Stair issue...

Just thought I'd try here to see if anyone has any words of advice.
We have 2 levels, plus a basement. Bedrooms/bathroom is upstairs. Main
floor has the kitchen and a living room. Basement has a laundry room and
like a rumpus room.
We have baby gates at the top of the stairs going to the basement, as well
as at the bottom of the stairs going upstairs. The problem is the top of
the stairs upstairs, where the bedrooms are.
I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for the top of the stairs going
to the upstairs. An easy fix is another baby gate. Issue with that is
that's not really possible. The top of the stairs is against only 1 wall -
there's about a 2' space between the very top of the stairs and the wall on
the opposite side of the stairs. It's kind of hard to explain, but to keep
is short and as simple as possible, the 2 walls at the very top of the
stairs do not match up at all. A baby gate would have nothing to latch to
on the opposite wall it was mounted on.
I also have an issue with that little space (the 2 or so feet) that the wall
doesn't match up. There's just a hole there. It's kind of a concern for
me, but I have no idea how to fix it. I am willing to try just about
anything that would be safe to fix this.
Any ideas?

Reading some of that over, I think it makes no sense.
I'm going to post a pic of it and hopefully it will get some ideas!

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/HPIM0337.jpg
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/HPIM0336.jpg
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/HPIM0338.jpg

Here's a few pics of the stairs in question...
Any ideas?

xkatx wrote:

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for the top of the stairs going
to the upstairs. An easy fix is another baby gate. Issue with that is
that's not really possible. The top of the stairs is against only 1 wall -
there's about a 2' space between the very top of the stairs and the wall on
the opposite side of the stairs. It's kind of hard to explain, but to keep
is short and as simple as possible, the 2 walls at the very top of the
stairs do not match up at all. A baby gate would have nothing to latch to
on the opposite wall it was mounted on.
I also have an issue with that little space (the 2 or so feet) that the wall
doesn't match up. There's just a hole there. It's kind of a concern for
me, but I have no idea how to fix it. I am willing to try just about
anything that would be safe to fix this.
Any ideas?

There are a whole bunch of creative gates out there--
there are gates you can mount on an angle or gates to handle
almost any situation you might encounter. Maybe you could
look around to see if there's a gate that might do the trick?

Also the gate doesn't have to be right at the top of the
stairs. You can move it back to wherever you have two walls
opposite one another. Heck, you can put the gates in the
bedroom doorways as long as you supervise closely if the
child is loose anywhere else upstairs.

Best wishes,
Ericka

xkatx wrote:
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/HPIM0337.jpg
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/HPIM0336.jpg
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/HPIM0338.jpg

Here's a few pics of the stairs in question...
Any ideas?

1) Gate the doorway to the left and the hallway to the
right with two separate gates.
2) Get one of the gates that can go from a wall to a
railing and then block the open space on the right
with one of the plexiglass or mesh products to use
on railings or decks.

Best wishes,
Ericka

"xkatx" wrote:

Just thought I'd try here to see if anyone has any words of advice.
We have 2 levels, plus a basement. Bedrooms/bathroom is upstairs. Main
floor has the kitchen and a living room. Basement has a laundry room and
like a rumpus room.
We have baby gates at the top of the stairs going to the basement, as well
as at the bottom of the stairs going upstairs. The problem is the top of
the stairs upstairs, where the bedrooms are.

I don't know the ages of the kids or whether you are renting or own
your house (and I'm not really able to visualize this too well), but a
couple of thoughts occur to me.

Easiest would be to gate off the hall leading to the steps, so that
the bathroom and one or more bedrooms are on one side of the gate and
the stairs are on the other side.

Put permanent railing covering the two foot gap on the railing wall or
put netting there. Boats have netting between the stanchions that
hold the lifelines to keep children or pets from falling into the
water, and I'd think that would work in this case too.

Put a wandering child in a playpen when you have to be upstairs and or
tether them to something.

Depending on the configuration of the "gap", just put the baby gate 2
feet down from the top of the stairs.

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for the top of the stairs going
to the upstairs. An easy fix is another baby gate. Issue with that is
that's not really possible. The top of the stairs is against only 1 wall -
there's about a 2' space between the very top of the stairs and the wall on
the opposite side of the stairs. It's kind of hard to explain, but to keep
is short and as simple as possible, the 2 walls at the very top of the
stairs do not match up at all. A baby gate would have nothing to latch to
on the opposite wall it was mounted on.
I also have an issue with that little space (the 2 or so feet) that the wall
doesn't match up. There's just a hole there. It's kind of a concern for
me, but I have no idea how to fix it. I am willing to try just about
anything that would be safe to fix this.
Any ideas?

