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I am looking for some advice on how to best set up a baby gate where one side has a wall that slants vertically. Here is the area:

Home wall for baby gate

To the far right is a built in and ideally I don't want to affect that in any way.

Could someone please help with some alternatives or options I might consider?

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  • Are you willing to build your own or are you trying to fit a commercial product?
    – isherwood
    Commented Jan 19 at 16:57
  • Good question - my preference is to find something already out there but that seems to be a challenge so I will have to use any ideas I get to look to build
    – karancan
    Commented Jan 19 at 23:38

4 Answers 4

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I would attach a 2x4 vertically as you drew. I would then cut and attach the piece of 1/2" MDF vertically in front to cover the gap. Then, install a standard baby gate.

enter image description here

The red dots are screws into the 2x4. They should be 1-1/2" long. The blue dots are screws into the exiting structure. They should be long enough to attach to the structure below. Minimum of 3" long through the 2x4 and 2" long through the MDF. This would leave 8 screw holes to patch and paint once removed.

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  • 8 holes to patch and fill surely? 4 on front and 4 on the side... And consider bracing the top to the wall on the right...
    – Solar Mike
    Commented Jan 19 at 7:29
  • Sorry, yes, 4 holes per face.
    – pdd
    Commented Jan 19 at 16:49
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    This is serious overkill. There's undoubtedly a more elegant and less destructive solution.
    – isherwood
    Commented Jan 19 at 16:58
  • Overkill? Once the kid is over 3 then it can be removed. Breaking ribs when catching a falling kid hurts... Guess how I know.
    – Solar Mike
    Commented Jan 20 at 9:36
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Put it at the top of the three steps.

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    If you put it at the top of the three steps, a toddler might crawl up, pull themselves up by the baby gate, slip or lose balance, fall backwards and hit their head on the floor below.
    – pdd
    Commented Jan 19 at 2:43
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    falling from the second step would be almost as bad as falling off the sofa.
    – Jasen
    Commented Jan 19 at 3:24
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    You could argue that you don't need a baby gate in general, but if you do want one, putting it at the top of the stairs is quite pointless. It doesn't provide the protection you want anymore.
    – quarague
    Commented Jan 19 at 11:52
  • you mat not have noticed that there are several more steps above the three and that falls from greater height are more damaging, if that's you a gate that allows you to learn this on a smaller stairway is probably beneficial.
    – Jasen
    Commented Jan 19 at 22:03
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I'd just build a 2x4 pony wall to sit on the built in dust slide. That is paint grade and you can screw right into and just patch and paint after. It is just white paint on paint grade trim doesn't get much easier to match and patch than that.

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You may get away with attaching the baby gate only to the straight bottom part of the slant wall, essentially what you drew in your picture. You want to attach it using most of the length of the short piece of wall but you will still have bigger leverage forces applied to the gate than if you were to attach it over its full height. So you would need a baby gate that allows you this flexibility in attaching it to the wall, different models have different methods here. You also need to consider how sturdy that wall segment is and whether it and your attachment can take the increased forces on it.

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