Parents of multiple young children, your help is needed!

[Sian1989]

Hi,

Just a quick introduction, my name is Sian and I am a final year design student at Loughborough University. A large part of the final year consists of a major design project. The idea for my design is based around stairgates and this is where your help is required.

My initial thoughts, after observing a family friend with 3 children under 3 years, is that a stairgate is very fiddly when you've got your hands ful, whether that be with children, washing, bags etc. One that requires no hands to open would be very helpful in this situation. At the moment, the design is in very early stages and I need to gain a little bit of an insight into users needs.

Is this something that you feel would be helpful?

Do you find that you have to make more trips up and down the stairs as you cannot operate the stair gate without leaving a hand free?

Would it be something that you would pay for?

What is important to you when choosing a stairgate?

Is there anything would change about your current stairgate?

I would appreciate as much help and input as possible, any comments are helpful!

Many thanks in advance,

Sian

Stairgates are a bugbear of mine. Most of the designs are crap.

The first thing to point out is that not everyone has flat walls that are 90cm apart. Especially in older houses, you often have deep skirting boards (3cm+) and banisters that are carved or curved and thus not suitable for attaching a stairgate.

With twins, yes, it's true that you have to be quite dexterous to carry both and open a stairgate mechanism.

What would be great would be something like an electric catflap that would be spring loaded so when you press a button it opened automatically, then you just have to push it shut behind you.

The other thing is that most of them are bloody ugly. I don't want a gold-plated gate with angels carved on it, but I would at least like something that didn't necessarily resemble the entrance to Guantanamo- if I had a decent cheap joiner I would get some made to measure but costs are prohibitive...

Good luck with your project. There is a fortune to be made with stairgates- if only I had the time & the inclination!

No bar to step over! I hate that, and found it dangerous.
Something that cannot be opened by twins working in a collaborative escape effort. Mine were very good at teamwork!

I would love one that:

Doesn't have a bar,

Can be easily extended without expensive extras (have just had to buy 1 stairgate at £25, not too costly I hear you cry? Well add into the equation 4 extenders at £7 a pop and it all adds up,

Has fittings that don't require spirit levels/degrees in mathematics/engineering to install,

Is taller, so toddlers can't reach the handle or try to pull the thing off the wall,

A solid gate design, again so toddlers can't rattle the bars, pulling it off the wall and wrecking the plasterwork!

Auto-close feature would be great, is a pain if you're half way up the stairs and realise you didn't close it properly.

These are the main features I can think of at the moment!
Good luck with your project.

Thank you all so much for your help =]
If you could point other friends in the direction of my post I'd really appreciate it!

Hi Sian, our old stairgates were Lindam and OK I guess, but would have been better if they had included any or all of the following:

• No bar at the bottom

• Somehow openable using your foot

• Auto-shut mechanism

I never had problems with the twins trying to break out we really just used them to remind them not to go upstairs, but I guess they need to be child-proof too!

Best of luck!

Could I also ask for you to consider something that enables older children to open them aswell.
My dd1 is 6 *(is a weakling) but still can't get the hang of opening a stair gate. It is a real pain when you know they are capable of going up and down the stairs by themselves, but do not phyisically have the strength to open the stairgate. Perhaps a higher latch?

I would also love - no bottom bar, self closing and strong enough for toddler to hang off, but without coming off the wall

Hello,

Just a quick update, I am now developing my stair gate concept and would be very much appreciative if you could fill in my questionnaire below. It won't take more than a few minutes and it would benefit me greatly in the next stage of my project.

Many thanks

Sian

FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=mjj7c0fwknuv5pl847866

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Done

Definitely no bar across

like the self closing idea

Thanks very much Kathryn :)

Hi
I am desperately looking for a really tall one, Im even thinking of putting a garden gate at the top of my stairs!
All kids reach an age where they try to climb over them and if they are at the top of the stairs thats a scary thought. I can't believe that nobody seems to do a stairgate over 105cm!! It would be wonderful to have a real gate to stop this worry.
It would probably be easiest to fit in houses where there is a wall on one side and banister on the other so that the high hinge could be attached high on the wall.
I would pay a lot of money to have this kind of piece of mind.
Hope this helps
If there is something like this already on the market PLEASE PLEASE point me in the right direction.
THanks :)