Front porch baby gate..

nospam@example.com (Pat Hepfer) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:21:10 -0500

I built a baby gate for the front porch. Eli loves to be out there, but the thought of him finding the concrete stairs is not a pleasant one. I set up shop in the back yard and bought some cedar. It took far longer then it should have, as do most of my woodworking projects, but I think it turned out pretty nice. Cedar does not come nicely sanded like pine, and it seems to be larger and more inconsistent in size... so it was more.... interesting.
It is 7' long and taller then Eli. It needed a length requirement to span the opening of the porch steps. The height came mainly from Eli, can he climb over it.... will he be able to soon.... make it tall! It ended up almost 28" tall with the pads under it. I wanted it to be able to slide easily when not it use, so I added some nylon furniture glides under each end. I also put clear square soft plastic bumpers on the uprights to keep it from rubbing on the siding.
I glued everything using Titebond III. Its the best glue I have every used, its pricey but worth it. I used a 18ga brad nailer to hold it till the glue dried. It is finished with a semi gloss poly, two coats... it probably could have used a third.. but I had already taken so long. I used a T nut on the inside of the rails to attach the bungees on. I used 5/16" bolts with fender washers to hold the bungees to the wood, all stainless hardware as this is going to live outside. I used a plastic dip on the hooks so it looked less like your typical bungee and we could avoid direct contact with the railings... I don't want to paint them again. The bungees were 34" adjustable and double ended that I cut in half and used the existing holes for the bolts.

All set up in the backyard.

Eli inspecting the finished product in place.

What it looks like from the street.

It received the Eli stamp of approval.

Over all a pretty successful project, I think the gate will far out last Eli's need for it.

More soon...
Pat

Sara And Pat - Wood Working

Front porch baby gate..