Hello. I am a professional dancer, who is at my wits end trying to install my new dance pole. The apartment I rent from has vaulted ceilings with metal layered between the sheet rock and the joists. For whatever reason, my joist finder is giving me inaccurate readings. At first I thought it might be the popcorn ceiling that was affecting the joist finder. I am still unsure if this is affecting it as well. I really don’t want to blindly drill holes in my ceiling anymore and I can’t seem to find anyone who installs any sort of dance equipment in the phone book.

Every time I drill into the ceiling I hit metal. The metal bits can drill past it, but instead of finding a joist like the finder suggests, there is empty space.

Are there any repair men or women out there who can help me sort this out?

Thank you
Evalynn

You want to go to the unit above you, or the roof, and drop a test line down and find it on your side.

Most likely there will be a few thin layers of crap between you and the joist, so you are going to have to cut away the plaster to make a proper fit.

You also could take a 4ftx4ft by 1/2 plywood piece and screw that to the ceiling with 5 inch screws every inch and you will hit some joist or make it strong enough with that amount of surface area. (That will make a lot of little holes, but it should work)