Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Hang A Ball Chair

A hanging ball chair is exactly that, a chair in the shape of a giant ball that hangs from the ceiling by a chain. One face of the ball is cut away. Inside the ball, some designs have an upholstered seat while others have large cushions you lean back into. Ball chairs are true conversation pieces on top of offering you a comfortable place to sit and relax after a busy day. Because it's suspended in midair, you can sit back inside its cocoonlike form and sway back and forth, lulling yourself into a state of relaxation.


Instructions


1. Hang a ball chair from a ceiling joist. This is necessary to keep the ball chair from falling when someone sits down in it. Determine where the chair will be hung.


2. Climb a ladder and run a stud finder overhead on the ceiling until it buzzes, indicating it's sitting over a ceiling joist.


3. Locate the two outside edges of the ceiling joist. This is done because the eye screw that the ball chair hangs from must be screwed into the center of the ceiling joist. Take a finishing nail and a hammer and first tap the nail into the ceiling to verify the ceiling joist is there as indicated by the stud finder. After the nail hits wood, pull it back out and move it to the left or right of the first hole so see if the nail again hits wood or open air. Repeat the process until both sides of the joist are located.


4. Make a mark on the ceiling at the center of the joist. Select a drill bit slightly smaller in diameter than the threaded shank of the eye screw the ball chair will hang from. Measure up 3 inches from the tip of the drill bit and wrap a piece of tape around it.


5. Put on safety glasses and set the tip of the drill bit on the mark indicating the center of the ceiling joist and start drilling straight up. Make sure the drill bit stays perfectly vertical while drilling. When the edge of the masking tape reaches the face of the ceiling, pull the drill bit back out.


6. Place the tip of the eye screw in the hole and twist it in all the way until no thread can be seen.


7. Take a snap hook---a steel hook that snaps closed---and hook it through the eye screw in the ceiling and a link in the chain coming off the top of the ball chair. The snap hook ensures that the chain can't accidentally slip out. It adds an extra element of safety.

Tags: ceiling joist, ball chair, ball chair from, ceiling joist This, center ceiling, center ceiling joist