Cardinal Gates PinchNot 90 Degree Door Pinch Guard for Kids Safety-Door Hinge Protector for Babies-CSP23-Door Finger Pinch Shield Single for Front of Door-Child Proof Jamb-Made in USA

This is a longer review; actually, it’s the review I wish would have been here when we were shopping! I’ll start with our summary, then background (why we were looking for door protectors), and then detailed review that explains the summary ratings. I also plan to update in a few months.********************************I'M UPDATING REVIEW NOW that it has been 3+ months. I'll add a few notes throughout the review with a summary here:- The covers that installed well have been adhering just great (details below)- Carlsbad Safety updated their instructions to mention the 1/4" offset/gap- With some doors we installed 2x 17" sections, and others we installed 3x 17" sections. Now that time has gone by and we're watching our little ones around the doors (1.5, 2.5, and 4 years old) we're feeling like 3x sections are overkill. Since each cover is 4x 17" sections, and each pack includes 2 covers, if you only install 2x sections per door that would mean each pack can be used to cover 4x doors rather than two. This increases the value.- I'm increasing my rating from 4 stars to 5 stars. Primarily because the adhesive is holding well at 3+ months and because we were able to protect 4x doors per set (bullet immediately above) the value for this is better than if the full height is used on a single door in which case you only protect 2 doors per set.********************************ANOTHER UPDATE as it has now been a year since I installed the shields. All of the shields are adhering properly and none have come off. The one that we initially had problems with (due to having to uninstall and reinstall) - has been staying put.We love the peace of mind that comes from having these on our doors.********************************If I missed something in the review, feel free to ask a question and I can update/add to the review.THE SUMMARY REVIEW:Functionality: 5 stars! (WE LOVE THE PEACE OF MIND WITH THESE IN PLACE)Instructions: 2.5 stars (UPDATED to 3.5 stars due to improved instructions mentioning the 1/4" installation gap)Value: 3.5 stars (UPDATED to 4.5 stars since we're only using 2x sections per door which means each cover can protect 2 doors and each 2-pack can cover 4 doors)Adhesion: 5 starsReapply Adhesion: 2.5 stars (UPDATED to 3.5 stars due to the reapplied protector still staying attached).Our background:We have heavy (solid core) wooden doors in our house. On top of that the door to the garage expands/contracts at certain times of the year and can be difficult to close – requiring more effort/force. I can still remember the moment my 2-year-old little girl put her finger into the hinge side of that door as I was closing it. She didn’t pull her finger back (good thing or we would have been dealing with a full amputation) or scream but made a little exclamation and looked up at me with huge eyes full of pain. We instantly got her pinkie finger out of the door -- it was dripping blood on the floor -- and I knew we had a major problem. We quickly wrapped her finger in a clean cloth and applied pressure. A minute or two later I needed to check and see what we were dealing with. As I gently removed the cloth the entire end of her finger shifted: I felt absolutely sick to my stomach. What followed was a $3,000 (crazy but true; and that, my friends, is the discounted/negotiated price) visit to the emergency room for stitches. The official diagnosis was “attempted restoration of partial amputation.” Then daily bandage changes (not fun). The ER said to come back at the 6-day mark for stitch removal – which turned out to be too early and was a very painful/traumatic visit (not sure if it was harder for my little girl or me). Then a consultation with a children’s plastic surgeon because the stitches were removed too early and the finger hadn’t fully healed (he said for little children he would have had stitches in for 10 days, assuming daily bandage changes and no signs of infection). We are so very grateful to God that, at about 3 weeks, her finger/fingertip had fully healed.Our home’s doors (solid oak):My wife and I had been talking about our doors ever since we began having children. With how heavy the doors are we figured we were going to have safety problems. We worked very hard with our children to keep fingers away from doors and to have them never open/close doors- hard (if not impossible) with a 3 year old, 2 year old, and baby. While we figured we would eventually have a door emergency, we were always focused on the door-handle side. We sure didn’t expect it to be ME the one closing a door, and that the emergency would be on the HINGE side.Researching changing to hollow-core doors.Following that injury we began researching doors. We were going to remove our children’s closet doors (replace those with shower curtains) and also replace all of our interior solid core doors with hollow-core doors. Solid-core doors tend to weigh about 70 pounds. Hollow-core doors weigh about 24 pounds each. To help with the hinge side I was going to route the hinge side edges so the wood was rounded and didn’t have a sharp edge. The doors were going to cost about $40 each and probably take an hour or two to install. Our doors are beautiful 6-panel solid oak doors, and the replacements were either going to be plain white 6-panel, or we could get ugly unfinished wood “flats”. We eventually found a home improvement store that had 6-panel hollow-core doors in unfinished oak for $80 each – however, they would have taken even longer to install since the door handle wasn’t pre-drilled, but they would have more closely matched our trim (or we could have spent many hours staining/lacquering them to match). So, we were looking at spending between $1,000 and $2,000, plus MANY hours of time, to put doors in our house that wouldn’t have matched our trim, and if/when we sell the house we would have had to put the solid-core doors back up. The crazy thing is that this big door project wouldn’t have protected my little girl’s finger as the door between the house and garage is required by code to be a solid-core door. I also talked with a door salesman at one of the large home improvement stores who said he was happy to sell us doors but he didn’t think we would be happy with the hollow-core doors. While safer, he said he feels the force necessary to close a hollow-core door ends up being somewhat similar to solid-core, and that “children are children” and injuries can and do occur with hollow-core as well.Door Covers:Which leads us to this product. We had been running Google searches and the only door covers we were finding seemed to cost closer to $100 (per side). Plus, that still left the handle side unprotected. I’m not sure why we didn’t find these sooner, but when we did, we were intrigued. We didn’t care what they looked like (remember: we were looking at switching from beautiful oak solid-core doors to plain white hollow core 6-panel doors): our biggest question was simply how long the adhesive would last (and if it didn’t last I was thinking I could tack these to the door). Spending about $40 per door for something that might last a year at best was not the solution we were looking for. However, the idea of spending no more than $40 per door, a few minutes for installation, and being “done” with it was something we wanted. We bought several to see how they worked and if they would last for years.DETAILED REVIEW:These door protectors are basically white foamboard that has been scored so that they will fold up into the door when closed. They are