Review on Cardinal Gates Auto Lock Gate White by Angie Strongheart

I watched the gate for a few months before our son started crawling. We needed a gate for the stairs leading down to the basement. The builder left these open and completed the stairwell instead of putting a normal door on the stair here. I knew we needed rigid gates and was surprised to see that in a sea of cheap, pressurized plastic gates they are quite rare. After reading other reviews about it, I decided it was the most suitable for my needs. Points I think are important: - Attaches with screws, 4 in total for minimal damage to walls/pillars - Design allows for installation over finished paneling (no drilling in paneling) - All metal (I can easily see how ours little guy grabs and shakes every gate we get) - White to match house (black also available) - Cannot be taller than 33" or the handrails will interfere with installation The mounting/hinge system is simple but effective. Instructions are good, one sheet (read everything before you start!). It comes with small plastic grommets that fit over the hinge shaft so there is no metal-to-metal contact for the moving parts (at least for the hinge). The hardest part of the installation was aligning the door and allowing an easy one Play in the door gate to pick up the bolt. Not here. Lots of room for error, so make sure you slide the gate out and tighten the two screws holding the gate sections together before installing the latch on the opposite wall (you'll know what I mean when you get it). The reviewer mentioned that they used a dime to give that extra support. I ended up using a small piece of 1/8" thick plastic that I cut to fit. That way I couldn't scratch the gate. I used a small 6" level at each step. I found that I had to adjust the bottom eyebolt to push the gate out further from the bottom to keep it level (the top eyebolt was screwed all the way in) I ended up only using 2 of the 4 bolts for the locking plate since I was in the stud I did also used washers (for more contact area) and longer 1.5" screws to get through the drywall and into the studs. Screws are only good if you plan on screwing them directly to the wood (door frame). It no drywall anchors are supplied. After a week of use I noticed the gate had sagged a bit and my latch was now 1/8 inch higher than the rim of the gates causing them to meet each time the gates closed became. I solved this problem by finding small nylon washers (55 cents at Lowes) and placing them on the underside of the hinge, raising the bottom eyebolt (and hence the collar) 1/8 inch, which I lost. The biggest scam I can think of is the latch. It works great, I'm only worried about 2 years metal on metal if the gate closes. After a dozen uses, the paint has peeled off the latch itself due to rotation in the mount it is in. I think this is a compromise of all metal gates. Overall I'm very happy with this gate and I'm sure it will last the 2 years it was designed for (kids anyway). There's nothing about it on the gates of Baby's R Us.