A must for stairs

So our daughter is crawling. Great. Since we live in a 3 story home, we need to install gates for the stairwells. From what we heard, pressure mount gates are a no-no for stairs since they could be pushed out (makes sense). Besides, pressure gates, at least the ones that we have seen at friends' homes, seem to be a real chore to put up and take down every single time, and who wants to be straddling gates constantly? So, we decided to go with mounted gates, which are permanently installed.

These gates are much more expensive than your basic pressure gate, but they are painted metal, as opposed to plastic or wood. No gate is "attractive," but these at least are not eyesores. Although each gate requires 8 holes (2 on each corner), the holes themselves are not excessively big.

I found them to be pretty easy to install. The instructions were very helpful and includes templates for marking the screw holes. The gates come with wood screws, but I found those to be too short (I was installing them into the wall studs, which are behind sheetrock), so I put in my own longer screws to hold onto the studs better.

These gates are very easy to use once installed, especially 2 handed. To open, you simply push the lever (which is attached to the wall) with one hand and lift the center of the gate with the other. Opening it with one hand is a bit more difficult, because you have to push the lever down by the latch and lift all with one hand, so you don't have the leverage to lift up in the middle of the gate. I wouldn't say, however, that one-handed operation is difficult, just not as easy as with two hands. Closing it only requires one hand, because you don't need to push the lever down to close. I don't believe that a kid could easily figure out how to open this gate, or if she could, that she would have the strength to do so.

It is also pretty easy to remove the gate if necessary, i.e., if baby is somewhere safe and you need to move furniture, you are having adult guests over, etc. No tools are necessary - just remove one piece and lift the gate off the hinges. The hinges and clasps remain on the wall.

This gate looks like it will be very safe. While she could definitely stand on it once she is big enough, there is nothing for her to put her feet onto so that she could climb over them. Installed as they are into the wood, I am not fearful that they will rip out of the wall. Of course, no gate is foolproof and cannot be a substitute for proper supervision of your child.

One more thing. These gates are too high for our cats to jump over, so what they have been doing is crawling underneath them. I installed them just over the floor molding, so there is probably about 3.5"-4" of space underneath.

***11/14/02 UPDATE***

I've noticed over the past few months that you need to keep an eye on the locknuts. The width of the gate is micro-adjusted with 4 bolts at each corner, and once you have the correct width, each of the bolts is set in position with a locknut. Over time, the locknuts may work themselves loose - evidenced by a metallic "clink" when you close the gate. Not a major problem, but it's probably a good idea to make sure those locknuts are nice and tight every month or so.

***1/14/03 UPDATE***

Now that we're in the winter, I've noticed that the width of one of the gates needed to be slightly adjusted. Whereas it fit perfectly when I installed it back in the summer, over time it became tighter and somewhat difficult to close. My guess is that this was probably due to the fact that we're now in the heating season and as such, the air in the house is much drier than during the summer.