hanging question

[awier]

I apologize in advance if this is the wrong place to ask my question--I'm not a hammock camper, but I imagine the folks on here know more about hanging hammocks that any other group, so I registered in order to benefit from your collective expertise and advice. I could not find a thread that addresses my question, so I'm plunging on here by starting a topic with my hanging question.

We recently built a retirement house overlooking a lake, and the view is life-enhancing. We have a back sloping lot high on a brow with a walk-out basement. The main floor has a deck and ten feet below, directly beneath the deck, is a patio where we can escape rain or too-hot sun. The deck is supported by steel poles around each of which is a brick column, 16 inches on each side. My wife wants to hang a hammock between two of these columns. We have two in good position that are 15 to 16 feet apart, depending on which corner of the brick column I measure from.

Most hanging instructions I have found online would have me sink hooks into the brick. I have a masonry bit that will drill into the mortar, but I don't have a hammer drill that will go into the brick. I'm afraid mortar won't hold a hook supporting two people. So I wonder about using some kind of rope or tree sling that will wrap around each column. Since the columns are ten feet high, I can move up any distance I need from the brick floor, but each column has a circumference of 64"--that is a lot of strap or rope--and I wonder if it will slide down the brick, or if the rough masonry edges will cut or fray the strap. Reviews I have read about straps complain that they frequently tear, come unstitched, rot, etc. I wonder if a length of thick polyester rope would be better than a fabric strap--if I knew what knot to tie it with. And what about stretching--the strap or the rope, will they stretch and sag? We are going to hang a DuraCord, rope-style, two-person hammock.

Thanks to any of you who can help for taking the time to share your suggestions about the best (labor- and cost- saving, yet reliably strong) way to hang a hammock between two brick columns.

Best wishes to all,

--Allen in Alabama

[GT]

Don't drill into your mortar, man! Take a 2" wide polyester double eye strap 64" long and wrap it around the brick column. Connect the two eyes with a galvanized 3/8" quick link and hang off of that. The 2" poly webbing will hold with no problem and if your worried about abrasion, get a piece of old fire hose and stick it inside of that.

[RePete]

I dont know about hanging from the brick but I would think straps would work fine. Another option would be to place hooks overhead from the bottom of the deck. This would give you more options as to where you can locate your hammock. You would not be confined by the locations of the columns. A lot of people do this in their basements. Good luck with this project and let us here know how it turns out.

[Acer]

You can have most of these companies, make you any size tree straps to go around the brick. If it were me,,and I didn't want to drill and trust hooks in masonry over time,,I would just run down to a 4 wheel drive shop or truck store or automotive store of some kind and get a couple of tow straps that come in varous sizes and wrap around the brick until you made up your mind as to a permanent solution. As far as rope,,we all use amsteel here as it does not stretch period and any other kind will. Redden Marine will sell it to you with a 5% discount.
http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=46241

If you check out the suspension threads and postings...you will find out certain types of strapping material will stretch and the most types that our forum cottage makers use,,don't. I wouldn't be afraid of any strapping material from sliding down your brick/motar columns nor wearing out for quite a while if you can wrap them fairly tight. Then with the loop at each end,,either use a toggle to tie to,,or a biner in the loops to attach each hammock to. I like the biners as so easy to connect/disconnect myself.

[oldgringo]

Don't drill into your mortar, man! Take a 2" wide polyester double eye strap 64" long and wrap it around the brick column. Connect the two eyes with a galvanized 3/8" quick link and hang off of that. The 2" poly webbing will hold with no problem and if your worried about abrasion, get a piece of old fire hose and stick it inside of that.

This. Read no farther.

[pgibson]

Don't drill into your mortar, man! Take a 2" wide polyester double eye strap 64" long and wrap it around the brick column. Connect the two eyes with a galvanized 3/8" quick link and hang off of that. The 2" poly webbing will hold with no problem and if your worried about abrasion, get a piece of old fire hose and stick it inside of that.

This. Read no farther.

I concur 100%. I would not drill into the mortar or the brick.