folded into four sections of 17 inches each, with a total height of about 68-70 inches. Little 1-inch strips of specialty double-stick adhesive has been applied (several per foot) to adhere to the door or door frame. Most of the 17-inch panels have 4 adhesives (1 at top and 1 at bottom on each side) although a few of our panels only came with two adhesives (1 in the middle on each side) – which is a problem for installing a stand-alone panel. Also, you need to be careful when ordering to check whether you have a 90-degree door or a door that opens anything past 90 degrees. They have 180-degree protectors with an inside protector product that is different than the outside protector.For many of our doors we only installed 3x sections on each door, which left us one 17-inch section leftover. On a closet door we then installed 3x of the separate 17 inch sections and that worked just great. Scissors can be used to cut the sections apart.UPDATED 3+ months later: we have a number of doors where we've only installed two 17 inch sections and we're pleased with the coverage. Anymore, as I look at the various doors, 3 sections seems like overkill. Obviously, make your own decision, but you may be good with just 2 sections per door, which means each set would protect 4x doors. In addition, we have some of their 180-degree covers (for those you have to be careful whether it's the hinge side or not) and we like the way they are working.INSTALLATION:I would say that installation was quite simple, as it comes with instructions and the first one installed PERFECT. However, I didn’t get the second one right and had to remove it and try again. That protector began coming off the door after a few days. I’ve reapplied it a few times and it’s sticking better, now. By then I figured out that the “put it on the door frame and then the door” wasn’t good enough as far as instructions go. At least for our doors there is a specific gap that must be on the door frame so that when the door is closed, the pinch guard on the door can fit against it. The guard cannot be installed flush against the door and door frame: there HAS TO BE SOME ROOM LEFT. If you look at the photos I uploaded I marked the spacing in red.I also had problems installing our third door because it is opens slightly more than 90-degrees. I installed a bit too much gap (lesson I had learned on prior door install) and the fully-open door was pulling the cover off. For that door I had to install/place it perfectly (0mm margin of error) so that the open door wouldn’t pull it off, yet when it was closed it wasn’t rubbing against itself.This is why I give the instructions a 2.5. After you’ve installed one and you really see how it works and where the clearance needs to be you should be better off for future installs. As I mentioned earlier I uploaded some photos that will hopefully give you an idea of the spacing that is needed for the install. If you look at the photo you’ll notice the part that attaches to the door cannot be too close to the edge. You have to leave a slight gap (marked in red). My reinstalls were due to not leaving enough space and then leaving too much. The successful installs were when I got the red space perfect/exact with no margin of error.UPDATED 3+ months later: the installation instructions have been updated to mention the 1/4" gap that I discovered and mentioned in my photos. You hopefully won't have installation problems. No doubt these adhere far better when installed and left alone vs. being installed and having to be removed and reinstalled.ADHESION:As of about 3-4 weeks now, any protector that installed properly the first time/didn’t have to be removed, has been sticking/staying just great. I plan to post an update in a few months to see how they are doing. The guard that I had to reinstall has not done so well. However, after a few times re-applying it, it seems to be holding the last week or so. It would be nice if there was an inexpensive way to get the little adhesives so that if a reinstall was needed, fresh adhesives could be used.UPDATED 3+ months later. All of the covers that installed perfectly are holding strong. The covers that didn't install properly that I had to take off and reapply and have had some issues are still holding. They were a bit loose at first but I made sure to apply firm pressure (and we've worked with our little ones to not touch the white covers) and it's staying applied. In addition, if it does come off, I have little 1" sections of double-stick strong adhesion that I can use if needed.VALUE:I put the value at 3.5 because at $20 per door side this seemed a bit pricey for what it is. Each unit is separately boxed and appears to be for separate/retail sale; I would have preferred a value pack with more covers included for less-cost-per-cover (think about it: how many people need 1x cover which covers 1x side of 1x door?). I’m also a little concerned about the adhesion long term, and wasn’t thrilled with how the installs went for the 2nd and 3rd doors. Once I figured out what really needs to be done on the installs, the latter ones were much better. Just because this doesn’t get a 5 star value rating doesn’t mean they are not worth getting! We are very happy to know that little fingers can no longer get into these hinges.UPDATED ONE YEAR LATER: I'd now put the value at 4.5 stars as the adhesion has done great over 12 months. My biggest concern getting them was that they would come off - but they've held great.FUNCTIONALITY: 5 STARThese pinch-not finger guards keep little fingers out of the hinge side of doors. WE LOVE HAVING GUARDS COVERING THE HINGES! Trust me, you do not want to go through what we went through with our little 2-year old’s finger. In hindsight I wish we would have had covers protecting our doors much sooner.WHICH DOORS?We do not have these on every door. While I still need to get some more and get more installed, we have some doors where the inside isn’t very accessible due to the way the walls are – and we don’t usually have children getting behind the door. At this point we’re comfortable not having every, single, door, both sides protected. However, we were not comfortable until we had the majority of the doors, especially in our main hallway, protected.CAVEAT: SQUEAKY HINGE ACCESSThe door at the top of our stairs has a hinge which occasionally begins to squeak. I put some high-quality grease on the hinge when I last greased it, and I’m hoping that grease lasts for a LONG time. Why do I mention this right here? The hinge guards cover the hinge access. Once the protector is in place, in order to re-grease the door hinge, I would have to remove the protector and the adhesive may not re-adhere. Carlsbad Safety Products does have a much more expensive pro-model that has a hook & loop system so that the hinges are accessible. This would be something to consider if you regularly need to access a hinge.WHAT ABOUT THE DOOR HANDLE SIDE?For us, we bought a few packs of the Ikea “Patrull” finger guards for doors. In the store it’s only a few dollars for a 3-pack. Amazon looks to have many similar products, and Carlsbad Safety Products looks to have similar devices. In the morning when we open the door to get the child/children up, we clip the door guard onto the door and it will no longer fully close/latch. At naptime/bedtime when we need to close their door we remove the clip/protector and are able to clip the clip/protectors onto the door handle so it stays close/handy. While we don’t do this with every door in the house we do use it on the main bedrooms and the children’s bathroom. This has already helped save/protect/guard against several finger smashes on the handle side.

