My basement ceiling\ground floor has a “truss” system. How to hang things

hangingtruss

It looks like this from what I can see: http://andersontrussnc.com/floor-trusses/

So – obviously I can't be drilling an eye bolt into anything I see here. I've heard people talk about sistering together trusses by laying a doubled up board or 4×4 between them and screwing the eye bolt to that. But … that wouldn't be safe to do from the BOTTOM of the truss in the open triangle, right? Wouldn't it have to be attached to the top?

Kind of frustrating – for a home gym looking at a pull up bar, punching bag etc…and I just don't see how it's possible without tearing down a lot of sheetrock?

Best Answer

Truss systems like that have "strongbacks" at intervals--vertically oriented 2x6 lumber that ties the trusses together and shares load among them. For anything under about 500 lbs. I have no concerns except one:

If you suspend a heavy object at a point along the bottom chord that falls in the center of the gap between web connections, the bottom chord could sag over time. This could result in a bulge in the ceiling, but certainly won't damage the truss system. To avoid this, either be sure to hang from at or near the webbing connection, or spread the load to limit weight at each point to around 100 lbs.