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Original poster

Stairgates - do the pressure-mounted ones really collapse sometimes?

18 replies

oysterpots · 17/03/2008 21:37

I need to think about stairgates for my DS who is coming up to 8 months, and I had planned to get the pressure-mounted ones so as not to ruin the lovely new plasterwork on the stairs. But I have heard that they can sometimes fail with the full force of a toddler crashing towards them - is this true? Does anyone have any experience of this?

And what makes would you recommend? I was thinking of going to IKEA tomorrow to check theirs out.

OP posts:
peasoup · 17/03/2008 21:44

Yes, our pressure mounted ones have collapsed- wasn't too tragic though as we were using it to stop him getting into the kitchen, it wasn't at the top of a flight of stairs.

sophierosie · 17/03/2008 21:46

I think I had a babydan one - I also taught dd not to go near the stairgate or to be careful at the top of the stairs.

I've never heard about them collapsing under the force of a toddler - I guess it depends how much of a run up they've got

Seriously though - you do need to check them occasionally to make sure they are still secure.

sophierosie · 17/03/2008 21:47

blimey - peasoup - I've honestly never heard that before.

cupsoftea · 17/03/2008 21:47

they will make marks on your walls

FrayedKnot · 17/03/2008 21:49

Ours never did

And at one point we had four (two flights of stairs)

Had Mamas & Papas one & 3 x Lindam.

sazm · 17/03/2008 22:33

my sis had a lindam one for 4 yrs i now have it and its never collapsed.
we just decorated and it has marked our walls.

WowOoo · 17/03/2008 22:36

They have marked our wallpaper, but not so bad as drill holes. have never come off but ds is getting so strong and I'm sure he will be able to soon. But, he can walk up and down stairs unaided so may be taking it down soon anyway.

DoodleToYou · 17/03/2008 22:37

Message withdrawn

sazm · 17/03/2008 23:18

lol, my nephew used to undo the pressure gate (thats why my sis gave it to me lol)

FAQ · 17/03/2008 23:20

one of ours collapsed.............but I think that was more due to H running to get the telephone, trying to jump over it and instead falling "through" it from the kitchen into the dining room..........taking the gate with him

sazm · 17/03/2008 23:21

oh FAQ i can picture that lol, thats the sort of thing only a H couls do lol.

FAQ · 17/03/2008 23:23

oh and we've used pressure gates for about 7yrs now (without a break) and never had any other problem with them (including the "bar" at the bottom)

Ineedacreamegg · 17/03/2008 23:24

My friend has one at the bottom of her stairs, she moved into her house 2 years ago today and the gate is checked regularly solid as a rock it appeared. DS crying one day to get to me up the stairs pulled it off and it has never been as solid again so she took it off.

Loopymumsy · 18/03/2008 06:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

pippylongstockings · 18/03/2008 06:51

Agree they do still leave marks on the wall and can be unstable... my mum has pressure one with a bar at the bottom it's a right pain!

However we havescrew ones and our Ds1 has now just learnt to open them! not to bothered for him he's 3 but my 1yo has had a horrible tumble from top to bottom of stairs and a night in hospital because we didn't know DS1 had left the gate open! So please make sure you get some sort......

MuffinMclay · 18/03/2008 13:54

Yes, we have lots of experience of this (with Babydan gates). Ds1 throws himself at the gate across his bedroom door in a tantrummy rage and it falls flat (chipping the paintwork on the doorframes and skirting boards in the process). He can also reach over and undo it.

The other problem we've had with them is that once ds1 has knocked the gate over he pulls off the end bits and hides them in places, thereby rendering the gate uesless.

He wouldn't have been able to do all this at 8 months though, more like 18 months.

We've only got pressure ones because I couldn't find permanent ones that were narrow enough to fit. Never had a problem with the bottom bar bit though.

crokky · 18/03/2008 14:08

If it is just plasterwork, not wallpapered or anything, the drill holes should be quite easy to fill and paint over once you no longer require the gate. The holes are really not that large. Depending on what sort of plasterwork you have, the pressure gates can actually cave the plasterwork in a bit/give walls/frame a fair bit of stress.

On our stairs, we have mothercare wall fix gates. They are very good because they don't have a bar to trip over and if you wish to leave them open, they don't spring shut. If you need to remove them temporarily, they have a catch to remove and lift off so they are totally out of the way. We used to have a pressure fit one across one of the downstairs doorways, but found that a good wall fixing gate is more practical (leave open when toddler in bed etc, does not trap you) so we swapped it.

aquababe · 18/03/2008 14:09

friends of mine had a pissed friends who fell into hers so hard it managed to leave a hole in her wall
I trip on hers every time I walk through it.

Have also been leaning over another friends gate when it collasped on me that hurt quite a lot.

I guess it's the whole used properly thing

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