[Closed] Something to stop the kids running onto the street

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Upside down volleyball net.

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Tied to

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We can't attach anything to the wall on the right as it's our neighbour.

You really can.

What you want is a gate.

attach gate to side of your house.

small hole in a brick to drop a slide bar from the bottom of the gate into.

no need for attachment for the latch on neighbours side.

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No, what I don't want is a gate. I don't want to be attaching something to my neighbour's house. I want something that is simple to get out of the way.

A gate long enough to cover the required horizontal distance would also cover the existing gate to the garden when open.

As much as I've been tempted I won't be trying to cage or collar our little princess.

Not a gate? How about…..

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A moat! They need cleaning regularly, but you can claim that on expenses

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Folding gate

How old is she anyway? I'm sure we could have a debate about the pros and cons of restricting her freedom / risk of being squashed under a car vs a lifetime of eating big macs and watching Jeremy Kyle.

What wuh wozwoz is saying is that you can still have a gate without attaching anything to the neighbour's house.

Just get a roll of chicken wire perhaps? How determined is she to get out? Deliberately trying to push boundaries, or just randomly running about?

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How wide is the width? judging by the width of the car i'd say less than 8 foot.
If that's the case get a sheet of 8' x 4' 18mm ply for £30 and cut to the width of the drive.
When you need it lean it against the back of you car (can put some pipe lagging on the ply to protect car if you want).
When you don't need it lean it up the side of your house next to the car (under port so protected from rain).

Very simple, easy to move and when you no longer need it in a years time you can re use the wood to make a rabbit hutch / bike jump / wendy house etc.

Get it from a timber merchants that can cut it to the width you need.
Zero work involved!!!

Change your back garden

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How about a couple of these:

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A gate long enough to cover the required horizontal distance would also cover the existing gate to the garden when open.

A fence and a small gate.

Much as I'd love a moat, I need to think of getting my bike out occasionally.

She's three and I doubt she'd deliberately push a decent sized barrier out of the way, but she is a determined wee sod and whatever we put up will need to have some decent structure to it. Also, thankfully, she's expressed no interest in crap TV or big macs, her current favourite foods are anchovies and olives.

What bencooper has linked to may do the job, I don't fancy the sheet of ply option as it would look a bit crap really.

Gate with hinges on your house and a slide bolt that goes into a hole made by drilling into the mortar between bricks on neighbours house. When you take the gate down simply fill the hole in the mortar.
A gate that size will be pricey though - so maybe make a portable 'fence' that just sits in the gap.

Much as I'd love a moat, I need to think of getting my bike out occasionally.

That is when you would use the drawbridge 🙄

We looked at buying a house that had a small bridge at the end of the driveway that crossed a relatively large burn. If we had had our offer on that house accepted I would have seriously looked into getting a drawbridge.

A few of these on permanent guard around the garden/house opposite

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I guess the thing is you want something that you can rely on 100% or it's not worth having as you'll still be worried she'll get past it.

If I put Bencoopers suggestion up my kids would just laugh as they moved it aside and ran off for adventures in the big wide world. It is not even a challenge for them

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Fence with a small gate. Your carport appears to be attached to your neighbours house so they can't be that against you drilling a hole. Or you could just put a post in the ground? Or a sheet if ply cut down on some big T shaped brackets. I know if I out a gate or fence in all me 3 yr old would do is climb it all the time.

Anything substantial enough to stop a 3-year-old getting past will be quite heavy, so will need fixing down. What about those Metpost supports that bolt down into concrete, plus some posts, fence panels and a gate?

I don't fancy the sheet of ply option as it would look a bit crap really.

Get her to paint rainbows, sunshines and unicorns on it?

chain mail curtain hanging a swing out pole? few hooks on the ground to stop it being lifted.

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Plus

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or

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just get the OK from the neighbours to attach a gatepost to their house - make sure you drill into the mortar, rather than the brick. making good should be fairly easy when you take down in the future. Then have a gate with a fold half way along.

Non lethal method.

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a bus would stop her.

admittedly only once and be fairly terminal but she wouldnt do it again...

I'd like some sort of temporary block / gate / screen

No, what I don't want is a gate.

You appear to have changed your mind since the start of this thread. You want some sort of temporary barrier than can readily be moved out of the way. That is the very definition of a gate, I'm afraid. That's what they do, it's their raison d'etre.

You don't want to attach it to your neighbour's property, but luckily your driveway appears to have two sides so you can just attach it to the other one.

The thing about temporary structures is, whilst it may protect her from traffic, you run the risk of your three year old being brained by an eight foot slab of falling plywood instead.

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No change of mind at all, the reasons I don't think a gate will work is -

:The width of the gap, when opened it will block access to the rear garden

:The wall to the right is my neighbour's house, the car port was built at the same time as the houses so there has not been a previous agreement to attach something to his house

:As has been mentioned before a gate that size will be expensive and whilst I value the life of my daughter highly I'd like to think there are more cost effective solutions

:The word temporary suggests (in my mind) something that's not bolted/screwed/attached to either my or my neighbour's houses.

Caltrops? Plus the scuds, obviously...

you need to balance what you're trying to prevent with any unintended consequences like your temporary barrier toppling on the tot (as something wide enough to span is going to have some weight to it) of blowing over or away - the suggested sheet of plywood won't be a welcome guest in a neighbours conservatory for instance - although you'd be able to offer a competitively priced boarding-up service for any windows you break.

The herras crowd barrier I posted a picture of is designed to be stable enough, portable enough, has rails spaced to regulation widths so kids can't get their head stuck in them and so on.

You can get them at around 3m long and they cost about £25 and would be re-sellable once you don't need it anymore.

a bus would stop her.

admittedly only once and be fairly terminal but she wouldnt do it again...

