Babyproofing Services

A Safe Home for Small Children

The moment a baby starts crawling, every home becomes a slightly different place. Things that were always there suddenly become hazards: cupboard doors that swing open onto curious little fingers, kettle leads that drape down from the worktop, stairs that go from being a feature of the house to being a serious fall risk. Most parents go through a frantic week of trying to babyproof everything they can think of, only to discover that fitting stair gates to angled banisters, cabinet locks to soft-close drawers, and furniture anchors to plasterboard walls is far harder than it looks on the packaging. We can do it all properly in a single visit, fitted to last, and you can get back to actually enjoying your toddler.

We carry out babyproofing across Middlesbrough as a specific service for new parents, and also as part of larger handyman visits where we tackle a longer to-do list. Most items we can supply ourselves at trade cost; alternatively we are happy to fit equipment that you have bought yourself. The aim is the same: a home where you do not have to follow your baby around the house with your heart in your mouth all day.

Babyproofing Items We Fit

Below is a typical babyproofing visit's content. Some items are quick fittings; others require care and proper fixings to be effective. The key with all of them is that they need to actually work — a stair gate that pulls out of its mounting under any real load is worse than no gate at all.

• Stair gates at the top and bottom of stairs
• Stair gates fitted to awkward bannister and newel post arrangements
• Cabinet and cupboard safety locks (kitchen, bathroom and living room)
• Drawer locks and pull-out catches
• Anti-tip anchoring of tall furniture (chests, wardrobes, bookcases)
• Television wall-bracketing or anchoring
• Window restrictors for upper-floor windows
• Outlet covers for unused power sockets
• Corner protectors for tables, cabinets and worktops
• Door-finger-pinch protectors
• Fireplace and radiator guards
• Bath spout covers and tap protectors
• Garage and shed locks and door stops
• Garden gate and pond/pool safety fitting

Stair Gates Done Properly

The most important babyproofing item in any home with stairs is the gate at the top, and it is also the most often badly fitted. A pressure-fit stair gate at the top of the stairs is genuinely dangerous: under the impact of a child running into it, it can let go and the child falls. We always fit screw-mounted stair gates at the top of stairs, fixed to the wall (or to the bannister with the proper bracket-and-clamp system) so they cannot give way under load. Pressure-fit gates are appropriate for the bottom of stairs and for room-to-room internal doorways, where the consequences of failure are far less serious. We carry a range of gates including angled and offset designs for awkward staircase configurations.

Furniture Anchoring

Tall furniture — particularly chests of drawers, bookcases and wardrobes — must be anchored to the wall in any home with small children. Children climb. They open drawers like a ladder and pull themselves up, and a heavy chest of drawers can easily tip forward onto a small body. Anchor straps come with most modern flatpack furniture, but they are pointless if not fixed into a stud or solid masonry. We use stud detectors, we use the right fixings for the wall type, and we test the anchor before signing off. Most anchoring jobs take only minutes per piece of furniture, but the effort is genuinely life-saving.

Quotes and Coverage

Babyproofing is generally quoted as a single half-day or full-day visit covering the whole property. We can supply equipment at trade cost or fit items you have bought yourself. We cover Middlesbrough and the wider Teesside area. Get in touch and we will get back to you the same day.

Frequently Asked Questions