[ snip child safety "stair gates" and tripping on them ]

At the top of my stairs the bannisters return along the
landing, i.e. the stair rail goes up the stairs to the
newel post, then right 90 degrees for about 4", then
right 90 degrees again finishing on a wall. If you look
from the landing, you can see a horizontal row of
bannisters, and through them you can see the ones going
down the stairs. I made a timber panel "door" that ran
back in between the rows of bannisters, in steel "U"
channel between the rows, with a plastic clip made of a
piece of timber and two "fix-it" blocks under the 4" piece
of stair-rail. A small wheel was fixed to the front of
the sliding gate so that it could be opened and closed.
A knob on a length of steel tube and studding went
through a strip of steel screwed to the top of the
sliding "gate", through a piece of square tube screwed
to the bottom of the gate (which slid in the U channel)
and into a captive nut in a small plate screwed to the
floor, holding the gate in the "shut" position. Nothing
to trip on.

At the bottom of the stairs, I welded up a U frame
(with a square bottom, not a rounded "U") of square
section tube to fit a bought steel stair gate. The
stair gate surround fitted into the U exactly, and
was bolted in through the sides, so that the normal
closing mechanism for the gate still workes as
designed. The U had 8" pieces welded on, each side,
which were screwed onto the treads of the stair.

|
|
| You might have to b- about with
| the font to see this - the gate
| --| and surround fitted into the
| v |___ middle - the sticky-out bits
| / v were screwed to the treads (v).
| / I considered making it adjustable
--| / to fit all stairs.
v |/
|___
v

This only makes 4 small holes in the treads, doesn't
damage the wall or newel, and is strongly fixed - also,
nothing to trip over!


J.B.