Another Custom Baby Gate In the Works

[Leon]

There is nothing quite as unique as sweat stains on your work. ;~)

[Leon]

I once dated a girl that was 4'10". 35" was like boob high... '~O

[-MIKE-]

There's a step on the other side, you'll be fine. They need a babysitter-- you volunteering? :-p

[krw]

A step over the gate and I might have the falsetto for it.

I'm not big on stepping over things on stairs, either. ...even at the bottom.

[-MIKE-]

When I was just a young-un, I could jump pretty high... I mean, really high. I used to jump over fences and bushes and even sports cars. When I was in school, we did the President's Physical Fitness Awards and I just ruled those things. :-) We also had these tests in gym class to measure our vertical leap and long jump and other things. I was off the charts and all the coaches were trying to recruit me. I was always the fastest kid on the field, but wasn't big. I was in band, so the jocks gave me a hard time, even though the coaches wanted me on their teams.

Weird times when you're a kid. :-)

[krw]

When you're a kid, you don't break so easily. When you're a kid, you heal a lot faster when you do break. When you're not a kid, you learn your limitations. Pain is the great teacher. ;-)

[-MIKE-]

I added pics of the installed gate. Bottom line, she is extremely pleased with how it turned out-- looks and function.

An added bonus. There was concern by some of you about the ease of using the gate, since it's not hinged and has four anchor points. I kept that in mind when I was installing and discovered an imperfect, but more than adequate solution.

As I suspected, the bottom latches don't even need to be used to keep the gate secure. It is possible to pull the bottom out and a curious child might do that. So at least one should probably stay latched. With that in mind....

I discovered there is enough room under the handrail on the right for the left side of the gate to be pulled out, away from the steps, allowing enough room for a passerby.

So in the right side anchor holes, I drilled another another hole in each, though the entry of the existing ones, but at an angle that allows the anchor bolt to pivot in the wall when the left side of the gate is pulled out away from the step, acting like a hinge.

Now for the cool part. This allows for one-handed operation, because you can just disengage the top-left latch, pull the gate out, walk through, pull it shut, and reengage the latch. Another bonus, using the above method, the gate can also be totally removed and/or installed without disengaging the right-side latches.

The client got what they wanted, or more aptly, didn't want-- which is any hardware attached to the walls. And they get a pseudo-hinged gate they can pass through without operating all four latches.

[DerbyDad03]

[Leon]

Looks like a $600 job if I ever saw one. Good Job!!!

[OFWW]

Looks really Great!

I have seen my share of what I would call cheap flimsy gates with grandchildren and their friends home. Nothing that compared to this, in any way.

[-MIKE-]

Thank you.

That is so true. The ones that are out there are flimsy, difficult to work, many are difficult to install and rarely stay there very long. I've done my share of modifications to those in my handyman work. People are figuring out that you pay a lot of money for something that may or may not work without having to spend more money to modify it to your specific installation.

There are custom, wood ones available out there, but nothing like I'm doing where they match your existing decor. There's a decent market around here with well-to-do new moms who are equal parts helicopter parent and interior design snobs. :-)

If I can eventually incorporate the Domino when making them, I might be able to find a price point that is too hard to resist for the potential clients.