Welcome. We are dedicated to bringing you information on the best plastic safety gates for your children and pets available on the market today.
Using a proper plastic baby gate can provide your family with both safety and convenience. Of course, the most common use of these gates is to protect children from falling down the stairs. However, they can also be used to prevent children from entering areas of the house that might themselves be unsafe (like the kitchen), or from entering areas that might be inconvenient (like a home office). Plastic baby gates can be preferable to wooden or metal gates for a number of reasons. First, they are usually less expensive, which is quite important, especially if you wish to use more than one gate. Second, they are lighter. If you have gates that you find must be set up and take down, a wooden or metal gate can be far more difficult to move around. Finally, they can actually be safer than a wooden or metal gate. A wooden or metal gate can be more harmful if they fall on a child, and if your baby gets stuck in a gate, the flexibility of the plastic gate makes them safer.
This site has been divided into a number of articles discussing different types of gates and their strengths and weaknesses. Please enjoy the selection.
Baby Gates for Stairs
Safety Note: You should not use a baby gate of any type at the top of the stairs unless it is specifically designed for that purpose. Choosing a baby gate for stairs is more difficult than choosing one for any other location, due to the safety concerns. May people try to put gates at the top of stairs that are not designed for this purpose, which can lead to serious injury. However, there are gates designed specifically for this purpose. On this page, I discuss stair gates, especially top of stair gates, and what you should be looking for in one.
Extra-Wide Baby Gate
Another tricky gate to purchase is the extra-wide baby gate. They are becoming increasingly common as a result of more and more “open concept” kitchens. Because of their altered dimensions, they introduce their own set of safety concerns. In addition, you’ll need to do some special measuring to ensure that the gate fits. On this page, I discuss how to pick an extra-wide gate, what the special issues are, and how to properly measure for your extra-wide gate.
Wide Pet Gate
Of course, there is a great deal of overlap between baby gates and pet gates, and many people use the same gate for both purposes. However, introducing pets, especially large pets, clever pets and jumping pets, changes one’s needs in picking a pet gate, especially when used in a large opening or when you wish to use it outside. On this page, I discuss how to select the best wide gate, if you want to use it for your pets rather than simply for babies.
Retractable Baby Gate
In fact, retractable gates were the most popular gates until very recently. It would have been difficult to find a swing gate. However, with the introduction of the swing gate, consumers have more options. Should they continue with a retractable gate, or should they use the new swing gates. There are actually quite a few things to consider, including traffic flow in a home, patience levels, and what kind of pets might also be deterred by the baby gate. On this page, I provide a guide for deciding whether to use a retractable baby gate, or to use one of the more recently developed swing gates.