A bit of framing, a bit or woodworking...

[Steve Shepherd]

So my 10 year old daughter is begging me to somehow fabricate a hanging bed for her. Now, i know that standard roof truss rafters aren't designed to be load bearing, but I'm thinking that sistering them with a few more 2x6s would be enough....alternately (additionally?), thinking I could run cross beams above the points i suspend the platform from, to disperse the load across multiple rafters....

Am I worrying overly much about this? I don't expect her to be swinging around on the thing or jumping up and down on it, but I don't want it bring the roof down.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[Adam Herman]

is it stick framed or is it trusses?

I would probable do a cross piece on the ceiling that captures both hanging points on an end or side to distribute the load. I would also use all rated hardware and structural screws, such as timberlocks and I would use a through bolt on your beam for the hanging points. all forged hardware and no cheap bent eyes. if hanging from cable I would use press sleeves and not clamps. If by rope, I would use all climbing rated hardware, not the stuff hanging in your ACE. REI has a good selection and the small stuff is not that much more than the stuff at ACE.

i would overdo it because I am a trained rigger / crane operator.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Be cautious about it banging into the walls. I had a hanging bed in college and it really wasn't as cool as I was expecting. Besides the banging into the walls issue, it kept running away when I went to sit on it or get into it and putting on my socks was a challenge. ..But I have to admit, it was a bit of a chick magnet.

[Wayne Lomman]

Put cross timbers in the ceiling on top of the truss bottom chords picking up at least 3 trusses. Make sure you pick up the truss beyond the mounting points so there is no cantilever loading of these timbers. Nail or screw into place just to locate them. The fasteners do not take any load.

As far as load rating goes, don't complicate it. It is a different risk category to rigging a load on a crane. Here we are talking about a maximum of 250kg if we are generous suspended by 4 points at a height of maybe 500mm. This is well within the assumed rating of 10mm standard grade eye bolts, shackles, chain etc. Make sure the eyebolts go through the ceiling timbers. Position the bed well away from the walls. And yes, I also do rigging. Cheers

[Jamie Buxton]

I built a bed once that moves like it hangs, but it stands on the floor. Let me explain... Do you know what a glider sofa is? It is a sofa that moves. But it is not a rocker, like a rocking chair. Instead, it has an internal frame that stands on the floor, and the seating part of the sofa hangs from that frame. The usual glider sofa is built so that it glides forward and backward. But I built this bed so that it can glide in both directions -- left/right, and forwards/backwards. So the kid got the movement she wanted. But the parents didn't get the problem of the bed swinging too far -- into walls -- and I didn't get the structural headaches of hanging the bed from the ceiling.

[Steve Shepherd]

Thank you all for your insights. I'm hoping to get up in the attic this weekend to poke around, I'll have a better idea of what i'm in for after that.