Hammocking @ Home

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markie*mark0

Settler
Sep 21, 2010
596
0
warrington
looking for some advice on hanging a hammock at home.

I've done a fair bit of research on the web and the easy answer is a single lag bolt into the brick work...... funnily enough i dont trust that the lag bolt or the brick work will cope with the tension :) so im looking for something else.

Looking to hang from the red circles

9dcccacc-6ef7-443a-a54a-ac18830b8094_zpssnm2nbwo.jpg


Span from wall to post is 4.8 meters
height of joist at wall side is 2.5 meters
height of joist at post side is 1.9 meters

Now the wooden post side i trust, im going to use a simple tree hugger approach, but the wall side im struggling with.

I was thinking of using 4 heavy duty rawl anchors with a wall plate similar to below, but is it still too close together?

wall_anchor_iso_zpscftfd1hd.jpg


Another approach i've been thinking of is two eye bolts above/below each other, with an endless strap, this way the force is pulling down/up on the bolts rather than outwards from the wall

1111_zps1j0rsuzi.png


what do you all think?
 

markie*mark0

Settler
Sep 21, 2010
596
0
warrington
I'd fix another post in the ground and to the wall, then go from post to post. Alternatively how sound is that joist above?

ideally i dont want to put another post in the ground, the outer post is sunk 4 ft into the ground with two barrows of concreate, i wont be doing that at the wall side.
I could use a piece of 8x2 with multiple raw bolts fixed to the wall to spread the weight, but im not convinced that's good enough.

the joist above is solid, and will take the weight, but the height of the wall side im not sure will "lend" itself to hanging.

i've briefly just "pinned" the hammock into place and it just doesnt look right.
 

mountainm

Bushcrafter through and through
Jan 12, 2011
9,990
12
Selby
www.mikemountain.co.uk
ideally i dont want to put another post in the ground, the outer post is sunk 4 ft into the ground with two barrows of concreate, i wont be doing that at the wall side.
I could use a piece of 8x2 with multiple raw bolts fixed to the wall to spread the weight, but im not convinced that's good enough.

the joist above is solid, and will take the weight, but the height of the wall side im not sure will "lend" itself to hanging.

i've briefly just "pinned" the hammock into place and it just doesnt look right.

I was thinking get a section of scaff pole. Hang that from the joist, then hang the hammock from each end of the scaff pole. The pole will then act as a spreader.
 

mrcharly

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 25, 2011
3,257
44
North Yorkshire, UK
MMs idea of using a spreader would work, but I'd be forever bashing my head on the spreader.

the OPs idea of using an endless belt would also work but it better be something damn strong.
 

markie*mark0

Settler
Sep 21, 2010
596
0
warrington
I was thinking get a section of scaff pole. Hang that from the joist, then hang the hammock from each end of the scaff pole. The pole will then act as a spreader.


ah i see what you mean.....

so i could use an endless loop on the wall side to make the pole horizontal. then fix it to either end as a spreader.... not a bad idea :)
 

sunndog

Full Member
May 23, 2014
3,561
477
derbyshire
if they go in well you wont pull those four floor bolts out of a wall with just your body weight dude.....same goes for a length of 3x2 or whatever
 

markie*mark0

Settler
Sep 21, 2010
596
0
warrington
MMs idea of using a spreader would work, but I'd be forever bashing my head on the spreader.

the OPs idea of using an endless belt would also work but it better be something damn strong.

for the spreader bar im thinking that i could have two "hooks" hidden alongside the hidden part of the joist, when not in use hang it away.
then when i want to use it, unhook it, let the endless loop hang it so its vertical.

The endless loop idea would put the tension on the eye bolts vertically, so they should not stress the brickwork outwards but upwards and downwards. then if they were going to give way they'd bend rather than busting a brick.

i was thinking of using a climbing daisy chain at 22kn
 

markie*mark0

Settler
Sep 21, 2010
596
0
warrington
if they go in well you wont pull those four floor bolts out of a wall with just your body weight dude.....same goes for a length of 3x2 or whatever

the issue with a hammock is it multiply's my body weight by 3.5 or something silly. so its like a tonne :) thats my accurate version ;)

the other fear is that it'll stress the brickwork too much, bricks aren't really supposed to have that kind of tension applied to them.
 