Not funny.

No change of mind at all, the reasons I don't think a gate will work is -

:The width of the gap, when opened it will block access to the rear garden

:The wall to the right is my neighbour's house, the car port was built at the same time as the houses so there has not been a previous agreement to attach something to his house

:As has been mentioned before a gate that size will be expensive and whilst I value the life of my daughter highly I'd like to think there are more cost effective solutions

:The word temporary suggests (in my mind) something that's not bolted/screwed/attached to either my or my neighbour's houses.

1. Can you not put a fence up, and a small gate? You never answer this suggestion...

2. ok, but its easy to make a gate and fence without fixing to your neighbours house.. this has been explained several times - have you seen this? do you need hlp to understand how to do it?

3. Not expensive. As mentioned above you want sth that is up to the job otherwise you and your wife will always be wondering if she has managed to get past it..

4. Screws and bolts can be undone..?

you may need to be more precise in your questions..

btw i am not trying to be condescending in any way atall - i realise that in this world what to some may seem easy and quick to do to others seems way too much. so sorry in advance if you take it the wrong way..

A bit of a left field option, but at the end of some railway station platforms they have pads of stuff that looks like heavy duty rubbery-tarmac (like in a play area) shaped into lots of cones, so it's really awkward to walk on. Stops drunks wandering off the edge of the platfrom and onto the track.

Or some kind of concertina barrier thing.

Or a row of plant pots, but it depends if you could make it awkward for her to get over but still allow you to get in and out if you routinely go from the back to the front garden.

Ooo, or brick up the back of the car port and have an obstacle course style rope climb up onto the roof of it.

All this aside if you don't want to use any screw, bolts etc then the safest and easiest course of action is to just open the back door for her when she want to play in the garden then shut the gate into the back garden. Voila problem solved.

You could even play with her or drink tea whilst she plays pirates/ballerina etc

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http://www.wickes.co.uk/gardens/fencing/icat/fencing/

3x bolt down Met post holders
3x short fence posts
1x 5' overlap panel
1x 3' gate

These will fill the gap safely and relatively cheaply. They won't need fastening to any wall. The can be removed by unscrewing 12 bolts. They will leave 12 small holes to be filled in the floor. They won't fall over and crush a child.

I know you said that you don't want a fence and gate, but a fence and a gate is the only safe option and has the benefit of not looking awful.

SentryCat™

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Autonomous paint ball gun?
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Alternatively one of those stock control fences that you bury underground that triggers a shock collar. (You might want to wind the output down a tad on the collar).

Heras fence panel and a couple of the rubber bases.
Not pretty, but mobile and will do the trick.

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http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.Xheras&_nkw=heras

Personally I'd spend the extra on a [b]folding[/b] gate attached to your house, but with a retaining hole drilled into the driveway at your neighbours house end. A bit more expensive, but ultimately more useful and will look nicer.

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Could you not just park the car diagonally to block the gap?

What about putting a post in the ground a few millimetres from your neighbours wall? Then isn't actually attached. Relatives have a Stairgate in the house that is a vertical roll of netting that you pull out and hook on the other side. Could do something like that bit bigger? Then just rolls up in the post when not in use.

Supervision and a Gate?

Anything else will be such a faff to look nice and be effective it will never get used.

Could you not just tell her to not go on the road?

Thanks for the useful suggestions. Will mull it over and see what I can come up with.

sharkbait - Member

Could you not just tell her to not go on the road?

Ever tried convincing a headstrong three year old with a penchant for investigating and exploring not to do anything that looks like it might be fun? The short answer is we've tried that, it didn't work hence my original question.

I vote for the laser robot. However you actually need a gate or a gate and fence just not the one you picture when rejecting the idea. Is the drive yours or shared with your neighbor?

If it is shared what ever you do will need to work for your neighbor too and fence and gate is the best looking and most useable solution. If yours your only issue is fixing the far end Meta post or bolt drooping down is an answer.

Three year olds don't do obedient nor risk assessment in my limited experience. So education is not the answer. We have a 6foot fence and gate to seal crankbrat in the rear garden if ever we lose sight of him he will be down the side of the house trying to work the bolt on the gate.

bigG - Member
Thanks for the useful suggestions. Will mull it over and see what I can come up with.

My pleasure

Just get a piece of fence big enough for the gap and put slide bolts either side. bolt in place, al a previous post's, when needed then move when you don't want it there. you could even have a small gate in it as well.

this way nothing is permanently fixed and the holes for the slide bolts can be filled.

Open your car doors wide and then reverse into the gap, folding and jamming the car doors between the houses 😀

Or the sensible option:

1. Tell your neighbour the problem and ask if they mine if you fit a gate and you will do so with the minimum of damage to their house and will make good when it is removed.

2. If this is still a no go then get a long scaffold board as a base and make a flat bottomed U channel which makes the gap narrow enough for a standard wide gate - get one as high as possible. Attach the U shape to your house using decent bolts and to the driveway if possible. Then have the gate/gates so they lock.

3. Failing that just stick up an electric sheep fence. Stick it on full power first so they learn not to test it and then after a while you can turn it down to save the battery. That's what we do with the sheep anyway 😉

let the au pair do her job

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What docstar said, plus

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"You're name's not down you're not going out"

Get a border collie and train it to herd your offspring! 8)

Edit - like this:

extend the lip of your carport so it goes past the doorframe
Hang your "some sort of roller screen" from it that can fasten to a couple of hooks in the floor

Now then

[Stereotype]Get your good lady to park the car?[/stereotype]

This is actually a serious suggestion (sorry), but how about making something like these (obviously without the barbed wire and pointy ends)? You can make them as long or short as you like so fairly easy to move and as long as you make the bases fairly wide they'll not fall over!

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