Review on Cardinal Gates Auto Lock Gate White by Margaret Scott

This gate is very well made, especially for protecting intelligent children and pets. However, I needed a gate to prevent the elderly, visually impaired dog from falling down the stairs and it was easy for her elderly owner (my mother) to get to the stairs. To do this I had to make 2 adjustments: 1) add homemade clamps to install the gate on the wrought iron railing and 2) replace the heavily tensioned gate latch spring with a lighter spring. I post photos of our gates with their setting. The gate had to be attached to a wrought iron railing just 1 inch wide at the top of the stairs. After reading a review of the Cardinal Gates square clamp, I found that the screws were too long to use on 1 inch thick wrought iron railing. So I made my own little clamps that would allow me to mount the gate as close to the top of the railing as possible. I painted the blocks and fittings white so they don't stand out. The gate has to be set a few inches off the ground so I was lucky it barely touched the carpet at the top of the stairs. I also originally made clips for the latch mechanism, but later removed them and tied the latch to the railing with strong tape instead. The gate works fine, locks into place when the door is rotated sharply. My elderly mother has balance issues and I was concerned that she might fall using the grate at the top of the stairs. But she's far less likely to fall using the automatic cardinal gate at the top of the stairs than with the old gate, which she had to twist to close on the way down. Ideally I'd like an automatic closing/locking gate at the top of the stairs for my mom, but all the ones I've seen in stores and online didn't screw on and would be more difficult to install on a 1". door. thick Railings by makeshift brackets She prefers to pull this gate towards her when going down and push the gate when going up She doesn't need the gate to open either way though I chose not to include a "one-way" device as I prefer to push the gate when going down and up the stairs. My mom also had two shoulders replaced, so first she struggled with a tight spring on the Gate latch as it went up (with the gate over it).So I took the latch to a hardware store and a very good man pulled the taut spring out.I considered leaving the spring all the way in the latch but I don't think so , that the mechanism works so well. I couldn't find a single replacement spring that would fit, so I bought a box of springs and threaded a lighter one onto the latch. The tension is perfect now and my mother finds it easier to open the gate when she goes upstairs. I'm glad I bought this gate and made adjustments, especially after the Revain reviewer gave me very helpful information. Too bad I didn't get this goal earlier instead of trying the others first. I have attached photos.