On
9/10/00 I bought a
SkyChair (a hanging canvas swing-y deal) at the New York RenFaire. I finally got around to attempting to hang it up today. Obviously, since it has to support my full body weight, the gigantic
eye screw needs to be driven into a beam. I
probe a couple of times with a power drill, in 16" increments from the side wall, with no luck. Switching to reckoning from the front wall, I hit
hard wood in the first hole.
Voila, I think, sink the eye screw into the ceiling as far as it goes, and within 1/2 hour it's knotted, adjusted, and ready for a
test drive.
I ease into the chair,
swing a little, then sit still as I mentally plan where to put the computer desk, etc. That's when the knot slips and I drop a full foot to land on my
tailbone.
Ow. Screw.
OK, my
knot technique is flawed. I readjust the whole
shebang, strategically position a pillow lest I fall again, and gingerly climb back on. The revised knot is visibly superior to my first attempt, and I relax.
Better stress it a little to make sure it will hold... I bounce a bit, and the knot tightens visibly.
Thudd! Suddenly I'm on the floor again,
plaster and
ceiling tile and
shim raining down on my head. When the dust settles, I look up to a row of three square-foot ceiling tiles ripped away, and a clear view right up into an unfinished corner of the
attic. What I thought was a beam was merely an ancient
slat, and three layers of historical ceiling finish would have put my
exploratory drilling about a quarter inch short of finding a beam. I reckon I'm just a
fool with a
power tool...