Modern two- or three-story houses are unimaginable without stairs. And when it is originally designed, it becomes the "highlight" of the interior. But if you have a child in your house, the stairs are fraught with some danger for the baby. The curiosity of the crumbs and the complete absence of fear can lead to irreparable consequences. But let's not talk about bad things! Let's better think about how to protect a child in a multi-level house and how to equip the protection for the stairs from children.
A toddler left unattended even for a few seconds can fall down steps, get stuck between balusters or try to climb them. All this pushes parents to create a reliable partition that protects the child from entering the unsafe area of \u200b\u200bthe house. A DIY stair trap works great for this.
What issafety gate design for stairs
There are two options for such partitions: mounted by surprise or drilled to one of the side walls. Therefore, you have to choose the one that suits you best.
After choosing a design concept, familiarize yourself with the specific features of the partitions and determine what parameters child protection for the stairs should have.
Principal features of the gate
Distinctive features of protection for children from falling down stairs are as follows:
- The mechanism of the locking device should be too tight for a child to unlock it, or located outside the baby's reach, but so that an adult can easily unlock it with a child in one hand;
- gates should open away from the stairs, unless the structure is lifted up;
- when freely opening, the gate should not touch interior items, so you should think about a stopper for the door;
- discard the lower struts, because even an adult can stumble through them;
- gates themselves must be safe: do not contain sharp parts and corners that can injure the child;
- each of the structural parts used must have mechanical strength, be environmentally friendly and hypoallergenic, that is, made of steel, aluminum, plexiglass or other type of non-toxic plastic.
This design is often installed inother places unsafe for the child, for example, at the exit to the balcony, attic, near a natural fireplace, near fragile interior items.
Do-it-yourself security gate: where to start?
The technical side of the issue is not as complicated as it might seem. Experts identify several design methods. Let's get acquainted with the simplest, but most popular methods.
Plexiglas partition in wooden frame
Materials and tools for assembling child protection on stairs:
- beam with rounded ends for decorating a wooden box with a diameter of 25-35 mm in cross section;
- saws: standard and circular;
- grooved bars for inserting base material;
- plexiglass with a thickness of at least 4.5 mm - 1 pc.;
- veils - 2 pieces;
- self-tapping screws;
- magnetic lock or automatic latch;
- electric drill;
- screwdriver or Phillips screwdriver;
- sandpaper fine and medium density;
- wood putty (to match stairs).
How to assemble?
Assembly of child protection stairs:
- Cut the timber into parts of the desired height and width of the future product.
- Do the same with the Plexiglas sheet (taking into account the margin to fit into the grooves of the frame).
- Cut grooves in the details of the future box using a circular saw, if they were not provided by the manufacturer. Make depths of at least 10mm.
- Use a drill to drill holes for the screws.
- Secure the frame by placing a sheet of Plexiglas inside it.
- Scrape the wooden box with sandpaper and putty.
- Mount the side beam to the wall, tilting it minimally towards the stairs. The angle of inclination should be such that the gate itself slams shut when it is forgotten to close.
- Screw on side hinge support.
- Place the finished frame for future gates on the free part of the curtains.
- On the side facing the stairs, attach the latch or magnetic security lock securely. If you do not have such a mechanism, use a conventional valve or latch. But please note that such a system does not guarantee complete security.
Protecting the stairs from children (photo below) can be made according to the design of the room, without breaking out of the general style of the interior.
Wicket with vertical bars in a frame
Inventory Required:
- a piece of timber with rounded edges and a cross section of 40 mm or more;
- wood bars with a cross section of 20 mm or more in the required quantity;
- wood sawing;
- veils - 2 pieces;
- self-tapping screws;
- automatic latch or magnetic lock;
- electric drill;
- sandpaper: fine and medium hardness;
- putty to match stairs or paint materials;
- glue for wood.
Main construction steps
Assembling the gate for child protection stairs consists of several steps:
- Sawing wood species under the guise of beams into the required height and width details: 4 - along the height of the stair railing, 2 - along the width between the balusters.
- Rounded and sanded corners for greater child safety.
- Preparing the box: in the bars used as the upper and lower base, drill the required number of holes from 20 mm in diameter with a depth of up to 10 mm - these are holes for the bars. At the same time, leave a distance between the bars of no more than 100 mm so that the child cannot crawl between them or throw a large toy down.
- Preparation of holes for self-tapping screws.
- Assembly of the gate: wooden twigs are planted on glue, assembling the upper and lower railings of the gate and the grate into a single whole.
- Assembly of the frame together: fold the door on a horizontal surface as the finished product should look, and twist with self-tapping screws.
- Attach the two longitudinal parts of the beam to the balusters, keeping a minimum slope towards the stairs, as described in the previous case.
- We fasten the curtains on one side (bar), on the second - a lock or latch from the side of the stairs.
- A ready-made protection made of wooden rods is hung on the hinges.
- The finished gate is varnished or painted.
Experts say that from a design point of view, for gates mounted on balusters, it is better to take the upper and lower crossbars with bent ends.
By the way, there is one moreAn interesting option for the formation of protection for stairs from children is a mesh. All that is required is to protect the railing on the upper floor and balusters, as well as create a reliable barrier at the entrance to the stairs. This method is effective when using strong rope nets. In addition, this design successfully complements the interior, made for example in a marine style.
How to assemble protection for stairs from improvised materials
If for some reason you are unable to purchase materials and construct protection for the stairs with your own hands from specialized materials, you can use improvised means. Often, structures present in the house are used for such purposes. These include the backs of baby beds with vertical bars or plastic bars. Such obstacles are installed end-to-end. The only thing you need to take care of is the width of the passage that you want to protect. The partition must fully fit in width into the measured space and securely “sit” in it. Naturally, this is a temporary solution, with the prospect of replacing it with a more reliable design.
Despite such extraordinaryness, even a simple partition itself is already better than unlimited access to unsafe places in the house.
If you do not have time to design, you can always purchase a stair gate from a responsible manufacturer. For example, the protection for the stairs from the children "Ikea" is in great demand, andgiven that the company offers a wide range of products, different in design, functionality and type of material used, it will not be difficult to choose a gate.
Choose something that is more reliable and will serve well to protect your little ones. If you have children in your home, protecting the stairs from children - gates and fences - will serve as a good barrier separating them from possible dangers at this stage of life.
