Indoor sleepers

[Knotty]

They're practically giving those brackets away. Just ordered a pair for $19.99 and free shipping. Good find Rev!

The next challenge will be how to get true 4x4 lumber. If that's not possible, will have to live with shims.

[Ramblinrev]

They're practically giving those brackets away. Just ordered a pair for $19.99 and free shipping. Good find Rev!

The next challenge will be how to get true 4x4 lumber. If that's not possible, will have to live with shims.

Call a sawmill and ask for unfinished 4 x 4 stock. A lumberyard won't have them. You need a place that deals with unfinished wood stock. The problem will be that it is rough and splintery. but a lumberyard 4x4 starts out its life as a true 4 x 4. It could take some looking to find a sawmill depending on where you live.

Then you need to find one that will sell you just a small amount. Many commercial sawmills work with huge board feet of orders.

Mine is due to arrive on Thursday accorrding the estimated delivery date. If there is interest I'll do a vid on how to install the shims so they tight. There are a few tricks to the process.

[vitamaltz]

As a home inspector, I feel like I need to chime in here. I'd really love to have eyebolts in my walls, but I'm not going to do it.

All homes in a part of the U.S. with an adopted building code (there are still a few places where anything goes) require at a minimum 2x4 studs. 2x3 is not a common mill size and I've never encountered it any of the thousands of homes I've seen. Post WWII, lumber is generally "dressed" for a smoother finish and a smaller dimension than its nominal size; today's 2x4s are actually 1.5 inches x 3.5 inches. Prewar lumber is true dimensional.

All but fairly cheap housing these days is built with 2x6 exterior walls. That wasn't the case between the 1950s and the 1990s - the return to larger lumber on outside walls is largely to provide extra space for insulation. Luxury homes these days are often 2x8 on the exterior and 2x6 on partition walls. I'll get to why that may be irrelevant in a minute...

Modular housing is required to meet the same building codes as site-built housing in the community where the house is assembled. There is absolutely no difference in the integrity of these structures, except that in some cases, walls from two different modules are sistered together, creating a double width wall of extra robustness. If there is anywhere I would feel comfortable hanging an eyebolt for a hammock, it might be into door framing in a seam wall in a modular home.

Manufactured housing (what is typically called a mobile home) is a different beast. It is still built to consistent standards (HUD code), but is not as structurally rigid. I don't have as much experience with this type of housing, but every manufactured housing unit I've ever seen has 2x4 walls (although maybe not drywall). This housing is on a metal undercarriage. That would be a secure place to hang, as long as you don't mind snakes and those creepy crickets.

Plaster on any type of lath will make a wall much more solid feeling. Horsehair plaster, especially, is absolutely devilish to demolish. However, considering the forces we're talking about, I wouldn't count on the lath structure (usually wooden slats or a metal mesh) to provide any significant structural boost. Stud finders don't work all that well with plaster and there is a chance that you could screw or nail into wood, thinking you're anchored into a stud, when in fact you've only hit a thin wooden lath board. You and your hammock would quickly be on the floor under a pile of plaster.

On to my real concerns... Nails are thin and generally don't impact the structural integrity of a framing member very much. Eyebolts are a different situation. Thick eyebolts will create a significant hole in a stud. Not only is this a bad idea, it's prohibited in many scenarios by the two major building codes in the country. Load-bearing walls (generally those parallel to the ridgeline of the roof) should never have a bore hole greater than 40% of the width of the face of the stud. Non-loadbearing studs can be bored to 60% of the width. This means, on a nominal dimension bearing wall, no matter 2x4, 2x6, or 2x8, you will be screwing into the 1.5 inch face and cannot use an eyebolt wider than 3/5 of an inch. I bent a 5/8 eyebolt hanging from a 6x6 pergola once, and I only weigh 170. These bore holes also cannot be closer than 5/8 of the distance to any other face of the stud, including the top, which means you shouldn't be hanging high on the wall.

All of those rules were designed for simple holes that might carry pipes or wiring and are under no stress. Hanging a hammock by eyebolt, you first weaken the stud by boring, then you apply tremendous forces on the weakened structure. We all know from working with suspension ropes that the forces that act on the suspension are many times our weight.

