What's the Best Dance Pole for Apartments or Rentals?

By Susan Peach

The best dance pole for apartment living depends on your unique situation, but a removable or semi-permanent pole is a top choice because it provides near-permanent stability with just one small ceiling hole that is easily repaired. If you want zero holes, a friction fit pole can work in many cases, but needs careful installation and checks. This guide compares removable, friction fit, and platform options so you can choose the best home pole for your apartment.

• There are 3 main alternatives to a permanent dance pole for apartment dwellers who are worried about ceiling damage: Friction Fit, Removable, and Platform.

• Friction fit dance poles (usually) leave no trace on your ceiling or floor, but can slip off the ceiling and come down if not installed correctly or checked frequently, potentially causing significant damage.

• Removable (aka semi-permanent) dance poles offer more security than friction fit poles, and are almost as safe as a permanent pole, requiring only one screw hole in your ceiling.

• A platform dance pole may be an option if you have a very spacious apartment or you rent a house, but the standard height is usually a little over 10' so you'll need high ceilings as well.

Introduction

If you've decided to learn to pole dance at home, you'll definitely be needing a pole. But if you don't own your home, you may be rightfully concerned about not causing damage to your rental premises. After all, who doesn't want their damage deposit returned in full when they move out, right?

It's true that installing a permanent pole dancing pole that requires multiple heavy duty screws into both the floor and ceiling can potentially cause significant damage to your apartment. If you'd like to start doing home pole dancing workouts, but you live in rented accommodation, you likely have some serious interest in finding out which is the best dance pole for apartment living.

The good news is that dance poles have come a long way since the early days of home pole dancing, and there are now several options that can work for apartment dwellers. But there are a few caveats and important considerations to be aware of.

Ready to learn more? Let's go...

Friction Fit Dance Poles

One option for pole dancers who live in apartments is a friction fit pole. These poles are installed without the use of screws or other hardware that go into your ceiling or floor. As the name implies, this type of dance pole stays in place through the use of two friction pads, one for the top of the pole and one for the bottom.

These poles have either a heavy duty spring mechanism inside, or they use a large threaded piece of steel that extends the pole to the correct length.

Both the top and bottom of the pole are fitted with a plate, to which the dance pole itself is attached, as shown in the picture below. 

A close up of the bottom (left) and top (right) of an X-Pole, which is an example of a friction fit pole

The mounting surface of this plate is typically coated with rubber or silicone. Together the plate and it's coated pad serve three purposes:

• The size of the plate spreads the force of the installation over a larger area

• The coated plates protect your floor and ceiling from marks and damage

• The silicone or rubber mounting surface helps to increase friction or the "grip" that your pole has on both the floor and the ceiling once it's installed.

You can think of a friction fit pole as a "no-trace" pole because once you take it down there's no evidence it was ever there. Because of the friction mount design, these poles won't cause any damage. At least in theory.

Safety Consideration for Friction Fit Poles

A very important piece of information to keep in mind when considering a friction fit pole is that this type of dance pole is inherently less safe by virtue of its design. While both friction fit and removable poles use an internal tension or screw mechanism to expand the pole once it's in place, the fact is that the friction fit design is not as secure as the design of a removable pole with a bolt-in ceiling mount.

That means there's a greater chance that a friction fit pole could shift under load, causing the ceiling mount to move, which could result in your dance pole crashing down.

This fact is rarely mentioned in reviews of friction fit poles, but it deserves serious consideration. If your friction fit pole comes down, there's a chance it may do more damage to your living space than the single screw hole in your ceiling that's required for the safer removable type of dance pole.

More on this in the section on removable dance poles below.

Surface Requirements for Friction Fit Poles

There are a few instances where a friction fit pole won't be the best choice for your apartment. These have mostly to do with ceiling type, as there are some kinds of ceilings that aren't suitable for installing a friction fit pole.

Acoustic tile or any other kind of removable panel that creates a false ceiling is definitely not safe for use with a friction fit pole. That's because these types of dance poles must be installed over a ceiling joist to provide a suitably strong backing. Installing a friction pole on any ceiling that does not provide adequate support is a sure recipe for extensive ceiling damage, not to mention injury to the user.

