it wasn't too much hassle to rectify.

boo-canary, brilliant, a roller-frame person! :)

I've been looking at them tonight, and seen some great reviews and some awful ones which say they're hard to do up, if used for wide spaces. What do you reckon? Was the space yours was on wide or narrow?

Just cut a block of wood the same depth of the skirting board to put under the top hinge. Or, fix it just above the skirting board. I have two of those gates and they are better than the others I have had.

Why did I hyphenate your name BooCanary? Sorry about that!

I wouldn't use pressure fit I just couldn't trust it. Put a post up.

Ican recommend the "bodgeit dad post" tm

ohshitimlate

Our stairs are standard space OP, so not sure how it would work on a wider space. I guess it is probably just a problem of having to keep the tension (iyswim) as you pull it over a wider space. My ( feeble!) DM struggles a bit with ours ( although she struggles with any child proof catch our strap ). I've never had any problem, and my DD only worked out how to open it when she was 6. From a tidy POV, I love thge way you don't know its there when you're not using it.

this is the one we have

Our pressure one is fab and not going anywhere. Could use tge fixed ones due to crap bricks.

Hmmm... it could have just been that our pressure fit gate was in an awkward place that made me think it was unstable. That and after DH put it up he said "that's the best I do - I think the house might be a bit lopsided"

From what other people are saying about them they should be sturdier than that!

We had same issue and just screwed a square block of wood to the wall. Job done.

Don't like pressure fit or roller blind ones.

Not read all the posts but we attached a wooden baton above the skirting and attached the stairgate to the skirting and the baton, we didn't want pressure fit as they leave a bar across the bottom to trip over!!

we have this one

The screws at the top and bottom can be adjusted to accomodate the skirting boards.

We had to get a narrow one for our bedroom door - but the door frame turns out not to be square (wonky small cottage ) so we had to screw some wood to the door frame.

Ours is about a foot in front of the bottom step because of this. Our friend whose hall/stairs is similar to that picture did this same with one of those room divider style gates. Iirc there is no trip bar, if you can wait til next week i'll check what type it is and let you know!

I am not up to date on stair gates for children, but I buy dog suitable ones, they cost a lot more but will take a dogs weight, I have German Shepherds, they don't suit children that are old enough to undo them, though.

I have had to do a lot if research and read all if the reviews.

You can see quite clearly in the picture that they have a piece that is made to fit the skirting boards, so it fits.

But I can understand why you are annoyed.