? for anyone who lives in a multi-level home

jacqued

jacqued

Cathlete
Hi everyone,
I have a question for anyone who lives in a home that is more than 1 level. My DH and I are buying a home that is 3 levels. My concern is how to keep my DD (who will be 2 next month) safe on the stairways. Do you use gates or something else? There will be 3 staircases (2 that go to the second level and one into the basement). Do I need to put gates on the top and bottom of all these stairs? How old does a child need to be before you have stop taking these kinds of precautions? My greatest fear is of her falling down these stairs.

Another question I'd like some advice about is whether to put her in an upstairs or a downstairs bedroom. My two sons (ages 14 and 7) will be upstairs. I can either put her in a bedroom upstairs next to them or in one of the bedrooms in the basement. My bedroom will be on the main floor and is the only bedroom on this floor. For some reason I just don't feel comfortable having her upstairs. The upstairs is open to the great room below and doesn't seem real safe to me. Am I being too paranoid? I know people buy multi-level homes all the time who have small children so how do they keep them safe?

Other than these concerns I'm really excited about buying this house. If anyone cares to see what it looks like you can see it at www.dongardner.com. The plan name is Arbordale. The one we're buying has a basement so it is a little different than the one on the website. The first and second floors are pretty much the same as shown (except for some changes we made to the kitchen). The images are reversed also. The basement will have a game room, home theater room, exercise room, 2 bedrooms, 1 and a half baths, a hobby room and a large storage room.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Jacque

:7
 
When my kids were little I had a gate at the top of the steps. My stairs weren't that long so I didn't worry about the bottom of the stairs, but if they are full flights I would put one at the bottom, too.The door leading to my family room has a door on it so I didn't have to worry. As far as which bedroom to put her in...I wouldn't put her in the basement. If there were a fire (God forbid) she'd never get out (unless you have a direct entry to the basement). That is a sticky situation. I would probably put her upstairs. Once she gets used to the stairs it won't even be an issue. Teach her to scoot down on her bottom or to crawl down. Before you know it she'll be running up and down those stairs. BTW it looks like a beautiful home!!!
 
Thanks for you reply elaineee. I had forgotten about the doors. There's one at the top of the basement steps and one for the utility room where the back stairs are. Now if I can just teach my other kids to keep the doors closed I'll be allright:) As far as the bedrooms in the basement, they do have windows and access to the outside. I guess I'm just concerned about her being down there by herself.

Thanks again,

Jacque
 
Well once they find them they want to use them.
I put a gate to my upstairs bedrooms and have a door to my garage and basement. But, now he is 2.5 and can open them all. We had to rig up a puece of tubing with cork on the ends for the slider. He just unlocks it and goes.
Wow nice house. Nice and open.
Love it.

Congrats...
You are going to have lots of room...
Anne

http://www.picturetrail.com/acatalina
 
I used a gate at the top of the stairs that actually was installed into the wall... not just a pressure-type gate that could be pushed down. For the bottom of the steps, I used a gate also. I can't remember how long we kept the gates... I think until they were able to walk up and down stairs easily while holding the railing.

I don't blame you about wanting to be on the same floor as her. What about if you and your 14-year-old swap rooms temporarily??
 
We have three floors and have three small ones. We tried insatlled gates on the steps (top and bottom), but they turned into a hazard of their own - at 18 mo, our kids tried to climb them, and at the top of the steps, this scared me more than the steps, themselves. So, instead, we used tension (not installed) doorway gates to block off the rooms that led to the steps - for instance, looking at your floorplan, you could block the LR doorway that faces the FR, and the DR doorway to the kitchen, and keep your little one inside the 'safe' area. Upstairs, you could just block whatever room you're using. This allowed us to limit the kids' access to other hazards, too (fragile things in the LR, doors to outside, bathrooms, kitchen while we're cooking, etc.) plus keep them where we could see them. We called it the Mobile KidZone :)

By the time they were 2 1/2, we were able to eliminate most of the gates altogether after giving them a big 'safety' lecture (i.e. you DON'T go on the steps without a grownup, etc.) Really, if they're experienced walkers and you have carpeting on the steps and a thick rug at the bottom, plus teach them how to go up and down the steps, they're pretty safe.

Good luck - your house looks beautiful!!
 
I used gates at the top and bottom of the stairs. My DD wasn't a climber so she never tried to get over them. As for how long to keep using the gates - until you feel comfortable with how she manages stairs. I think we stopped when DD was around 3 1/2, but it depends on each kid. I would put her upstairs - she will have her two older brothers in case of an emergency and you can use a monitor if you're worried about hearing her (I never used one, my DD was able to make herself heard from anywhere in the house).

I love the plan - my DH designs homes too. I recognized the name Don Gardiner as one of his "competitors".



"Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." Satchel Paige
 
Thank you everyone for all of your suggestions. I'm leaning towards the gates on the top and bottom of the stairs that don't have doors. I also liked the idea of blocking off other rooms that lead to the stairs. I guess I'll just play it by ear and quit stressing about it so much.

I'm pretty sure I'll put her in the bedroom upstairs next to her brothers. The openness of the loft area above the great room still scares me (her brother thinks he's Spiderman) but I think it'll be allright.

Thanks so much for the complements. We live in a rural area where most houses for sale are old and under 2000 square feet. We've been looking for a decent house to move into for a couple of years now. This one is currently under construction and is being built by a contractor to sell. We really weren't looking for something so big but the opportunity presented itself. We were lucky enough to be able to go in and make some changes that we wanted. Now comes the fun part of picking colors and paint and all of that. I'm really excited that we will finally have a yard. The house is on 3 acres so there's lots of room. We've been living in a moblie home park for the past 10 years on a tiny lot and it's gotten really old.x(

Thanks again,

Jacque
 
We have basement, living area with one bedroom and upstairs one bedroom and master with a bathroom. All of our day is spent mid level I have a door to basement and nothing upstairs to be perfectly honest we never used gates or anything they started going up and down stairs when they started walking never any accidents.

My twin girls are 5 and my son is 2. I refuse to have any children downstairs with us upstairs so when our girls were little our bedroom is big enough we put their toddler beds next to ours my son had his room with crib now my daughters go to school full time so they now have the room and my sons toddler bed is with us. We have done fire drills with our daughters but we bought our home before we had children so it works with both of us. Besides during the summer they all camp out with us We would not have it any other way.

beth6395
 
We have a split entry and spend most of our time upstairs. So we had a gate at the top of the stairs. We had the kind that you attach to the wall permanently and the other side attached to the railing. It was the safest for that kind of situation I feel. I kept the gate up until about a year ago, my son is 6, but I didn't use it for him after about 3 yr old. I used it on our lab, who finally ate it last year when a neighbor girl failed to come over and let him out like we had asked.
anyway, that is what I would suggest as far as what type of gate to get and how old my son was when I stoped using it for him. But then again, you could just keep it up until she is old enough to open it herself, which for my son and his friends that was about the age of 4. Better safe than sorry.

Kathy
 
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