Boring into ceiling trusses or joists is a similar issue. You shouldn't have any holes in the bottom 2 inches of a joist. Especially if you are hanging from your top floor, below your roof framing, you have a sophisticated engineered system of rafters, purlins, truss webs, etc. All of these peices are under compression or tension and counteract each other by design. When you add the load of the hammock in a direction that the designer of the home hadn't intended, you could be putting a decent amount of strain on that framing component. Many older attics were never even designed to hold a few cardboard boxes and a Christmas tree, let alone a dynamic load swinging below. I wish I had a photo of how a really heavy chandelier is properly hung. It's not hanging from the bottom of joists; it's affixed to what amounts to a lumber toggle that rests on the top of a box of reinforced joists.

Is all of this just theoretical? Maybe. I know many people have hung inside from their framing for a long time, with no apparent problems. I've never seen any problems from hammocks in houses (haven't seen hammocks in anyone else's house!), but I have seen twisting, bowing, roof deflection, and in one case, ceiling failure from unintended loads imposed by retrofitted bathtubs, pianos, and chandeliers. The one thing I'd really recommend avoiding is eyebolts. I like the bracket Gargolye found. There are also some Simpson Strong Tie brackets available at any building supply store that could grip a stud and provide a heavy-duty flange on which to tie off a suspension line. Nevertheless, I think I'll make a stand or add some jack studs to my bedroom wall before I hang inside.

I do have a hammock chair hanging from a 6x6 built-up beam with no problem. I've been to the Yucatan and have seen all of the hammocks hanging from the walls of what might be thought of as flimsy huts. Every one of the huts I saw was mudblock or concrete block though, and that's a totally different scenario. If you live in a mud house, PM me, I wanna come see.

You'll probably never have any problems violating any of these guidelines when hanging your hammock indoors. There is a good bit of redundancy to the forces that keep your house standing, and it's not going to come crashing down on you. On the other hand, some problems could occur, you just never know. Furthermore, if you try to sell your house in a few years and the buyer's home inspector sees 5/8 eyebolts sticking out of the walls, he or she might scare your buyer away. I've seen people walk away from houses for much less than that. If you're renting, just undo the eyebolts and fill the holes with toothpaste. The landlord will never notice

I know there's at least one other active forum member with extensive residential construction experience. Maybe he'll chime in.

[gargoyle]

Excellent post Vitamaltz. You do know yer stuff. I would never, ever hang anthing more than a picture on the walls of a mobile home. I've lived in them and I had the joy of demolishing one. Could not believe the poor quality and thin wood that the mobile home industry uses.
As for the eyebolts, I would not use a turned eye bolt or hook style. I am still sporting a nice scar from a turned eye that decided it didn't want to stay turned.
Use welded or forged eye bolts for best results.
And, as a warning to all, Know what you are screwing into, walls are full of electrical lines and plumbing. If you are not sure, don't do it.
Vitamaltz this is my house.http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...am_Mud_Hut.JPG

[cavediver2]

I should have said I have a stand on order. It ain't ideal... but for $19 for the hardware kit I couldn't pass it up as I have the wood already.

Would you please let me know how it works for you I have looked at this several times since it was posted and I am looking go get one for out doors and one for indoors but I wanted an honest opinion on it first.

So when you do will you remember me when you get it done and try it out.

[Ramblinrev]

Vitamaltz....

I have seen 2 x 3 studding on interior walls. They were not common but I know for a fact that's what they were. I have a good friend who is living in a house with 2 x 3 interior walls. I used to be able to buy 2 x 3 lumber in the lumber yard down the street. Maybe changes in PA codes have changed that. I have watched pre-made wall framing go up with no spacers between the studs. Please understand I am not challenging your post. I am simply reporting what I have seen and experienced.

Horsehair plaster is particularly dangerous as it was often mixed with arsenic as a binding/setting agent. In addition the hair was often harvested from sick or dead horses and many pathogens can show up upon demolition.

