We ship within the continental USA via FedEx Ground. Quicker FedEx shipping options are available to purchase on the checkout page. For international shipping we are partnered with FedEx International.
Orders are currently taking 3-5 business days to manufacture and ship. Customized or very large orders may take 1-2 extra business days to process and ship. If you have a specific date that you need to receive your item, you may want to call for assistance in determining if expedited shipping will be required.
Most people use the wood barres unfinished as they are and let them naturally patina. We do not recommend staining or varnishing the barres because this may cause a sticky buildup or may wear and need to be re-finished. For a wood preserver, we do recommend using a Danish oil or Linseed oil every few months. For cleaning, we recommend using 600 grit sandpaper and lightly sanding the affected areas.
We recommend the Prodigy Series freestanding barres for home use or very light commercial use. We recommend the Professional Series and the Extreme Series freestanding barres for heavy-use commercial environments, studios and schools.
Freestanding ballet barres are intended for use in keeping balance during ballet/dance exercises. They are not intended to hold one's weight especially when pulling or pushing against the barre. The barre should not be used as a crutch. Downward weight is OK as that will not push the barre over. In ballet, learning to use a freestanding ballet barre without tipping it over is a benefit, as it helps to improve one's balance and strengthen one's core. We sell many ballet barres to many satisfied customers around the world who are using them for ballet purposes
This will depend entirely on what they are doing at the time. If they are just holding onto it with one hand, you can fit more than if they are doing leg stretches. Typically, a 4' barre is recommended for use by just one person. For barre lengths over 4', generally allow 2' per person. The barres may be used on both sides.
A double barre is beneficial when there are multiple users of different heights. (ie., a teacher and a student) Even for a single user, having the second barre is a luxury so that you can have both barres set at heights you desire without needing to change them.
They do not "fold". For the Prodigy Series, you may loosen the knobs on the feet and pivot the feet sideways to store the barre flat, under a bed or leaned against a wall. For the Professional Series, you may loosen the knobs on the feet and remove the feet to store the barre flat, under a bed or leaned against a wall. The feet on the Extreme Series barres are in a fixed position and should not be removed except for long term storage or transport.
Yes, they are easy to assemble and disassemble as required. The Prodigy Series and Professional Series barres have clamps with hand knobs/handles, and no tools are required for assembly. The Extreme Series barres only requires a hex wrench to tighten the clamps and that wrench comes provided with your barre.
Wall mounted barre brackets should be mounted into the studs of the wall securely. Hardware for mounting into wood studs comes provided with your wall brackets. If you have metal studs or a concrete wall, etc. you will need to purchase appropriate hardware from your local hardware or home improvement store. For this type of installation, we strongly recommend the use of a 1" x 6" backer board which is securely attached to the wall or to every stud. Then the wall brackets may be mounted to the backer board at the desired spacing. Careful - do not mount the backer board at the height you want the barre to be. The brackets must be mounted lower than the barre height to compensate for their significant "up-swing". Diagrams are available on the product pages of each product. Never mount a barre into just the drywall as it can easily pull out.
When properly installed, all of our mounted barres are rated at 100 lbs. per linear foot distributed evenly along the length of the barre. The closer the wall brackets are spaced together, the stronger the barre will be. We recommend approximately 4' spacing between brackets.
You should not attempt to mount wall brackets directly onto a mirror as it will surely crack the mirror. You may have the mirror cut out for the brackets to mount directly into the wall studs, but this can get costly. We recommend a better method of attaching a 1" x 6" backer board to the wall, securing it to the wall or to every stud, then mount the barre onto the backer board. Then you may install a mirror above and below this backer board. Another method is to install vertical mirrors leaving a small space between the mirrors to mount the brackets into the studs. When a barre cannot be mounted onto a wall due to mirrors or windows, a floor mounted barre is another option.
Floor mounted barres must be mounted properly and secured into the sub-floor, so we strongly recommend you have a contractor or qualified installer do it. The hardware to mount the floor stanchions to the floor is not provided with your floor stanchions, because this will depend entirely on the type of flooring you have and the requirements to securely install it. Each 6" x 6" floor stanchion base has (4) 1/2" diameter holes, so you will need to use 3/8" diameter anchors. When possible, it is ideal to mount the floor stanchions to the sub-floor first then build the flooring around them. Be sure to consider this height difference when specifying the base to top of barre height so that your barre will ultimately be at the height you desire. This is not always possible as most users do install the floor stanchions on top of their flooring.
Underneath the collar of the collared bracket or the collar of the fixed height floor stanchion are two holes for screws which secure the barre. These two screws also serve to join two barres inside the collar, when creating longer lengths.