Baby Gate Reviews: Stairway Banister Installation Kit How-to’s

Krista Fabregas

9 years ago

A professional babyproofer gave us the inside scoop on how to turn Cardinal Gates’ No-Holes Banister Clamps into a versatile kit that lets you install practically any baby safety gate onto stairway banisters. We sold this kit for years but since we quit selling gates due to shipping costs, we’re no longer stocking the kits — so we’ll show you how to make them instead (and save you a few bucks in the process)!

The No-Holes Banister Baby Gate Installation Kit starts with the Cardinal Baby Gate Clamps in either Square, Round, a combination of the two, or the special Spindle Clamp (links to all on Amazon.com are listed below). You simply bolt the clamps to your post or spindles, then screw a strip of wood to the clamps. This gives you a flat surface to install any baby safety gate hardware without damaging the stair banister wood.

What You’ll Need to Install Baby Gates to Stairway Banister Posts or Spindles

Note: the info below is per side – double it if installing to posts/spindles on both sides of the stairway.

Two Clamps (from Amazon.com – links below)
One clamp for top, one for bottom. Note whether your post is Square top & bottom; Round top & bottom or a combination of the two.
A strip of hardwood about 34″ tall (from the hardware store)
A 1′”x 2″ strip works with most baby gate hardware/brackets, but you can use a wider piece if your baby gate has wide installation brackets.
2 Wood Screws (from hardware store) – a #10 screw that’s 1-1/2″ long works well for a 1″x 2″ strip of wood. If using a thicker piece, you’ll need a longer screw.

The Cardinal Clamps Fit Posts/Stairway Spindles with the following measurements:

Square Post Clamps fit Square Posts from 3” to 3.5” in width.
Round Post Clamps fit Round Posts from 2.5” to 3” in diameter.
Spindle Clamps fit most thin spidles from 1″ to 1.5 thick and set no farther than 6.5″ apart – measuring the outer width of the spindle pair. These also work with Oversized Square Posts up to 6.25″ thick. Longer bolts must be purchased for oversize posts, longer bolts are not included due to the variations in size.

Here’s a how-to video that shows how to use the Clamps together with the wood strip to make your own baby gate banister installation kit:

Our Baby Gate Picks for Stairways Using This Kit:
Our first choice for stairway gates is Cardinal Gates – it’s the brand most babyproofing pros use. The installation is about the easiest of any brand, plus the mounting hardware is metal, unlike most other brands which use plastic in their mounting brackets.