Fantastic product! Very easy to install, folds away very nicely when the door opens or closes, and affordable. I cut them in half, because I didn't need a pinch guard that was taller than my daughter could reach. I will recommended these to all my parent friends - it's a great product that does exactly what it is supposed to do with no fuss. I immediately ordered two more sets. We're very, very happy.

Pretty easy to install and as other reviewers mentioned, easy to cut in half to make two sections still long enough to cover pinch-prone areas. Installed them a few months ago and despite my doubts about the adhesive tape staying put on a moving door, so far so good. Only caveat is that on my boys' bedroom with a level door (that previously would stay put wherever you left it), this device forces it slowly closed. For me this means that this room gets hotter than it used to since it's no longer getting hallway air circulation, and I've had to use a door stopper. Two young boys means the stopper is never where I need it, so the room is usually hot. In hindsight I would not have bothered buying or installing this, but that's because my kids weren't prone to jam their fingers into tight pinch hazards anyway. With a crawling baby I probably would.

Looks good. Working fine. Easy to install

Works well and is not noticeable, however, it ripped off the paint on one of the door frames we put it on so be advised.

I’m rating the value only. The design is too simple and adhesive can be upgraded with adhesives available anywhere. The video led me to believe that this covered both sides - both sides are dangerous for little fingers. This is $25 to cover ONE side of the doors hinged side. That means $50 to actually accident proof one door in your house. This is folded cardboard with adhesive. One side seems to have plastic similar to contact paper to serve as its durable folding hinges. I’ll make my own for now on or just buy cheaper ones. For 25 bucks I expect something more robust like what they have at daycare.

As a mom of an 8.5 year old boy and an almost 11 month old baby girl there are so many things that I worry about every day. Babyproofing has become crucial in our home as our daughter is extremely active and curious. She gets into everything! With this purchase, I have one less thing to worry about because it has kept and will continue to keep her dainty little fingers from being painfully pinched or worse! Thank you to the makers of this product. It's took just a few short minutes once I read the instructions to figure out installation. It is relatively simple to install. Fyi, its made out of a material similar to heavy duty poster board so it can get scuffed or dented if you aren't cautious. Other than the material it's perfect.