How to baby proof stairs with openings?

March 9, 2015 4:43 AM

I have three stories of stairs with openings both in between stairs and horizontal banisters. Any suggestions how to best baby proof this? I was looking for some sort of rail net initially but selection is very limited. Maybe someone has a good DIY idea.
posted by djfreex to Home & Garden (14 answers total)

I'd just use baby gates and not let the baby on the stairs unsupervised till the baby is old enough to be careful. That's what we did in the same situation.
posted by taff at 4:48 AM on March 9, 2015 [5 favorites]

Speaking as a parent, that whole thing looks like a nightmare to babyproof.
Easiest solution is a babygate at the bottom and never take the kids upstairs ever, but... probably not practical.
Most practical solution is to babygate top and bottom of each storey, and get some sort of extra fencing/trellis to cover the landing bannisters (ensuring the fence or whatever is not easily climbable). That way kids can have free-run of each storey with no exposed gaps.
Expensive but best looking and least hassle* in the long run - completely replace all bannisters with solid ones and cover the gaps in the stairs with wood panels. (Plus babygates on each storey again)

(*in terms of I would never again have to stress about a kid getting stuck in/falling through a gap)
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:49 AM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

I agree, right now you are just going to have to have a gate at the bottom of the stairs, and keep the gate up a long while, those stairs are an irresistible child magnet. The products in the marketplace aren't really a good fit for you and I'm afraid any DIY project will give up a false sense of security, it is difficult to child-proof an area. I would be nervous to even hire someone to child-proof with netting to cover the openings, unless they have experience with this sort of job and even then, man, those are some serious stairs, with some serious openings. Sorry to be so bleak.
posted by dawg-proud at 6:24 AM on March 9, 2015

You could put plexiglass on the landing rails and side rails.
posted by tamitang at 6:46 AM on March 9, 2015 [2 favorites]

Buy some of this and a staple gun. Won't be pretty but you should only need it for maybe 6 months until your kid's good with the stairs. Easy to install and easier to remove! Make sure to install it on the inside of the balusters, not the outside.

You can do the bottom half or so of the balusters and the bottom side of the stair treads in case junior falls between the treads somehow (since you don't have the risers). You can pull it all down when you're done and not have big holes to patch since staple holes are very small.

If you google around you may be able to find a less offensive color (I know for a fact there's also a hunter green color, also ugly, but it shows there are options--maybe there's white!).

Also, cool stairs!
posted by resurrexit at 6:50 AM on March 9, 2015

Aha, here it is in non-eye-bleach white.
posted by resurrexit at 6:51 AM on March 9, 2015

If you don't want to staple, buy some white rope and you can "weave" or "sew" it through the edges of that barrier fence and around your balusters and every few balusters go up over the banister/handrail. Same thing for the stair treads. Like they've done in this picture (with a much more expensive product!!!).

Wait, I just went back and saw your picture and you don't have balusters--staples may be your best bet if you can figure out a way to weave the net on.
posted by resurrexit at 6:54 AM on March 9, 2015

I have a young grandchild who would be up that netting and over the top in minutes.
Emphatically agree your best bet is baby gate each flight and don't let the kid on the stairs on their own. Also board up the horizontal railings on each landing with plywood or hardboard or something. It's just too climbable. Very young children who are mobile will climb and explore and reach as far as they can, it's not like you can reason with them.
posted by glasseyes at 7:14 AM on March 9, 2015 [5 favorites]

I'd tie sheets of plywood, cut to size, against the insides of the banisters and on the bottom of the slope of the treads. If cost was an issue I'd get the big cardboard boxes which are discarded by furniture stores and use those instead of plywood.
posted by anadem at 8:19 AM on March 9, 2015

My parents did it with thick carpeting (that's me in the red). Good gates are probably a better answer.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:45 AM on March 9, 2015

When we were house hunting, we saw several units with stairs like those and were told that they are built with enough space between them such that a crawling infant's head should not fit through. That said, many of the hoes we looked at were older and not to code, and our real estate said that she had seen people drill in plexiglass under the steps while their children were young. We thought that sounded awful and instead bought a house with five steps at the bottom that are open without a rail. I may have to ask mefi about that one b/c our current gate situation is failing.
posted by echo0720 at 7:26 PM on March 9, 2015

(So sad that echo720 encountered so many hoes that were old and not to code. I most admire the transgressive and mature ones. )

The added benefit of spending money on good quality gates (top and bottom of each flight) is that they can also be repurposed for dogs and doorways. Or puppies and stairs.

And if you do decide to use gates, get in the habit the second you install them of keeping them closed. It's the only way to truly train you all. Otherwise one day you'll hear a crash and a cry and it will be the one time your forgot to close it and took your eyes of your bambino for two seconds,
posted by taff at 9:29 PM on March 9, 2015

I used perspex too, which if finally taken off after 7 years' service. I preferred it to wood/carpet/netting as it lets light through, doesn't snag, you just don't notice it and it's easy to fit.

Here how to fix it on:
- Buy a sheet that fits the area you want to cover - you can cut it to size with a jigsaw or a hacksaw but its not that easy. Sand off any sharp corners.
- Get yourself a sharpie, hold the perspex in place on the inside of the bannisters and make two dots either side of a bannister (just a tiny little bit wider than the actual bannister). One towards the top and one the bottom. If the bannisters have been turned on a lathe, mark the dots either at the bannister's thinnest point or at a point where the shape of bannister will stop a zip tie from slipping down. Do this approx every 40cms (or every 3 bannisters).
- Once marked, get some fairly thick, clear zipties (cable ties) measure their width and drill the marks with a similar diameter drill bit (or heat a piece of metal with the same cross-section as the cable ties and melt-push it through (this is probably better as will put less stress on the cable tie when it's fixed in place).
- Put all your cable ties in position so the cleat part is on the backside (thread them through the back of the perpex, round the front, back in then around the bannister and back into the cleat part). Use pliers to tighten then snip off the excess.
Protip: Don't over-tighten if you are connecting to a thin (waist-like) part of a bannister that's been turned on a lathe, you could risk cracking the perspex as the tie will be trying to bend the perspex inwards against the front of the waist.

When you need to take it down, just snip the ties. It also protects your bannisters from swords, high-speed Hot Wheels cars, can keep Slinkeys on track and avoids this!


Good luck.
posted by guy72277 at 1:52 AM on March 10, 2015 [1 favorite]

Sorry if my post came across as rude, I didn't intend it that way but reading it now, it sounds pretty bitchy, sorry about that. And obviously I meant homes and not hoes.
posted by echo0720 at 5:35 PM on March 11, 2015