The hinge base is defective. The hinge bases and hinge caps are made of plastic. It seems silly to have a sturdy wooden gate would have plastic hinge parts.
The gates hinge base has broken 3 times within a 1 1/2 years. All 3 times in the exact place on the hinge base.
The first time it broke I called evenflo. They sent me a replacement part. It took over 2 weeks to get. They seemed to not care that this was a safty device and that I needed the part ASAP. I use my gate at the top of my staircase. During this time my daughter was 15 months.
The gates hinge base broke again about 6 months later. Again, I called Evenflo. They told me there was never a problem reported with the hinge base. I find that hard to believe. This time I asked them to send me several replacement parts. Especially since it takes a couple of weeks for the parts to arrive. I'm glad I did because it broke a third time. At least I did not have to wait for replacement parts.
I wanted to update my review. I alerted the CPSC regarding the issues with the hinge base. They came out to my home and and did a study. I am still waiting for the results. The person who was in charge of my case informed me that the gate was recalled several years before. Several children had been injured. The company who makes the gate was supposed to fix the problem. Apparently they did not fix the problem, and continued to sell the gate anyway. Check for yourselves on CPSC.gov .
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We just bought this gate in preparation for the arrival of our first child. We originally looked at the Eddie Bauer line of baby gates, however the bannister of the stairs where we plan on using the gate is dark cherry and we've had a hard time finding a gate to match.
Finally, we stumbled upon the Evenflo Home Decor gate in dark auburn and decided to try it out even though we only saw it in pictures online.
Of course, the installation process was a bit frustrating. The instructions are not extremely detailed at times and they are hard to follow because steps blend together due to the use of columns to separate instructions in English, French, and Spanish. The biggest problem, though, was that the heads of six of the eight #6x1/2" pan head wood screws broke off as I was tightening them BY HAND. I'd like to think I'm Superman...but really, six of the eight screws?!? I ended up removing the remaining two, drilling new pilot holes to attach the spacer brackets, and I used my own screws that I knew would not break. I highly recommend avoiding the included #6x1/2" screws to avoid the possible frustration.
I was pleasantly surprised at how well the gate matched our existing stair railing and we love the gate now that it is installed. It seems to be sturdy and well-built, with a "child-proof" latch mechanism that involves pushing in and then lifting up a plastic "lever". Time will tell if it handles life with our new arrival.
Price paid: $79.88
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The istallation instructions were absurdly vague. Luckily, I'm an experienced DIY'er, so I was able to customize a few things to get it to fit.
The spacer brackets are ill-concieved. For starters, installing them the way they were meant actually DECREASED the stability of the gate, so I flipped them over and used them as joining plates instead of spacers(The two halves of the gate are milled to fit together perfectly, the spacers don't allow this to happen) Also, they are attatched with three screws; I re-drilled one side and attatched them with four.
Furthermore, the pre-drilled holes on the underside of the rails didn't allow for the gate to be assembled to it's fullest length. More drilling.
That's it for the problems with the installation. The only truly useful part of the instuctions was the hinge mount template. Make sure you hang on to that one.
My only other issue with this gate is that, due to the fact that the two halves of the gate are screwed together, the width of your door determines how far the gate swings into the room. They don't slide together like the less expensive evenflow gates. This wouldn't be a problem if the opening was stair or door width, but the doorway I installed it in is 52", so now the gate sticks out four feet into the room. I cosidered making some U brackets so it operated like the simple stair gates, but that would have rendered the latch useless. If you are willing to seek out new latch hardware and make some custom brackets, this gate could be used like those simple, reliable and ugly hardware mounted evenflow swing gates.
That being siad(whew), the gate is beautiful. And when it is closed, the lock-up is rock solid. My son stands(jumps) on the bottom rail and it doesn't budge.
If you don't mind an excrutiating install for a lovely gate, this one is for you
Honest reviews on Evenflo Home Décor Wood Gate
For these "Decore" gates, the colors are darker than pictured (on every monitor I have). "Natural" is more medium oak, closer the the "Auburn" gate picture, just a touch lighter. The construction is typically mass produced, staples instead of screws or dowels. Alignment of parts is adequate for the price. Quality is maybe 3/5 stars if you look close, but 4/5 for a normal view.
The mechanism to upen the gate requries the user to push in, then slide up, which is nice but not locking. Since the slide is not spring loaded, you might have to slide it down, then push in, then slide up. I bought one as a trial, but I like it enough to buy two more rather than build my own.
One thing to note, there is a gap between the two sections of the gate, the woman's hand in the picture hides it. Don't expect that the gate sections are flush against each other, they are not. The directions give little indication of how to orient the metal plates which hold the gate sections together. They are individual pieces which you align and join.
Do this:
Screw in the eye hooks as far as possible, position and extend the gate as far as needed, clamp the gate together. flip it upside down, and figure out which holes line up best with the mounting plates (the plates have slotted holes on one side to allow for some movement). If you measured the opening, and followed their suggestion for a spacer, one set of holes will line up, but note that the plates face alternating directions from one side to the other. As far as I can tell, the only reason for the spacer is to use the pre-drilled holes. If you can use a drill, tap your own, use better screws and eliminate the wall spacer. (While you're at it, tap the plates and mount the gate sections flush.) From there, the install is straight forward and the mounting template works well. Make sure to take into account the gap between the gate sections since the mounted side and the latch on the other side will need to be offset if you want the gate to line up with stairs, or a door threshold. Rough fit it before you start putting screws into the wall.
The mounting hardware is plastic, but it's fine, unless you use sloppy tolerances and extend the eye-hooks too far, or a child swings on the gate while it's open (which I would do at that age). Keep everything snug, screwed into solid wood, and it's a safe gate that looks fantastic if you have wood floors or banisters you're trying to match.
If you are a DIY'er, you could easily mount this using standard door or gate hinges since the frame is solid wood. For the DiY'er, you can make this look really nice in your home. For the rest, it's easy enough to work around the poorly written directions.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Evenflo Home Décor Wood Gate
I purchased this gate in 2001 to fit a large opening from our living room to our front entryway. This gate will be opened and closed multiple times in the course of a day due to the fact it's located in a main traffic flow area of the house. The look of the gate is very nice, and in 6 years we have not had any issues with chipping or scratching and trust me with two kids in the house just about everything has been latterly thrown at it!
Installation can be a challenge if you don't have the correct tools. A laser level works great or a door framing laser to pinpoint your locations for the hinges.
I truly suspect the reason why some folks are having hinge breakage problems is due to incorrect installation or incorrect handling. If you do not line the hinges up properly and over tighten the eyelets onto the hinges, you will induce added stress on the lower hinge and break it. Secondarily you must insure the gate is anchored adequately into your wall. Just mounting this gate to drywall and not into a wall stud will cause a failure. If the gate pulls out from the wall that is an installation problem not a gate issue. When you finish installing the gate it should swing with very little or no resistance and the hinges should flex very little but not lift off the wall. If the gate is not swinging or the hinges are lifting your installation is not correct and you need to fix it.
We have had this gate operating now for 6 years and just broke the lower hinge, but my 6 yo and two of her friends tried to climb over it for fun. The lower hinge broke but the top one and the place holders on the opposite side held fast so thankfully no one was hurt. I was amazed the gate stayed in place with all that weight on it. We never had any issues prior to this and I have replacement parts on the way. If installed correctly the gate works very well.
