QuickTip: Hanging a Porch Swing

So you’re fired up to hang that porch swing. Lazy nights (a rare occurrence for the died-in-the-wool DIYer) swinging, watching the rain, enjoying the kids, taking a call…whatever…porch swings are great.

And you’ve located the joists in the ceiling. Nice job. You drilled the hole for the eye bolts—bulls-eye, right in the center of the ceiling joists. You drilled it just smaller than the diameter of the eye-bolt threads. Good hustle.

Note: If you can’t find the joists in the ceiling—or you miss when drilling, a common challenge if the ceiling is closed up—or they are not where they need to be so your swing hangs plumb, I give up looking carefully.

What I do instead is drill holes until I find the joists, then mark their location. Next I cut a 1×4 to length, usually 6 inches wider on each side than the spread of the swing chains. I route a nice edge on it, then fasten to the ceiling joists, centered above where the swing will hang. Now, no matter where the joists are I can fasten the swing chains wherever I want into the 1-by.

One-by or not, now you have to do is crank those bad boy eye-screws in.

But just a few turns with your hands and: full-stop.

Your first instinct might be to go for the slip-joint pliers (Channel Locks) or locking pliers (Vise-Grips) but the teeth in those jaws will mar the steel on the eye bolt and mess up the mojo. Ugly isn’t what you’re after.

That’s when you reach instead for your scratch awl, that MyFixitUpLife tool pouch must-have. Slide the end into the eye-bolt and twist: A perfect lever.

Swing time.

Mark

A licensed contractor, tool expert, wood and outdoor enthusiast, and elite Spartan Race competitor, he writes about home improvement and tools for national magazines and websites, and teaches hands-on clinics for other remodeling professionals. Check out his book, The Carpenter's Notebook.

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