"xkatx" wrote:

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/HPIM0337.jpg
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/HPIM0336.jpg
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/HPIM0338.jpg

Here's a few pics of the stairs in question...
Any ideas?

You need to build railings in the gap. (on the right at the top as we
look at the photos)

But I don't see any reason you could not anchor a gate on the wall
side of the top of the stairs, and then have the latch/hook to expand
the gate on the newel post side.

You can't use one of the pressure gates though - has to be permanently
installed.

I had a baby gate made from fabric. It's a comercial product and you
can't "bend" the fabric down because it's reinforced every couple of
centimeters (some kind of rod from top to bottom). It was really long
and I'm nearly sure it would go from the side wall to the other side
wall around that metal thingy. Like an L.

I can't remember what the thing was called though and I don't even
remember where I put it when we moved... Ask at some baby shop, they
might know what I'm talking about ;-)

And I'll go and google it, maybe I'll find something.

cu
nicole

"xkatx" wrote in message
news:PDn5i.56341$Xh3.48374@edtnps90...
Just thought I'd try here to see if anyone has any words of advice.
We have 2 levels, plus a basement. Bedrooms/bathroom is upstairs.
Main floor has the kitchen and a living room. Basement has a
laundry room and like a rumpus room.
We have baby gates at the top of the stairs going to the basement,
as well as at the bottom of the stairs going upstairs. The problem
is the top of the stairs upstairs, where the bedrooms are.
I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for the top of the
stairs going to the upstairs. An easy fix is another baby gate.
Issue with that is that's not really possible. The top of the
stairs is against only 1 wall - there's about a 2' space between the
very top of the stairs and the wall on the opposite side of the
stairs. It's kind of hard to explain, but to keep is short and as
simple as possible, the 2 walls at the very top of the stairs do not
match up at all. A baby gate would have nothing to latch to on the
opposite wall it was mounted on.
I also have an issue with that little space (the 2 or so feet) that
the wall doesn't match up. There's just a hole there. It's kind of
a concern for me, but I have no idea how to fix it. I am willing to
try just about anything that would be safe to fix this.
Any ideas?

Thanks for the pics! I had *no* idea what you were talking about!!!

First of all, I do think it would be a good idea to block off that
hole somehow with a piece of railing.

Second, you might not need to block the top at all if the baby is only
up their for nap and sleeping and you can keep a closed door between
him and the stairs.

Third, I agree with Ericka, putting the gate two or three steps down
would be just fine.

Bizby

"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message
. ..
xkatx wrote:

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for the top of the stairs
going
to the upstairs. An easy fix is another baby gate. Issue with that is
that's not really possible. The top of the stairs is against only 1
wall -
there's about a 2' space between the very top of the stairs and the wall
on
the opposite side of the stairs. It's kind of hard to explain, but to
keep
is short and as simple as possible, the 2 walls at the very top of the
stairs do not match up at all. A baby gate would have nothing to latch
to
on the opposite wall it was mounted on.
I also have an issue with that little space (the 2 or so feet) that the
wall
doesn't match up. There's just a hole there. It's kind of a concern
for
me, but I have no idea how to fix it. I am willing to try just about
anything that would be safe to fix this.
Any ideas?

There are a whole bunch of creative gates out there--
there are gates you can mount on an angle or gates to handle
almost any situation you might encounter. Maybe you could
look around to see if there's a gate that might do the trick?

Also the gate doesn't have to be right at the top of the
stairs. You can move it back to wherever you have two walls
opposite one another. Heck, you can put the gates in the
bedroom doorways as long as you supervise closely if the
child is loose anywhere else upstairs.

And, piggybacking on this-check pet supply stores. Many of them carry a
wider range of baby gates and more heavy duty ones than the baby stores do,
because dog owners use them to confine dogs in training, and they have to be
heavy duty. We have a fairly open staircase, with bannisters on both sides
and no walls, and the only place we found a non-climbable, sturdy, pretty
tall gate was at Petsmart-it is rated for children, but there was nothing
close to it at Baby Depot.


Best wishes,
Ericka