This is a follow up to a previous post, DIY Wood Farmhouse Baby Gates. This is just another version of the Wood Farmhouse Baby Gate!
Level: Easy to make the gate, Intermediate to install
Time: 60 minutes (longer with paint drying and installation time!)
Materials: Wood, paint or stain, Liquid Nails or a nail gun, wheels/casters, door stoppers, locking mechanism, stud finder
When I originally made my gates I knew I needed one for the bottom and top of our stairs. When I made the gate for the top of the stairs I measured length-wise, but it never occurred to me to measure if the hallway was big enough for the gate to swing out. Spoiler alert: it was not. So I knew I needed to come up with some way for the gate to slide, rather than swing open. Here's what I came up with/mashed together from 5 different Pinterest posts.
There are 4 main parts to making/installing this gate.
Part 1: The gate
The first step is to build the actual gate. For more specific steps on that check out my original post that covered all the steps.
For the sliding gate, however, you'll need to measure a bit differently. You'll want the gate to be about 6-12 inches longer than the doorway.
You'll also need to add little wheels/casters to the bottom of the gate. How many will depend on how long the gate is. You'll need at least 2. My gate is around 3 feet long and has 3 wheels.
Part 2: The wall corridor thing
I don't know what else to call this part, but it's the piece that keeps the gate near the wall so it doesn't fall over and keeps the gate in line.
For this piece, you'll need 3 pieces of wood, two 1x4s and one thinner piece, all the same length.
I would suggest attaching the thinner piece to the top one first (either with a brad nailer or liquid nails) then screwing the thin piece into the studs in the wall (screwing it into the studs is VERY important, don't just screw it into the drywall!) It's MUCH harder to screw it into the wall once the front piece is attached, so I suggest nailing/gluing the front piece after it's attached to the wall. If you're gluing it, I suggest using clamps to keep it in place until the glue dries.
Does all that make sense? Just look at the picture and you can figure it out haha You basically just need a little corridor for the gate to move through.
Part 3: The doorstops
This is the easiest part! Just decide how far you want the gate to go in both directions and attach some little doorstoppers so the gate can't go any further. Easy peasy!
Part 4: The lock
All that's left is to attach the locking mechanism! For a sliding gate you'll want some type of hook lock, since a sliding lock won't work. Just screw one part into the gate and the other part into the wall! I suggest either screwing the eye part into a stud or using a wall anchor, because screwing it directly into the drywall will cause it to fall out pretty quickly.
And that's it! You have a beautiful, easy, sliding gate!
This project's imperfections: When I originally screwed the corridor piece into the wall I didn't screw it into studs and it got really loose really quickly. I did the same thing with the hook, screwing it into the drywall. It also fell off really quickly. I also waited to paint the wood corridor piece until it was already attached and made a real mess haha
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