I did not intend to suggest that one could attach to just the lath. Thanks for clearing that up that error on my part. My assertion that lath and plaster was strongest was based on those walls which I have torn down/repaired over the years being framed of undressed 2 X whatever.

I am delighted to know that a lot of construction is going back to larger sizes.

All this aside... what I wanted to convey... and what you have reiterated is that the eyebolt in the wall is dicey at best and dangerous if you don't know what you are dealing with. To go slap up a couple of eyebolts and call it good is a risky proposition.

I have a cousin in North Caroline who told me as of a couple of years ago the state had no building codes. Individual communities and housing projects may have some but nothing on the state level. I gratefully acknowledge any factual corrections you added to my post. But I also want to say to folks that just because that's what the code requires does not meant that's what the homeowner/builder followed. Particularly if building inspections/permits were not common in the local rural areas which was often the case in NY and PA until the 1960-70's.

I am not a professional builder but I have done a lot of "remuddling" in my life and I used to subscribe to renovator's periodicals which were very technical in nature. All in all... Don'cha do it unless you know what you are dealing with and how to do it. I don't think it is worth the risk.

[angrysparrow]

I'm sure you're aware of the issues of hanging hammocks inside so maybe we can skip all the posts on how much force it puts on the walls.

Giving Jeff's original thought a bump here.

[Ramblinrev]

I just lugged about 25# of stuff upstairs to my hammock room. I'll get some pics and vid as I put this beastie together.

[meant2b]

I use eyebolts. I have for four or five years now. Yeah, one did finally bend far enough out on me that it left me laying on the ground when the tie down slipped off the eyebolt. I bent it back into shape and it has held nicely for the past month or two now. Not bad to only have one eyebolt bend on you in four or five years.

I have one eyebolt about midway up the wall right beside the window. I'm not actually into the window stud but I think I still do take some benefit from the stud being so close to the window.

The other eyebolt is in one of the 2x4s that run underneath the rafters that hold up the ceiling. Since I HAD panelled ceiling in the bedroom it was pretty easy to find where they were nailing into when the hung the ceiling up. This eyebolt is fairly close to the attachment point of one of the rafters but the eyebolt doesn't go into the rafter itself.

Before I moved into the room I currently use as the all around room I just removed one of the metal ceiling tiles and looped the tie down strap over the metal bracing for the ceiling and had an eyebolt in the wall right beside a window/right into the window stud.

When I was in the other room I had trouble with the tie down wanting to come lose on me and leaving me sinking lower and lower each night but since I have moved into the present room I haven't had any trouble like that. I think I learnt a little better how to tie knots and how to hang the hammock and I don't take it down everyday so it doesn't get in my way like it use to.

I use a cotton cloth hammock. I bought the material at Wal-Mart many years back when I switched from an inflatible bed to a hammock. The whole system has served me quite well for the past 4-5 years. I like the cotton since it can easily be washed. I never have hemed the cotton fabric and I haven't had any kind of trouble at all with it coming apart on me. I knotted up both ends and wrapped the tie down wraps around the knots and hung it up on the eyebolts the way I wanted it. Nothing to it at all. Like I said it has worked like a charm for quite a few years now.

Ramblinrev, I can't wait to tryout the nylon hammock once I finish getting it sewed up. Granted I'll only use it outdoors since that is why I bought the material in the first place. I figure the cotton cloth is cooler than the nylon and I'll need the nylon for outdoor use anyways. If I wouldn't have run out of thread it would be done right now. Gonna have to wait until tomorrow to finish it off. DRATS!

At least the sewing machine is finally working reliably enough that I'm willing to try to sew up the hammock. Thanks for that one Ramblinrev. Gee, instructions manual are always so nice...when you have them.

Now off to try and remember how to gather material versus tying knots. Which do I want to use. First the research.

MEANT 2B

[Redoleary]

I had slept in a Brazilian hammock in my apt for a year (pre marriage), with eye bolts into the studs, no problems. As for the hammock it was all cotton with queen size bed dimensions I believe, and if you sleep in the same place every night (like I did) it develops a nice "pocket" or "sweet spot" and you sleep like a champ.