Zingmo

Eardstapa
Jan 4, 2010
1,295
117
S. Staffs
I think your anchor plate would probably work but then it would all depend on how well they are installed and how strong those bricks are. Another option is to use multiple eye bolts in different locations with an endless loop that is slack when not loaded, going back and forth between the eye bolts and a shackle to equalise the load on each section of the loop. (Think how a person hangs from a parachute - many smaller suspension points each carrying an equal share of the load.)

A bit like this, but they could be arranged in a square:
Hang.jpg

I would also look at the top end of the wooden post. The force of the loaded hammock is going to try to pull the top of the post towards the house. A small chock of wood or piece of angle screwed to the roof member would rule out any movement.

Z
 

Lister

Settler
Apr 3, 2012
992
1
36
Runcorn, Cheshire
I'm just looking at your fence, looking at the concrete pillar closest to the house and thinking if there's one on the opposite side of the garden parallel to it, use those instead (Hook a loop of webbing over the pillar, resting it on top of the fence panels, that's what i use when i hammock at home and because the fence panel is between the concrete posts, any weight applied to the top of the panel (when the hammock is loaded) is forced down the panel and not out (causing the panel to buckle) becasue it's trapped in the channels of the post.

Hope that makes sense :)
 

StuMsg

Tenderfoot
Feb 10, 2013
83
0
Aberdeen, Scotland
Even with the endless strap arrangement the load would still be pulling out from the wall, the horizontal forces do not simply disappear, you would just be introducing additional force vectors in the vertical direction. The additional friction that the vertical vectors cause could help in theory, but to be honest is it worth pulling a brick out your wall?

I would go with the suspended spreader bar - a wooden one would be fine, probably more aesthetic than a scaffold pole - perhaps a cheap hand banister from B&Q would be fine.
 

Hammock_man

Full Member
May 15, 2008
1,450
526
kent
What about a solid wood ridge line. Wood is very strong in compression. the weight in the hammock would be trying to compress the ridge "bar" not move the walls closer???
 

humdrum_hostage

Full Member
Jul 19, 2014
771
2
Stradishall, Suffolk
Just put a 12mm frame anchor with a ring eye, in the wall. In the center of a brick, I think they require a 16mm hole. fix it in with chemical resin to be doubly sure, you would pull the house over before you pull it out the wall. they use them to anchor scaffolding to a wall, im sure that in high winds is a lot more force then the linear force of your body weight in a hammock. Plus there will be a lot of down force on the fixing anyway.

Here is one I prepared earlier.

 
Last edited:

sunndog

Full Member
May 23, 2014
3,561
477
derbyshire
the issue with a hammock is it multiply's my body weight by 3.5 or something silly. so its like a tonne :) thats my accurate version ;)

the other fear is that it'll stress the brickwork too much, bricks aren't really supposed to have that kind of tension applied to them.

even so, if your bricks are solid i'd be confidant i wouldn't pull four of the bolts mr hostage posted above out just by hanging a hammock off them
 

Fraxinus

Settler
Oct 26, 2008
935
31
Canterbury
I'm with Humdrum and co. The force of and direction of pull will not pull a correctly placed rawlbolt out of the wall. The idea of adding in the resin compound is also very pertinent if the bricks have a frog and were laid frog down ( a practice used to save on mortar, though I have heard some tales as to why frog down is otherwise beneficial! )
Rob.
 

laro13

Nomad
Jan 21, 2010
262
3
The Netherlands
Just put a 12mm frame anchor with a ring eye, in the wall. In the center of a brick, I think they require a 16mm hole. fix it in with chemical resin to be doubly sure, you would pull the house over before you pull it out the wall. they use them to anchor scaffolding to a wall, im sure that in high winds is a lot more force then the linear force of your body weight in a hammock. Plus there will be a lot of down force on the fixing anyway.

Here is one I prepared earlier.


I have used the same type of bolts to hang my hammock on my balcony.
I weigh about 100kg and the bolts haven't moved a inch.:eek::)

Sadly my balcony is a bit to small to be really comfortable.

 

markie*mark0

Settler
Sep 21, 2010
596
0
warrington
just thought id let you know how i setup.
decided not to drill the wall and see how i could use the joist.


I've drilled holes both ends of the joist and connected to that.


the angle isnt great and im not sure at the moment, so im going to see how i get on with this and use it this summer to see what it feels like


IMG_0492_zpsquhkxmz9.jpg
 

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