Heavy Duty Porch Swing

When I first saw my house, I fell in love with the front porch that runs along the entire front side. It's huge (about 8' x 35') and the perfect spot for a porch swing.

However, I'm a hair under 6'2 and I used to play rugby so I am most assuredly not petite or dainty. When I tried to find a nice swing to put up in my awesome porch I couldn't find any that were even remotely acceptable. They were all too small, too uncomfortable, too flimsy, and just generally not right.

So, I did some poking around the internets and found several designs that had elements that I liked. I made a shopping list and one trip to the hardware store later and I had a couple of hundred dollars worth of stain-grade lumber and various bits of chain and other hardware...

Step 1 Getting started.

This was probably the hardest part of the project. The basic criteria for the swing was that it should seat at least 3 average to large-sized adults and it should not feel flimsy.

Even though I had a general design in place, some details (like the angle between the back and the seat) were still TBD and since I didn't want to waste any of the not-so-cheap wood I bought, I did a lot of measuring and note taking. I wasn't concerned with specific dimensions as much as finding something comfortable so I looked around at various benches and seats. I

In the end the small bench you see in this photo actually contributed the angle for the back to the seat, the width came from another chair I found and the seating depth was based on the length of my own legs (that also determined its final hanging height which was noted by some of my shorter friends and family who feel a bit small on it)

Comments

[migomez]

Need a plan with all messures and parts

[nicholas8]

Nice work! How about making matching hanging end tables to hold beer or other refreshments?

[cbrsrceo]

Adding a heavy duty extension spring where the chains connect to the ceiling will provide some "give" when you sit down and while you are "swinging." This adds a lot of comfort.

[killerjackalope]

Oh nice instructable, you've given me a few ideas to help with the bench I recently repainted, it's a bit flimsy on it and both my brother and I tend to sit on it when we out for a smoke, we have to sit at the ends due to this. Nice job, it looks a lot better than most of the store bought ones too, in looks and sturdiness, also the design would adapt to a standing bench with a little effort.

[dragonvpm]

Thanks. I'm glad you got some ideas from it. This is probably one of my favorite projects so it's cool to know it might help you with your bench quandry. Your bench actually sounds a lot like an old church pew that came with my house. I ended up adding a middle support/leg to it along with a few bits of mending braces to make it structurally sound. I may put that up as a slideshow later.

[rcarlyle]

Hi Dragonvpm, great project! Do you have a parts list?

[Susancnw]

Lovely swing. My FIL built one very similar. I loved the fact that the seat on it came out further under my legs, closer to my knees. He also mounted it with ballbearings at the top...talk about an incredibly smooth ride...but I love the squeak of the chains.

[dragonvpm]

Thanks! Now I'm curious to see what your FIL did. I'm not quite picturing how he used the ball bearings. This one actually comes out to right behind my knees. It requires a bit of slouching from shorter people, but it's great if you're right around 6' tall ;) The porch swing hangers actually came with a grommet in the eyebolt so they're surprisingly squeak-free. They'll squeak a bit if you really load the swing down, but under normal loads they're nice and quiet. Originally, I was going to just use an eye bolt and chains, but when I saw those and noticed that they had a max load rating, I decided to to go with them and factor that into my calculations for the swing's capacity. So far so good :)

[Susancnw]

I wish I could get you a pick...my MIL sold the house about 5 or 6 years ago. I just asked my husband and he can't remember either...but it was lovely to sit on...pity that it couldn't be sat on very often due to all the crap that MIL had piled back there ;)

[noahh]

Cool! If I had more skill and more money, I would definitely build this. It would look better than that ugly bench that I have now.

[dragonvpm]

Aside from the back/seat supports in step 2 you don't really need much skill for this project. Some skill makes some of the work go a lot faster, but attention to detail and a little patience (especially for putting in the slats) will get you most of the way there. One of the things I liked about this design is that it didn't have any complicated curves or major woodworking challenges. I should also mention that I built the entire thing using a table saw, circular saw, a router and a couple of drills. I didn't use any fancy blades/bits or obscure tools. It really was an exercise in "measure twice, cut once" building and I did a lot of test fitting to get it exactly right. You can also make it for a good bit less money if you substitute regular, paint-grade lumber for the stain-grade hardwood stuff I used. Come to think of it, if you're willing to dig through the piles of cheaper lumber at the store, you could probably save even more. So yeah, it's not a terribly hard or expensive project if you make a few small changes to it.

[shooby]

This could be made with pine for about $60 US Your porch is awesome.

[dragonvpm]

Oh yeah, you can definitely make it for a lot less than I did. One nice thing about using hardwoods though is that the stock available in most stores is usually a lot better than that of pine. When I built this, I was short on cash so I seriously considered going the cheaper route, but I got frustrated trying to dig out enough straight, non-warped, and non-twisted pieces that didn't have ugly knots etc.. If someone was patient and willing to really dig through the stacks though I'm pretty sure they could find enough good pieces to build this (the 1x2s are the ones you really end up going through a lot of) Thanks for the porch compliment. Truth be told, that porch contributed heavily to my decision to buy the house in the first place. It is, hands down, my favorite porch ever, great for hanging out with friends or just sitting around having a drink in the evening.

[shooby]

Yeah def. I just designed and built a new type of bed, and used pine 1x2's for some of the frame, PITA bread to sort the wood. Also for some reason, home depot didn't carry pine 2x2's. No good.

[dragonvpm]

Yeah, in my experience, shopping for lumber is one of the most annoying parts of any building project, it really makes me wonder where some of the big boxes buy their wood. So are you putting up an instructable or slideshow of your new bed? I'm curious about what you came up with as I'm currently considering figuring out something new for myself.