ZIPWALL ZP4-PK4 ZipPole 10' Spring (16-Pack) Loaded Poles for Dust Barriers, 16 Count - 4 Packs of 4, Silver

These ZipPoles are a great idea, however I was disappointed by the lower build quality of one of the components - the head pieces (according to Zipwall's website). I don't doubt that other people are bending these pieces with regularity when you consider that they sell replacement "head" pieces on their website. Here is my experience.I was locking in plastic sheeting in one of the slider pieces during the first use and the slider piece broke. The slider pieces which you use to secure the plastic (or other barrier) is not made very well and is susceptible to bending/breaking. I would advise you to use as thin of plastic sheeting as necessary for your job. I was only using 3 mil thick plastic sheeting and it managed to break on me. In my opinion, 3 mil is a reasonable plastic sheeting thickness. So after noticing that one of my slider pieces broke, I also noticed that by the end of my project, two more were bent (when the black plastic turns white and get flimsy). The last one of the four managed to make it through a few uses unscathed so that's 25% of the slider pieces making it through without bending or breaking.What is disappointing is that I ordered this set well in advance knowing that they *could be* useful for the floor refinishing/sanding that I am doing, but by the time I get around to using them for the first time, it has been just over 1 month (1 month and 2 days) since I bought them so they are ineligible for a return to Amazon. All I expect is for them to send me a couple more of these head pieces.The poles themselves seem to be good quality and I will give credit where credit is due. The idea behind these ZipPoles is excellent, and besides the head piece issue, my experience has otherwise been pretty good.Although these poles *can* get the job done effectively, it would be worthwhile for ZipWall to manufacture the higher quality head pieces. You don't want to have to worry about them bending/cracking on account of the thickness of your plastic sheeting/visqueen. On the flip side, if you use sheeting that is too thin, you run a higher risk of the plastic tearing. I think 3 mil should do the trick if you're careful, but anything thinner may tear too easily and anything thicker is that much more likely to bend those head pieces into which the slider/grip pieces fit and hold your sheeting when locked in.Right now, I am in the process of trying to contact the manufacturer of the ZipPoles for the replacement head pieces, and I hope they will be easy to deal with. I will follow up to advise everyone about how easy OR difficult it is to get replacement head pieces based on this 1-year warranty that they offer. My rating is primarily due to the disappointing component (head pieces) despite the rest of the set being of decent quality. If the head pieces were better quality, I could see giving this product a 4 or 5 star rating. In my opinion, a product is only as good as its weakest link, and in this case, the weakest link is the poorly made head piece.**********6/22/2011 UPDATE**********I spoke with Christine at ZipWall. She was absolutely great!!! She called me back the following day after I sent an email. I returned her call at my earliest convenience, and she was extremely diligent about getting me some new head piece parts on order (FREE-of-charge and without any fuss). She was very polite, professional, and understanding of my needs and desires for this product.ZipPole product concept & its capabilities - 5 starsZipPole quality (poles themselves) - 4.5 starsHead piece quality - 1.5 stars (they work, but are susceptible to bending/breaking)Christine @ ZipWall - 5 starsGetting new head pieces to replace my old bent/broken ones - 5 stars!Overall, I have updated my review rating to 5 stars (up from 2 stars) and my rationale is that this product is very good one, and despite its shortcoming (header pieces), their customer service is great and they made the problem right by sending me new header pieces hassle-free and free-of-charge. These ZIpPoles are a product which can effectively do what it is intended to do (which is awesome for containing job site debris among other functions) as long as all of the components maintain their integrity. Thanks to Christine & ZipWall for making things right with me.-----Just a final comment about how great Christine was - she even gave me a cool suggestion about other uses for the ZipPoles - for supporting (muslin) backdrops for photography which is great because my wife does a lot of photography. My concern, of course, is that the thickness of those muslin backdrops could bend the header pieces, but I will try this very carefully to see if it's a possibility without compromising the head.

Bought this for my home improvement/ repair business and it works great. It keeps dust controlled sets up super easy and make me look very professional. Seem to be great quality really like the design and spring loaded end. Will definitely be buying more of these

These poles, although advertised as "cheap", are surprisingly light, sturdy, and well made for their intended purpose; holding up plastic sheet to keep dust contained, and they are just perfect for that task. I bought two sets of four poles for my project. The shipping boxes only had a couple bands of tape holding them shut, but all the parts were factory fresh and no parts were missing or damaged. The ceiling feet firmly snapped on to the top of the poles, held the plastic sheet in place as designed, and held snugly against my 8 foot high flat textured ceiling. The twist locks on the poles all worked well. A pole about every five or six feet provides a reasonable seal against the ceiling. I suppose zippers and ceiling "cross members" or tape would make a tighter seal if needed, but I've kicked up a whole lot of dust and, so far, not much, if any, dust has settled outside the work area. I'm really happy with these poles!No comment on the non-slip feet since I have carpet and am not using them.No comment on the zippers since the "tucked in flap" is working well for me and I'm not using the zippers.No comment on the carrying cases since I haven/t had a chance to use them yet. Since I'll probably store them in the attic until my next Harry-home-owner project, I'll likely just put the poles back in the shipping box. But I guess if one was carrying them from job to job, or otherwise using them fairly often, the storage bags would be pretty handy.I also bought a roll of 2 mil plastic sheet 10X100 feet (plenty left over for the next project). Oh, and for the floor, a couple of "one tuff" plastic/paper drop cloths.My task was to block off the center section of my living room to repair the ceiling drywall, an area about 8 X 13 feet. I planned on a pole in each corner and two more poles evenly spaced on each of the 13 foot runs. Here's what I did:First, I pre-tensioned a pole about half the spring length and then used it as a guide to pre-tension the rest of the poles. I then cut a length of plastic about 45 feet long. I started at the entrance corner to the planned work area and wrapped the plastic from one corner to the next on the outside of the poles (securing the plastic to each additional pole as I went), leaving about a foot of plastic hanging out past the first pole. I only unfolded the plastic as much as needed to attach it to the top of the poles as I went, letting it overhang toward the work area about 8 or 10 inches over the top of each pole. When I got back to the starting corner I used a fifth pole a few inches away from the first (starting) pole to secure the final stretch of plastic, which I left about 3 feet long (past the starting pole). I then unfolded the plastic the rest of the way to the floor and, after moving the poles so the plastic was taunt, I tucked the plastic under the foot of each pole and then fully compressed the spring on each pole. As expected, the plastic was drooping down from the ceiling about an inch or so on the long runs, so I put up two more poles evenly spaced on the "far side", and the remaining pole in the center of the other long run; all of them fully tensioned. This seemed to snug up both sides against the ceiling pretty good, so I determined to leave the eighth pole a few inches from the starting pole, without putting the plastic under the foot of the pole, but, instead, slipping the end of the plastic between the first and final pole. This made a quick and convenient way to get in and out of the work area (without using zippers). The whole setup process took about an hour, more or less, and the poles, plastic, and drop cloth do a really good job keeping the dust contained.

These work well for the intended purpose but the upfront cost is on the pricy side and be careful you dont accidently loose the plastic tops that clip to the plastic sheeting. Its easy to miss them and throw away with the plastic at the end of the job. The little plastic pieces are not cheap to replace either. I think I paid around $22 bucks per little plastic pad that probably costs .25 cents. Lesson learned !