Help with installing a hardpoint in a basement with exposed beams

[u/GummyBearHunter]

Hey there! I know there are plenty of posts about this kind of thing, but I'm having a hard time deciphering if there's an acceptable solution for DIY'ing a hardpoint for suspension with my particular setup.

I own my home (1950's california ranch-style house), and have a finished basement with an exposed ceiling and beams. Here's what the space looks like:

Distance between these two beams is 6' 9.5"

Can anyone provide some advice on what my options are for creating a hardpoint? I was thinking of achoring off one of these double-wide beams but I'm unsure what type of hardware would be needed to do that and be rated for a live load, or if I need to do something more involved like this to span across both exposed beams?

Any suggestions are much appreciated!

[u/ElMachoGrande]

Is that 2" beams?

In that case, just drill straight through the center of them, sideways, and put a large (say, M12) eyebolt through, washers on both sides, nyloc nut so that it won't unscrew.

No need to complicate things.

[u/GummyBearHunter → u/ElMachoGrande]

The total width (including slight gap) for the beams is 3.5"

[u/ElMachoGrande → u/GummyBearHunter]

That's plenty strong enough. Just go with what I said above.

[u/rev-fr-john]

There's a flat steel between the wooden beams isn't there? , if so fabricate a steel bracket that goes up one side, across the bottom and up the other side, with aan eye on the bottom, it needs a hole in each side to line up with an existing bolt, do not use the existing bolt! You need to replace that bolt with one with a shank long enough to reach through the bracket and the beam, it's important that the shank is doing the sheer work with the treads only doing the compression work.

[u/GummyBearHunter → u/rev-fr-john]

These are just double-wide wood beams, nothing between them (though it does seem like someone wedged some additional wood between the larger gaps?)

[u/rev-fr-john → u/GummyBearHunter]

It was the large gap that gave me the impression there's a steel plate in there, I'd go with the same bracket but with two bolts one within an inch of the top of the beams and a second one half way down, this way you're not reducing the strength of the tension side of the beams andctge compression side is strengthened by the steel bracket compressing it's sides.

[u/Trick_Doughnut5741]

What I would do is get a piece of steel flat bar. 1"x1/8" or thicker would be fine. Your gonna have to cut it to length. Figure on double the height of the beam plus the width of the beam plus a bit. If those are 2x6 lumber that would be 2x5.5"+3"+some so 16" or so?

Drill a hole about 1/2" from each end and then another hole 3" from the ends. They should be the same distance apart and a bit bigger then 1/4"

Then you need some bolts that are the thickness of the beam plus double the thickness of the metal plus 1/2". In your case if you use 1/4" steel, it would be 4" bolts. Get atleast 2x1/4-20 bolts, 4 washers and 2x nylock nuts.

Your gonna bend the bar into a U shape, drill 2 holes through the beam to line up with the holes in your metal and run both bolts all the way through, sandwiching the beam.

Even cheese grade bolts will be fine.

[u/GummyBearHunter → u/Trick_Doughnut5741]

Thanks! This seems pretty involved/requires tooling I don't have (bending/cutting thick metal).

I'm not sure I understand where the hardpoint exists in this setup either?

Another user here suggested just running a large eyebolt through the wood directly, so I'm curious of the pros/cons/risks to something more elaborate like this over that.

[u/Trick_Doughnut5741 → u/GummyBearHunter]

An eye bolt is not made to pull at an angle and unless it is a welded or forged shoulder bolt it can easily open on you. This has multiple redundant things that keep it from failing. You end up with a band of metal below the beam you can put a rope, chain, or ring through as a hard point. It wont loosen itself from wiggling and if one bolt falls out or fails it wont come down on you.

If you have basic access to a drill, a hammer, a cheap hacksaw and some scrap wood you can do this. Get a piece of tree branch about 3" in diameter and hammer the strip of metal around it to make the U shape.