Building a stripper pole
 

Has anyone here built a stripper pole for their house? I've got two designs thus far, one free standing with a heavily weighted platform base, and one that is friction anchored to the floor and secured to a ceiling stud.

I was wondering if anyone here has any experience in the matter with some pointers or handy design features that I may have missed.

How much do you weigh?
I wouldn't want that thing falling down on you during your act.

It's never to early to plan for Xmas shopping

About 190, but it would have to support about 300 pounds if I'm on it, because I would be spinning atop someone else.


Yes on the Christmas shopping. Merry Christmas to me.

I would stay away from a weighted bottom... that, in my mind would make a big base that would still not really be very strong. I would go with anchoring both top and bottom... top to a stud and bottom either to a stud or concrete if you are on a slab.

I am sure many have done this before and some googling would help but what immediately comes to mind is something like a pipe flange on both ends to something secure... but those would need to be painted and/or polished to be made to look like anything other than a pipe going from the floor to the ceiling.

Believe it or not there are actually stripper pole kits. Google has tons of links.
Things to look for are the top plate and base plate sturdy.
Does the pole screw into both plates (sturdy but harder to remove).
How thick and flexible is the pole (the more flex the less confidence I'd have in the pole).
Never built one myself but I did mount a firepole in a house that spanned from top floor to basement.
I did learn one thing Brass is the way to go, stainless is too slick almost broke my ankles testing even with a nice thick cushion.

so did you get one? A kit or just made one?

I want one in my basement. I'm taking pole dancing lessons that start soon, and I know I'll (and the hubby) will want one for "homework"

You should invest in a good swivel pole...way better than the stationary ones. A pair of thrust bearings top and bottom ought to do the trick.

The above is probably right on. For short and longterm structural stability you want to test a little. You need to check what is in the ceiling that will bear the torsional force exterted against the pole. It isn't just a matter on weight on the floor. If you have a attic above with joists or trusses, they were not built to hold much laterally. If that is the case you likely will need to cross-brace immediately above where your attachment point is. To this you need to put some stringers from there attached across to load bearing walls. I little lady 110 lbs moving at some speed could be putting 500+ lbs lateral force momentarily on it. I realize this isn't a tackling dummy but centrifugal force can surprise you.
IF you have a second floor above you still need to find where and what you are attaching to. The last thing you want to do is find out a contractor did a quick job of screws or nails.
It would also be bad to run a mounting lag screw in to an electrical line in the ceiling. We retrofitted an old building for our use in the Czech Rep. 2 years ago. To overcome a problem with running the electricity over a plaster ceiling an ingenoius electrician had bored a hole the long ways about 9 inches over to a box (60 years ago). It was sturdy enough for us to hang a ceiling fan from so we went with an exterior mount. One screw just barely nicked the old line we couldnt see. It all worked fine until someone touched the metal when changing fan direction switch and realized the fan case had voltage on it.
Not as likely here in the US but it pays to investigate unseen areas.

This would be a nasty surprise on a pole huh?

My wife teaches pole dancing for fitness. I have installed and setup various poles. The stage poles, with a base, the friction poles, with a mount in the ceiling, work well, as well as permenant mounted poles. The only draw back to the stage pole is that you lose the 1-2' that goes into the stage. Stay away from the spinning poles, until you get good, unless you really do not want to learn how to do it right.

In my opinion you need to order a good pole. If you want it to be removable, then order from a legitmate site like 'lil mynx or platinum stages, there are others. These use a spring to hold it into the ceiling and against the floor. I weigh over 200 #'s and they can take me spinning around it. If you want it to remain permanent in the building a decent pole with a couple of floor flanges, screwed into a ceiling joist and the floor will work well.

My wife popped in a said that if, you want to get serious with it, order a pole that does everything (i.e. spins) but locks so you can learn how do it without the spinning. Then after you get good at the inverts, unlock it and allows you to spin. Be aware that the spinning poles take quite awhile to get used to, as you need to learn how to control the spin.

Just make sure this doesn't happen!

I was thinking more like this, smeth:

Oh wow, looks like the ceiling fan ruined it. I understand what your saying though, very useful facts and tips. Cheers