Gate for top of stairs - no hardware?

[geochick]

We are going to be renting a house with stairs. I will need a gate for the top of the stairs. Because the house is rented, I really don't want to do too much damage to the wall or banister when we install the gate. Is there any safe way to install a gate that is pressure mounted? Is there another, safe solution to my problem. Thanks.

[Momof3Labs]

Technically, there is no safe way to use a pressure mounted gate at the top of stairs. If you have a bannister, you can use cable ties to tightly attach a 1"x2" piece of wood, and drill the gate into the wood. Walls are easily repaired with a little bit of spackling.

[justlearning]

We just moved from a house we were renting. We ended up never putting up any gates, but that meant that we ALWAYS had to be watching him. We never did let him play upstairs--we just kept him playing downstairs. If you can find a way to put up a gate, I'd highly recommend it--it'll make your life much easier!

Here's one possible idea for not making a hole in the wood banister. It's a post by Vicki in another thread, in which she presents a picture of what her husband did: http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=15&topic_id=1342&mesg_id=1359&page=

We're thinking about doing this in our new home that we just bought so we don't damage the wood. I agree with Lori--a hole in the wall is much easier to patch.

Good luck!

[geochick]

Great suggestions. I'll show my husband the ideas you suggested and see what he can come up with. Thanks for your help.

[jec2]

Here's what we are doing: we are putting a pressure mounted gate in the hallway before the stairs. So, we still protect baby from the stairs but won't have to put holes in our rental either. I don't know what your config is, but if you can put the gate back a ways, then maybe you can get around using a gate at the top of the stairs.

[s7714]

There have been a few previous discussions about ways to mount to banisters without drilling into them. The most common type of solution (whether making your own or buying a kit) is to do something like is show in this link: http://tinyurl.com/3ybwg

If you do a search in this forum for banister you should be able to find the discussions.

HTH,
Jennifer
Mommy to Annalia 03/03/03