Using engineered lumber i beam for home gym?

[Hoosierkav]

My basement uses engineered i-beams for the floor joists. Because the bottom of the joists are almost 9' off the floor, I'd like to mount a pull up bar and maybe a DIY TRK-type webbing setup. How do I do this correctly, so I'm not weakening the joists?

I'm thinking I'll have to use 1" fillers on either side of the i-beam web to fill in the gap and then use 2x6+ on either side of those to be able to have enough mass to bolt things into?

I'm also surprised there's no home gym thread

 

[76Too]

Are you talking about a laminated beam? There’s not much you could do to one of those short of cutting it in half that would weaken it any significant amount.

Just drill/bolt/cut whatever you need to...if you get to a point where you’re removing more than 25% of the material in any section, then there might be cause for concern.

I’m in the middle of improving a home gym pull-up bar for my fiancée because she wants to be able to do muscle ups too...just ran some steel square stock down to the floor for support and bolted to the rafters to keep it secure and so she doesn’t pull the garage roof down.

 

[ultra...good]

Are you talking about a laminated beam? There’s not much you could do to one of those short of cutting it in half that would weaken it any significant amount.

Just drill/bolt/cut whatever you need to...if you get to a point where you’re removing more than 25% of the material in any section, then there might be cause for concern.

I’m in the middle of improving a home gym pull-up bar for my fiancée because she wants to be able to do muscle ups too...just ran some steel square stock down to the floor for support and bolted to the rafters to keep it secure and so she doesn’t pull the garage roof down.

The above quoted, is some seriously bad advice. Go ahead and follow it at your own peril.

A laminated beam (LVL) should not be cut into. Any cut you make into it, weakens it and ruins the weight rating it was designed to carry.

However, it sounds like you are trying to build something to TJ'S, or Trust Joist's. There is a way for this to be done. Cutting them is not one option. I cannot tell you how to do it, even though I have done this, but somewhere out there is a structural engineer that can. I have only followed the plans the structural engineer drew out for me. GOOD LUCK!!!!!

 

[Hoosierkav]

I joist-- OSB in the middle (web) with solid 2x3? flanges on the top/bottom.

As I really think about it at 11:30pm, my 200# pulling on two different beams probably isn't a whole lot of anything compared to the rest of the stress in the system.

 

[churchmouse]

I am not sure as to what your intending to do but we have drilled through these beams and sandwiched the hole to pit strength back. Never reduce the width/depth unless you do some serious sandwich bracing.

 

[TangoFoxtrot]

No door near by? Sounds like it would be much safer just to run bolts through a header.. just a thougjt

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

 

[Butch627]

Drilling a hole in the center of it does not weaken it at all and it is common for them to be drilled and have conduit run through them. If you want to increase the bearing surface where the bolt will be stressing it in shear than a couple of pieces of 3/4 inch plywood glued and screwed on each side should do the trick. If you are putting a load on a perpendicular angle to the joist than you may want to bridge it to the adjacent joists.

 

[churchmouse]

Drilling a hole in the center of it does not weaken it at all and it is common for them to be drilled and have conduit run through them. If you want to increase the bearing surface where the bolt will be stressing it in shear than a couple of pieces of 3/4 inch plywood glued and screwed on each side should do the trick. If you are putting a load on a perpendicular angle to the joist than you may want to bridge it to the adjacent joists.

You said this so much better than I did.......