Trends in home layout these days tends towards open spaces, rather than a separate little room for every function that used to be popular. No longer do many homes have a family room, kitchen, dining room and living room in segmented areas – they are all open to each other.
While this open concept kind of layout looks wonderful, it can make it hard to protect your kids when a standard sized baby gate doesn’t fit with the area you are trying to work with. The solution? Extra wide baby gates.
Extra wide baby gates come in pressure mounted or hardware mounted versions. You will have to compare each of these styles to find out which one will work best for your space in function and safety.
Pressure mounted extra wide baby gates are easy to install, can be adjusted to fit a doorway snugly and are easily moved form one doorway to another. Rubber bumpers on the sides of the gate protect your walls from holes and other damage. Pressure mounted gates are not recommended to use at the top of staircases – there is no hardware holding the gate into the wall, only pressure. If you are renting your home, your landlord may prefer you to use a pressure gate instead of putting holes in the walls. However, remember that a pressure mounted gate is not the safest choice for stairs – you may have to do some negotiating with your landlord on this to ensure your baby is the safest he or she can be.
Hardware mounted extra wide baby gates are not as mobile (unless you have additional hardware mounted to another door then the gate can be shared between them). These type of gates use hardware to mount them onto wall studs or bannisters which makes them very sturdy and secure. Most hardware mounted gates can be used at the top of staircases but you should check the particulars of each gate to ensure total safety.
Some extra wide baby gates are metal, some are plastic and some are mesh. Again, it depends on what your requirements are. Some extra wide baby gates have doors within the gate for adults to pass through easily and some even have a pet door so smaller dogs or cats can go through the gate also.
Whatever extra wide baby gate you decide on, don’t let price be a factor – let the benefits and features be your decision makers. Your baby or toddler deserves the best safety gear you can afford. You will spend more on a good quality extra wide baby gate but it will last longer than cheap version. Safety of your little ones is worth way more than saving a few bucks.
