# Baby Gate Design Help



## kawisser (Aug 15, 2011)

I made this baby gate a couple years ago. I would have rather bought one from a store, but there were a few things holding me back. My stairs are very wide and the store bought gates would swing into the wall before it could be fully open. This is why I had to make the gate "bi-fold". The gate has worked alright but (now try to picture this) the locking mechanism allows the gate to be opened while locked. Even though the bolt latches snugly into the vertical wood piece, there is still enough "give" for it to slide out if the gate is folded. It's really not a big deal for the bottom of the stairs, because it's not like my baby is going to fall up the stairs. 

Now that my baby is becoming mobile, I need to make a matching gate for the top of the stairs. I have the same problem up there. If I made the gate 1 single long piece, then it will hit the wall when it swings open. I'd like to see if anyone can think of a way to lock the bi-fold in place that will still look nice. When I say "lock", I really mean no bending at all. So that he couldn't just pull on the gate and it opens up. I would build it so that it can't be pushed open, but since it's the top of the stairs, I'd rather that it couldn't be pulled open either.

Of if a bi-fold isn't really feasible, is there is anything that would let me slide the gate open instead of swinging it. My only concern here is that I don't have a whole lot of wall to secure the slides to. The gate needs to be about 2 feet tall and 4 feet wide.

I attached pictures of the existing gate and also a couple pictures of where the new gate needs to go at the top of the stairs. I'd really appreciate any ideas.


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

Kevin,

The first thing to make sure of is when you design the gate you make sure the bifold hinge is on the 'stair' side. This will make sure if anyone pushes against it, it won't fold and let them fall down the stairs.

As for securing it, a sliding latch or bolt across both leaves should give you the gate enough stiffening to keep the gate from flexing and letting it open.


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## kawisser (Aug 15, 2011)

kp91 said:


> Kevin,
> 
> The first thing to make sure of is when you design the gate you make sure the bifold hinge is on the 'stair' side. This will make sure if anyone pushes against it, it won't fold and let them fall down the stairs.
> 
> As for securing it, a sliding latch or bolt across both leaves should give you the gate enough stiffening to keep the gate from flexing and letting it open.


Right - That's what I did downstairs. I just wanted to be extra cautious for the top gate. I know it's not likely that he would pull the gate open, but you never know. I'll have to pick up another latch and see how much flex it would still have.


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## veccyest (Jan 20, 2012)

I used a clubb window bolt to lock the gate you can then take the key out well safe .


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## kawisser (Aug 15, 2011)

What do you think about routing a T-Slot into joining rails and sliding some sort of metal strip into it? When I want it locked, I can slide the metal to be in the center of the gate. When I want it unlocked I can slide the metal to one of the halves of the gate. Any ideas on where I can get some sort of rectangular metal strip to slip in there?

MLCS Key Hole Cutting and T-Slot Cutter Router Bits


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