Pressure mounted gate for top of stairs...

[dukie41181]

I know its not recommended but here's our situation. We need to put a gate at the top of the stairs leading down to our finished basement. We used to have a door hung in this doorway but took it out and now we are left with the "door jam" in the space. My sister was over today with her 18 month old and we had to quickly grab a pressure mounted gate for the space. It seemed quite secure there as the pressure mount was stopped by the built in wood from the "door jam." In this case, could a pressure mounted gate be ok? From my understanding pressure mounted gates are not recommended as children could push on them, lean into them, etc. and the gate could fall. In this case that seems to be impossible as not only would the child have to fall into the gate but the wood from the door would also have to come off which seems just as likely as a hardware mounted gate to pull out of the wall. What do you think?

[arivecchi]

I would not do it. My toddler can move pressure mounted gates in both directions and get them loose. We have the ones that are bolted into the wall on the top of each flight of stairs (we have a townhouse so lot of stairs). Also, my toddler once fell down a flight of stairs (a relative left the gate open). Scariest moment of my life.

[WatchingThemGrow]

I wouldn't do it either. My mom fell through a pressure-mounted gate in our hallway and ripped off some molding. It can happen. What about mounting a kidco retractable gate? Are those okay for stairs? My friend has one at the top of her vacation condo steps. We don't have stairs, so I didn't research that much. We have the same kidco gate in front of DD's room for certain occasions and it seems strong.

[KrisM]

I wouldn't do it either.

If there is a door jam, how about getting a cheap door and cutting it in half so that the door ends just above the doorknob. Put a lock on the doorknob that you can reach over to unlock. Keep it open when you don't need it.

[dukie41181]

We certainly don't mind the makeshift dutch door option as that was our original plan. We've been trying to get ahold of the contractor who was going to do the work for us. Guess we'll keep trying. Or maybe get one and use it for the time being and move it to the bottom of another flight of stairs later.