Cat- and baby-proofing a hallway
June 10, 2017 8:46 PM Subscribe
Hi Askme. I need some creative solutions for cat- and baby-proofing a hallway.
We have two cats and one crawling baby. We also have a hallway leading to our front door, staircase, garage and media room, none of which we want the baby or cats exploring. Standard baby gates will *not* work because there aren't two opposing sections of wall to fix the gate to. Halp.
I've uploaded a schematic of the hallway in question to illustrate the situation: the bits marked in red are no-go zones for baby and cats, and the sections in green are parts that are ok. Red and green zones are non-negotiable.
We're currently using a set of upended wire wardrobe shelves as a makeshift cat gate at the spot marked in blue, similar to the one described here, which has worked ok for about a year, but one of our cats has figured out how to break through it (even when we have it "latched" closed, she can sort of nudge it aside at the bottom and squeeze through). It's also a total PITA for an adult carrying bags/baby/random stuff because it's heavy and the sections aren't hinged, just zip tied together (you kind of have to pick up and shove the end section out of the way to open it). And it's very obviously not child-proof, as it's the most climbable structure known to man.
The spot marked in blue is the ideal spot for a barrier, because it blocks off everything we want blocked off, BUT as you can see the bits of wall aren't directly opposing, so regular pressure-mounted baby gates won't work, and additionally the cats can scale a baby gate no problem. I don't think installing a hardware-mounted baby gate or an actual door there is possible for the same reason (also there doesn't seem to be a stud in the triangular wall segment to the right of the blue mark — I don't know how that's possible but if there is a stud there we can't find it with our stud finder or by knocking). You can get banister adapters for pressure-mounted baby gates but I don't think they'd work in this situation either.
We could install a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs, but the room at the top right (our media room) doesn't have a door so we'd need a gate there too, and we'd like to minimise the number of gates we have to open as we move around the house (it's very common for us to go directly from the media room to the stairs and vice versa). And obviously the cats can just sail right over the top of a baby gate so we'd have to somehow modify them to be cat proof (a perspex sheet on top, maybe?).
So. Any ideas of relatively cheap and maybe even diyable things can we use that are cat- and baby-proof, AND easy for us to open, close and occasionally *leave* open (since we'll be walking through them like 50 thousand times a day)? (Bearing in mind we're in Australia so things might not be available here.)
I've uploaded a schematic of the hallway in question to illustrate the situation: the bits marked in red are no-go zones for baby and cats, and the sections in green are parts that are ok. Red and green zones are non-negotiable.
We're currently using a set of upended wire wardrobe shelves as a makeshift cat gate at the spot marked in blue, similar to the one described here, which has worked ok for about a year, but one of our cats has figured out how to break through it (even when we have it "latched" closed, she can sort of nudge it aside at the bottom and squeeze through). It's also a total PITA for an adult carrying bags/baby/random stuff because it's heavy and the sections aren't hinged, just zip tied together (you kind of have to pick up and shove the end section out of the way to open it). And it's very obviously not child-proof, as it's the most climbable structure known to man.
The spot marked in blue is the ideal spot for a barrier, because it blocks off everything we want blocked off, BUT as you can see the bits of wall aren't directly opposing, so regular pressure-mounted baby gates won't work, and additionally the cats can scale a baby gate no problem. I don't think installing a hardware-mounted baby gate or an actual door there is possible for the same reason (also there doesn't seem to be a stud in the triangular wall segment to the right of the blue mark — I don't know how that's possible but if there is a stud there we can't find it with our stud finder or by knocking). You can get banister adapters for pressure-mounted baby gates but I don't think they'd work in this situation either.
We could install a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs, but the room at the top right (our media room) doesn't have a door so we'd need a gate there too, and we'd like to minimise the number of gates we have to open as we move around the house (it's very common for us to go directly from the media room to the stairs and vice versa). And obviously the cats can just sail right over the top of a baby gate so we'd have to somehow modify them to be cat proof (a perspex sheet on top, maybe?).
So. Any ideas of relatively cheap and maybe even diyable things can we use that are cat- and baby-proof, AND easy for us to open, close and occasionally *leave* open (since we'll be walking through them like 50 thousand times a day)? (Bearing in mind we're in Australia so things might not be available here.)
What about an accordion door? I always got the sense that you could manipulate them for a funky fit - but I've never tried.
posted by Toddles at 9:09 PM on June 10, 2017
posted by Toddles at 9:09 PM on June 10, 2017
If this were a temporary solution for working with a growing baby, I'd go with something simple and cheap. But, if you're never going to want the cats to have free roam, maybe it's worth figuring out a nicer, longer-term solution involving an actual door.
I'd talk to a contractor or two and see if they can work out a way to put in a door of some sort. Retractable would be nice.
posted by hydra77 at 11:29 PM on June 10, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'd talk to a contractor or two and see if they can work out a way to put in a door of some sort. Retractable would be nice.
posted by hydra77 at 11:29 PM on June 10, 2017 [2 favorites]
If you're considering more medium to longterm solutions consider that toddlers and young children are not known for being good about keeping doors closed so the cat can't go where they are going. You can probably get a solution for the front door and garage that keeps both kid and cat away/the doors locked for them but the media room and stairs is unlikely to work as child becomes more independent.
posted by koahiatamadl at 2:53 AM on June 11, 2017
posted by koahiatamadl at 2:53 AM on June 11, 2017
Here is something called a "Retract-a-Gate" sold as a cat gate. One of their pictures shows it spanning a long diagonal like yours.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:17 AM on June 11, 2017
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:17 AM on June 11, 2017
If you wanted to just put a gate/door in the spot marked in blue, I wouldn't let the lack of a directly opposing walls/apparent lack of stud in triangular wall stop you. Have a look at the video on this Baby Dan website which shows flexible solutions. None of this will help with the cat problem though.
posted by bimbam at 5:18 AM on June 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by bimbam at 5:18 AM on June 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
Don't know if any of this will help but I found this overview from Lucie's List very useful. We ended up using one of the ones they recommended for a kind of weird space in our apartment.
posted by ethorson at 5:49 AM on June 11, 2017
posted by ethorson at 5:49 AM on June 11, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
The down side is they aren't really cheap but they are pretty simple to operate and won't consume floor space when open.
posted by Mitheral at 9:00 PM on June 10, 2017 [1 favorite]