Baby Gates and Wooden Railings – How to Avoid Screw Holes

Customers have often asked me if I knew of any methods for securing a baby gate at the top or bottom of their stairway without damaging their beautiful wood railings.

The last thing that anyone wants to do is to put screw holes into their wood posts or spindles, so how can we avoid this?

Fortunately the folks at Cardinal Gates have solved this problem.They have developed special wooden clamps that are designed to fit around square posts, round posts or railing spindles.

Once these wooden clamps are in place, you would simply screw the gate mounting brackets to the wooden clamps instead of to your railing posts.

There are a few combinations to consider,

• wherever you have a railing post, you will need two clamps. All gates need to be secured either at the top and bottom, or at the top and half way down the gate (check the style of gate you are going with to determine at the heights of the mounting brackets).
• some post scenarios will require a square clamp at the bottom of the post and a round clamp for the top connection. This will depend on the design of your post.
• if you have stairway railings on both sides, then you will need four clamps. Otherwise, the gate would be secured to a wall on one side and the railing on the other.
• There are times when you may need to secure your gate to the railing spindles instead of the posts. Fortunately there is also a special spindle clamp for this purpose.

To disassemble the gate, simply remove the clamps, and any wall screws.

The Round Wood Clamp for Baby Gates:

The picture below shows the configuration of the round clamp. It basically comes in two semi-circle components with clamping bolts that allow you to tightly secure the clamp to round posts. These clamps work for posts up to 3.5 inches in width, so they work well for most stair railings.

Cardinal Gates suggests that you place either masking tape or paint tape on you posts before tightening the clamp. This would help to prevent your wood from being scuffed should anyone start yanking on the gate.

As was stated above, the gate mounts are then screwed into the clamps. Each clamp provides a 3/4 inch buffer from you railing post. Should the screw be longer than 1/2 inch, Cardinal Gates has supplied an additional buffering pad.

Round Wood Clamp for Baby Gates

The Square Wood Clamp for Baby Gates:

The square clamp works similarly to the round clamp, but has been designed to fit snuggly up against the square sections of your post.

The use of tape is also recommended for this clamp.

Square Wood Clamp

The Spindle Clamp for Baby Gates:

The spindle clamp is designed to fit around two railing spindles. This adds strength to the mounting configuration. Attaching the clamp to a single spindle would not be recommended.

Wood Railing Spindle Clamp