I currently have a garage gym with a lot of equipment but it is really cold in the Winter. (Even with the heater) I am also trying to use every inch of space I can squeeze out of the house and convince the wife is needed.
I am looking for safety input, especially from any structural engineers.
Does anyone see a problem with suspending chains from a basement ceiling (the first floor joists) for suspended chain bench presses. With this set up, it can be taken down easy, is adjustable, will be safe (no spotters), etc.
My guess is that as the first floor holds many people without collapsing, suspending 300 pounds from basement ceiling from two chains connected to two separate joists will not be a problem.
I dont have an answer but am curious as to what other people think. Ive been considering doing the same thing in my basement but hesitated because I have a 125 year old house that creaks enough as it is.
It shouldn’t be a problem, but I want to point out one problem with your reasoning. When you are standing in the floor above, your weight is being distrubted over the entire structure, not just the joist that you are on top of, when you are pulling down on one joist, nearly the entire force is on that one joist. Still, a sound 2x10 joist can easily withstand 150 lbs. Of course, you need it to hold the weight of the bar, too, and be strong enough to withstand the force if you drop the weight.
My suggestion would be to build two separate brackets, and mount each bracket in between two joists, then hang a chain from each bracket. This will distribute the weight even more, and give you some adjustment as you can move the chain along the bracket. Otherwise, you are limited to multiples of 16.
Be sure to mount your bracket in the center of the joist. Drilling, nailing, or screwing through the top or bottom of the joist will significantly weaken it.
For your brackets, I would take 2 2x4’s about a foot long or so, and drill a 1-1/16" hole at 6" and in the top half of each board. Put a 1" dowel rod through the holes, and mount the 2x4’s into the center of the joists. If you want, a 1" steel shaft would be even better. Then drill through the 2x4 and joist and secure the 2x4 to the joist with at least 2 3/8" bolts, the closer you drill to the bigger hole, the stronger it will be. You can then hang the chains from the dowel.
If you don’t quite understand what I mean, just look at the rod in your closet, this is what I am trying to describe, except your rods will only be 14-1/2" long.
Thanks for the information. I also talked to an architect that I know and he suggested putting one chain on each side of the center beam to better distribute the load.
Thanks for the information. I also talked to an architect that I know and he suggested putting one chain on each side of the center beam to better distribute the load.
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Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Then you have each chain supported by two joists, and the chains will only be a couple feet from the support beam.
If you have a squat rack I would either put the chains over the top bar of the rack or place an extra barbell on the top and put the chains over it. That’s how I do chain supported work like good mornings and bench presses.
I would be more concerned about the hardware you have attached to your floor joists above coming out. I have rings and a climbing rope suspended from a 21 foot ceiling. I mounted it before there was sheet rock and the guys from the truss company told me to mount a 4x10s in between 3 trusses. Then I drilled holes through the 4x10 and use a 3/4" diameter 12" long eye bolt with double locking nuts. It’s probably overkill but I didn’t want to take any chances of it weakening and then coming down 10 years down the road.
I agree with S_L – distribute the load across multiple surfaces and use hardware that prevents extraction. Otherwise one bouncing failure may result in a surprise bounce off your chest, typically on the weaker side.