North States 48" Wide Wire Mesh Gate

If you absolutely don’t want to drill into your walls, it’s a fair choice, as far as gates go. It’s sturdy, and has enough tension to hold to the wall when under enough pressure. Our hallway is wider most regular baby gates, and this one has enough span to fit. But oh man, it kind of drives me nuts. The metal rod that slides into the notches slips out all the time when lifting up the bar to open the gate. The bottom of the gate also doesn’t slide easily when trying to expand the gate. So what happens is this: I’m ready to close the gate, and I instinctively try to slide it open from the top, but it catches on the bottom. I reach down to hold the middle of the wires and try to leverage the bottom loose and slide it open that way. It finally opens. I’m trying to snap the rod down to get the tension, but it keeps slipping on the wall. I then realize the metal rod slipped back a notch *again*, and I have to fix that, and only then will the rod be able to put enough tension on the wall to hold it up. Honestly, it’s all so aggravating that if we weren’t dead set on not drilling into the walls, I’d chuck it in the bin. It would be nice if it came with a snap on piece that would hold the metal rod in place so that it wouldn’t constantly slip out of the notch when the gate was opened. Or if sliding the gate back open to the needed size was easier. I’m giving it 3 stars because while I don’t like using it, it does actually do the job we need it to do, but I’ll be very very happy when we don’t need it anymore.