The other type of ceiling to be concerned about is a popcorn ceiling, particularly if it's heavily textured. Lighter textured ceilings, especially those that have a flatter style of finish are often compatible with a friction fit pole, but more heavily textured finishes can be damaged due to the pressure this type of pole exerts once installed. Although the damage is not structural and can be repaired, it might not be easy to find someone who can do a professional job that your landlord will approve of.

Another issue with heavily textured ceilings is that it can be very difficult to find a joist over which to install the pole's ceiling pad. Knocking on this type of ceiling usually results in bleeding knuckles, and devices that scan for joists are often inaccurate on popcorn ceilings because they need to be held flat against the ceiling.

For safety reasons, it's critical that your friction fit pole be correctly installed over a joist. If you can't locate one, you can't be sure your pole is installed correctly. And an incorrectly installed pole is much more likely to come down and cause damage to your space.

It's also important to check the flooring requirements for the specific brand of friction fit pole you're considering. Many can be installed on either hard flooring or carpet, but some have special requirements as to the type of flooring, so the pole base won't slide out once the pole is installed.

Installation Considerations for Friction Fit Poles

One final factor when considering whether a friction fit pole is the best dance pole for your apartment, is that they do require a certain degree of physical strength to install. A typical installation involves using a tool to turn a threaded steel piece that extends the pole to the correct height.

Alternatively, some friction fit poles have an internal spring mechanism that must be compressed in order to place the pole, and then tightened by hand to complete the installation. Especially if your pole may be going up and down a fair bit, this is something to consider.

Is A Friction Fit Pole Your Best Option?

As you can see, there are a few pros and cons to think about when deciding whether a friction fit pole is the best pole for your apartment. These poles can certainly be a good option, and depending on your ceiling type and how confident you are with your installation skills, they may be right for you.

Removable Dance Poles

Most people think immediately of a friction fit dance pole as the only type of pole that's suitable for use in apartments and rented homes, due to the issue of ceiling damage.

However, the ceiling of your apartment isn't the only thing you should be concerned about damaging. As mentioned earlier, a friction fit pole has the potential to damage much more than your ceiling if it comes down because it's not installed correctly.

Why a Removable Pole is Safer

Before you decide that friction fit is the best dance pole if you live in an apartment, take a look around and see what other parts of your living space might sustain damage if a pole were to come down. Do you have windows or a glass sliding door in the room where you plan to install your pole? What about light fixtures? Built-in cabinets? A glass-front fireplace or a mirrored closet door?

It's important to consider what the cost would be to repair or replace any of these items, vs the cost to fill a single small hole in your ceiling from installing a much more secure removable dance pole.

Removable poles are almost as safe as permanently installed poles. In fact, these poles are also known as semi-permanent dance poles. This type of pole comes with a mount that is bolted to the ceiling. The top of the pole then slides over a fitting on the mount, which holds the top of the pole securely in place. This setup greatly reducing the chances that the pole will come down if it becomes loose.

As discussed above, the ceiling plate of a friction fit pole can potentially slide out of place if the pole is not installed correctly, or if it's not sufficiently extended and tightened. With a removable dance pole, even if the pole shifts at the base, it's very unlikely to come down. This is because the mount is screwed directly into a ceiling joist, which keeps the top part of the pole securely in place.

Your Pole Pal can attest through personal experience that even if a removable dance pole is not sufficiently tightened, and the pole base shifts out of place on the floor, the pole itself is unlikely to come down because the ceiling mount helps to keep the pole upright. In fact, if the floor base on a removable pole ever does slide out of place, you'll definitely notice that your pole is no longer straight, giving you ample opportunity to realign and re-tighten it.

While friction fit poles also require the top of the pole to fit over a small mount on the friction pad, this won't keep the pole from coming down because the friction pad can also move out of place. With the bolt-in ceiling mount used with a removable pole, this isn't possible. The ceiling mount is not going to move, and a huge amount of force would be necessary to move the pole completely off the ceiling mount.

What About Ceiling Damage from Installing the Mount?

At this point you might be wondering how installing a ceiling mount for a removable pole is any better than installing a permanent pole, which also requires screwing a mount into the ceiling. The simple answer is that the brand makes all the difference.

