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Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Reverse Blogging - Porch Swing

Normally, blogging is about writing the things you know.  I am going to be reverse blogging for a couple of days.  I am going to ask you to do the writing about a couple of things I don't know about and need opinions, facts, or a few silly answers to make me laugh.

So question number one that has me stumped:

How do I hang this porch swing?  The roof of my covered porch area is covered in aluminum siding, so I can't use a stud finder.  I have tried pushing on it to find something firm underneath, but so far I just have two holes in the aluminum and nothing strong enough for my eye-hooks to screw into.  The house is 5 or 6 years old, and the porch is under Vin's room, in front of the laundry room. Are there studs under there?  I know I hit wood once, but my drill went through so easily, it didn't feel strong enough to hold up the swing.  I am baffled.


4 comments:

ANNIE COPPOCK said...

Probably going to have to take some of the siding down to see what you can anchor to. With swings, it's best to drill a hole side to side through the support and then hang the swing from a bolt inserted through the hold. That way you won't get a surprise landing on your butt when the eye hook pulls out of the wood while you're swinging! It's a huge headache, I know. I have two porch swings I've never hung -- for this reason. Good luck!

ANNIE COPPOCK said...

Not sure where the word "hold' came from in my previous comment. It should say "beam".

A said...

Well, technically, there are no studs under there. There are joists under there. They should be running perpendicular to the house on some regular interval, 16" or 24" on center.
Best bet is to remove a section of the soffit (not actually siding) and peek above it to see the structure, but unless you know exactly where you can pull some of it apart and how to get it back together that may be opening up a can of worms. You should be able to tap on the soffit material and discern where something solid is above it similar to tapping on drywall to feel and hear the difference where the studs are.

Holly said...

Buy a free-standing thing to attach it too...I'm lazy.

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