How to Hang a Porch Swing in Few Simple Steps?

Are you thinking of getting a porch swing to bring your garden décor to another level and create a more pleasant environment for your afternoon coffees and chit chats? Great idea! Swing porches are not just stylish and comfortable but also pretty space-saving and functional when you compare them with traditional patio furniture.

But let me guess, you found the right model, the price is acceptable, but you're not sure how the heck to install it?

Yeah, that can be a headache. Fortunately, we happen to be pretty experienced in this, which is why we decided to write a useful guide on how to hang a porch swing most efficiently and share what we know with you all!

Lay back and enjoy it!

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Table of Contents

Things to Consider Before You Get to Business
Step by Step Guide on How to Hang a Porch Swing
- How to Hang a Porch Swing With a Rope?
- How to Hang a Porch Swing With a Hanging Kit?
Final Thoughts

Things to Consider Before You Get to Business

As with any other work, before we get to technical specifics, we have to create an overall picture of how the entire construction will look, where will you install it, etc.

So, let's assume you measured your porch and accordingly have chosen the best model for you, the next thing to consider will be exactly the place where you will hang it.

Now, the whole point of swings is the arc of sway they create as they move; therefore, you need a spot with enough clear space in front and behind the swing. The ideal situation here would be 3-4 feet of swinging arc behind and in front of the swing, but you can always make small adjustments in accordance with your working conditions.

The next thing in this process is absolutely crucial, so invest enough time into it! You need to confirm you have reliable structural support for your swing. Swings can get pretty heavy!

Let's say you buy a three-people model which approximately can hold around 500-700 pounds and the swing itself weighs around let's say 50 pounds, you would need structural support to hold up to 800 pounds.

So how do you do it?

If you have a vinyl ceiling, you need to take the part of the vinyl off and find the wooden structure beneath. The joists should be 2 x 8 or eventually 2 x 6 If you're hanging a smaller model, and when it comes to beams, they should be 4 x 4.

Now, if your structure is not this thick, you won't be able to hang the porch, so you need to add more structure to it. If you can access your ceiling from the attic, that's even better, as you can measure the structure more accurately.

Here is a useful video that displays how to hang a porch from a vinyl ceiling and how to add more structure If needed

When it comes to a concrete wall, the process is basically the same, you just need to find the appropriate concrete anchors and eye bolts to hold the weight of the entire construction, and then this video may guide you through the process.

The last before we get to the very construction is to choose how you will hang the swing.

You can have either two anchor points and choose the Y-shaped chain that splits into four lines to attach them to four corners of the swing or drill four holes. Now, you can use either chain or rope for suspension, just make sure the rope is marine-grade ¾ inches thick.

Step by Step Guide on How to Hang a Porch Swing

As we have mentioned, there are two basic ways to hang your porch swing:

Traditionally with a rope.
With a modern hanging kit, you can buy, or make yourself.

Both methods are equally efficient and will keep your porch swing in place, therefore which one you decide for is really the matter of personal preferences.

How to Hang a Porch Swing With a Rope?

Before you get to work, it is essential that you find all the needed equipment, and therefore here you can find listed the essential things you will need to finish this task successfully, let's see what they are:

What You Will Need

A drill
Two marine-grade ropes (twice the height of your ceiling)
¼ drill bit
Two or Four 3/8 inches eye screws
Long Screwdriver
2 Five Gallon Buckets(optional)

Step 1: Having found the appropriate structural support, you need to mark the exact spots where the hooks will go. If you have a giant, massive swing, you will need four anchor points that should be marked exactly above the corresponding holes in your swing. On the other side, if you choose to have two anchor points, you want them placed two to four inches wider than the width of your swing so that the weight is appropriately distributed.

Step 2: As you have precisely marked the spots in the ceiling, you take a drill and drill two or four pilot holes in the joists or beams in the market spots.

Step 3: What you should do next is take the eye screws and start screwing them into the holes manually. As you do so, you will come to a point where you can no longer do it by hand. So, you take a long screwdriver and finish the screwing to really tighten the eye screws up. After you've completed this step, you can proceed to the rope connection.

Step 4: Your next step will be to take the ropes and pull them through the eye screws so that each end is hanging evenly. This way, you get four rope lines.

Step 5: I assume you all wondered, why would you need the buckets for? Well, you need to have some space between the swing and the floor, hence the buckets. You can also use cardboard boxes. Put them straight beyond the spots where you drilled the holes and place the swing on them. You can use whatever object is convenient for you; just pay attention to the height.

Step 6: Now, you pull the rope ends through the holes on the swing and tie big knots underneath so that the swing is firmly secured.

Step 7: Finally, you remove the buckets and try the swing out!

How to Hang a Porch Swing With a Hanging Kit?

You can find many different hanging kits on the market.

We selected the best one according to the customer's reviews on Amazon and excellent specifications, so you can use that one, or buy the chains and screws separately and make your hanging kit.

This is the one we found:

Barn-Shed-Play Heavy Duty 700 Lb Porch Swing Hanging Chain Kit - Color: Silver (8 Foot Ceiling)*

Complete porch swing hanging chain kit. Zinc plated for outdoor durability. Chain is heavy duty 3/16" passing link chain.
Consists of two deluxe ceiling hooks and two "Y" type assemblies. Choose from two sizes to accommodate either a 8 foot or 10 foot ceiling height.
Each 8 foot size assembly consists two 27" chains and one 54" chain connected with a quick link connector
Each 10 foot size assembly consists two 27" chains and one 78" chain connected with a quick link connector
Includes two swing swivel lags (3/8" x 3-1/2") featuring a convenient snap hook. The neoprene washers on the ceiling hooks are to prevent noise and metal to metal contact. 700 lb weight capacity. Color: Silver

What You Will Need

A Drill
A Drill bit
Hanging kit
Four S hooks or Four carabiners
Four eye screws(optionally)
Long Screwdriver
2 Five Gallon Buckets(optional)

Step 1: Having found the appropriate structural support, you need to mark the exact spots where the hooks will go. If you have a giant, massive swing, you will need four anchor points that should be marked exactly above the corresponding holes in your swing. On the other side, if you choose to have two anchor points, you want them placed two to four inches wider than the width of your swing so that the weight is appropriately distributed.

Step 2: As you have precisely marked the spots in the ceiling, you take a drill and drill two or four pilot holes in the joists or beams in the market spots.

Step 3: After step two, you start screwing the eye screws in the holes manually, and then as the job becomes more difficult, use a long screwdriver to fasten them securely.

Step 4: Then you attach the chains to the carabiners on the eye screws so that the longer part goes to the ceiling and two shorter pieces towards the swing.

Step 5: Now, you will need the buckets. Put them straight beyond the spots where you drilled the holes and place the swing on them. You can use whatever object is convenient for you; just pay attention to the height.

Step 6: This step pretty much depends on how your swing is constructed. If it has eye screws attached to it, you will only need the S hooks or carabiners to connect the chains to the swing. But If it does not, you will need to drill the pilot holes in your swing and attach four eye screws to each corner of the swing and then connect the chains using the S hooks or carabiners.

Step 7: You remove the buckets and try the swing out!

Final Thoughts

Well, there you go. We tried to make this porch swing installation as simple as possible, so we genuinely hope you will find our hints useful and finally get your very own porch swing hung!

What to do next?

We are just going to lay back on our own and listen to the little birds singing the spring song as we're swaying in the sun!