Hanging From The Basement Ceiling

[Steve D]

OK, I'm sure this has been discussed and I'll get around to doing some searching around but hang with me here...

I'm on a college campus and have access to the deck supports for the Alumni House to hang when I have to be on campus for various events (yeah, they're solid) Last night I had to go to ground, so to speak. Actually to an air mattress then a sofa, both of which sucked to varying degrees and different reasons.

Normally I hang in my spot with no tarp. It will fit length-wise but there's not much room to tie out the corners. There's a cold front coming through here now. Last night it rained off and on and the wind was rippin'. I didn't want a tarp flapping around and obviously wanted to stay dry. Thus I decided to go inside.

At the moment there's no place to hang inside but there is a garage thats pretty much open with exposed ceiling joists. The room dimensions are appx 20x28 ft and the ceiling joists are at a standard 8 ft high. I could probably build a stand that could be broken down and stashed in a corner but would also like to think about the possibility of simply suspending from the ceiling. I'm sure its doable but how have you that have done it gone about it?

[Passinthru]

It seems do-able. If the joists are at least 2x6 and you hang longitudinally - webbing at each end on the same joist - then the forces should not be too great. If you were to hang perpendicular to the direction of the joists then possibly you would put excessive side forces on the joists. Just cinch your webbing up tight to the joist and it should not slip toward the center.
The height and spacing seem about right for getting a good hang angle.

[ShadowAlpha]

I put eye hooks in my ceiling joists in garage. just have to spread them apart further than usual because of height of ceiling

[Redoleary]

Hang a ridgepole a la turtlelady stand then hang your hammock from the ridgepole. That way you won't need so much spread on your suspension to get it down low enough for easy access.

[stalker42]

I put in eye hooks then hung chain from them. Just set your suspension to the chain at whatever height you want.

[Bubba]

I drilled holes in the middle of the joist and fed webbing through it. As mentioned, hang parallel to the joist, ideally on the same joist. To get the 30 degree hang angle with a sitting height of a foot and a half, your attachment points need to be around 22 feet apart if you don't do the ridge pole.

[Jacob.Alpha]

Hammocks are usually used on the spots,where we do not have the resting place or good and as we know that our basements come in those places
So its not a bad idea either you are in university basement or at your own home. Because some times students is not in a mood to take the lecture.

[drchip]

If access to the joists were concealed by drywall or some such on the ceiling (meaning straps weren't possible), do people advise eye bolts, and if so how heavy / long? I'm facing the same issue trying to hang on my porch wich is 21' long with joists running long ways, but the ceiling is tounge in groove so I can't get around the joists with straps...