As far as Your Pole Pal is aware, every dance pole company that makes a removable pole packages it with a mount that requires 4 screws into the ceiling. Except one.

Lil Mynx makes the only truly removable (non-friction) dance pole with a single bolt mount. This unique ceiling attachment for their poles is patented, and has been their primary design from the beginning, so they must be doing something right.

The mounting system is deceptively simply, elegant and effective. It requires only one small lag bolt into a ceiling joist. If you move out of your apartment, simply unscrew the ceiling mount and pop a small bit of Polyfil or spackling paste into the hole, just like you would fill nail holes from picture hangers.

In fact, the hole left by the Lil Mynx ceiling mount is no bigger than the hole that would be left from installing a ceiling hook to hold a plant, a swag lamp, or anything else you might hang from your ceiling. The ceiling mount even comes with a plant hook that you can put into the mount when you're not using it. That way if your prudish aunt is coming to visit, just take your pole down, pop the plant hook into the mount, and she'll be none the wiser!

It's worth mentioning here that the Lil Mynx ceiling mount also comes with the required lag bolt, as well as the correct size drill bit to install it, plus an Allen key to properly tighten the bolt.

And in case you're wondering, Lil Mynx also offers a special ceiling mount just for vaulted ceilings. They've thought of everything!

While there are now other removable poles on the market, all of them come with a ceiling mount that requires multiple screws to install, making them not nearly as renter-friendly. Your Pole Pal enthusiastically recommends Lil Mynx dance poles as the safest, most flexible, and all around best dance pole for most apartment dwellers.

Platform Dance Poles

If you'd prefer not to have to deal with the ceiling issue at all, a platform dance pole might be an option for you as a renter. A platform pole is sold with an integrated base or "stage" into which the bottom of the pole fits. The base may be weighted, but today's more modern designs often rely more on physics for stability, with added weights an option if you prefer some extra insurance.

Below are two models of platform dance pole, the X-Stage on the left, and the X-Stage Lite on the right. The X-Stage has extendable "legs" that increase its stability. Weights can be added to the base of both models to increase stability even further if desired.

X-Stage platform dance pole

X-Stage Lite Platform Pole

The main drawback is that platform dance poles take up quite a bit more space than other types of poles. So if you live in a small apartment, this may won't be the best type of dance pole for you. If you rent a house that has sufficient space however, you might consider this possibility.

Another consideration to be aware of is that these poles are taller than the average 8-9' for friction fit or removable poles. At about 10', you'll need high ceilings to accommodate a platform pole in your home. However, they can be ordered with a shorter extension pole, to accommodate lower ceiling heights.

On the upside, platform dance poles can be used almost anywhere. So if you want to set up on your deck or in the back yard, no problem! Platform poles also come with carrying cases (with wheels for the heavier components), so if you want to take your pole to another location to do a demo, a performance, or just to play with friends, it offers that flexibility as well.

Of course, platform dance poles are a more expensive option, though X-Pole does offer a Lite version of their flagship platform pole, the X-Stage.

Which is YOUR Best Apartment Pole?

So, what's the best dance pole if you live in an apartment or a rental? If you've read this far, you'll see that the answer is "it depends."

Which one you choose will depend on:

• your available space — a platform pole means no holes anywhere, but takes up a lot of room and requires higher ceilings

• your confidence in your ability to do a safe installation — a friction fit pole leaves no trace, but may not be suitable for heavily textured ceilings; these poles also have the potential to come down and cause a lot of damage if not installed correctly and checked frequently

• how important it is to you to have no holes at all in your ceiling — a removable pole is much safer than a friction fit pole, but does require that you drill one small hole in your ceiling, which can easily be filled at move-out time.

Your Pole Pal recommends that you take the time to weigh your options carefully before ordering a pole for your apartment. Friction fit is commonly recommended, and this might be a good fit for you, but there are other options that might be an even better choice.

Was this page helpful? Make YourPolePal.com your preferred source of pole dance info on Google, so it'll be easier to find more useful pole guides like this one. 

Susan Peach was an early pioneer in pole fitness and is now the voice behind Your Pole Pal, a long-running resource for the pole community. With more than 30 years of experience teaching pole, dance, and fitness, she helps newcomers navigate the world of pole with confidence.

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