I have an existing deck off the back of my house.  It is not covered
or screened.  It does have a waist-high hand-rail all the way around. 
What I would like to do is buy a porch swing for the deck. No problem
there.  Since there is no "roof" there isn't anything to attach the
swing to.  I don't want a swing stand (A-frame) because I don't
personally find them very attractive.

So ultimately what I'm trying to find are a variety of plans that will
tell me how to build the porch swing into the deck.  For example,
cutting out a section of the hand-rail and building the support
structure to suspend the swing.

I did a search on "porch swing" +plans but never really found what I'm
looking for.

The ultimate plan would included a sketch of the final product, lumber
list with dimensions, hardware list, equipment list, and step-by-step
instructions.

Thanks!

---

Request for Question Clarification by cynthia-ga on 16 Jun 2003 13:19 PDT

Have you considered a glider?

~~Cynthia

---

Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 16 Jun 2003 13:30 PDT

As an option, have you considered getting building plans for an arbor
(wider than this one probably - but you get the idea) that would allow
you to attach a manufactured porch swing to?

http://store.yahoo.com/lib/plansnow/arbor.jpg

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

---

Clarification of Question by j_ro-ga on 16 Jun 2003 17:54 PDT

Cythnia - Thank you for you interest in researching my question.  I
had not considered the glider models but that would solve my problem. 
I guess I'm just old fashion but there's something very appealing
about real chains. :-)

tutuzdad - Thanks for your idea too!  I appreciate your interest as
well.  The arbor is a very creative suggestion.  I'm thinking though
that it might look strange on the deck, although I guess it might come
to that if the research comes up dry.

Thank you for giving me an opportunity to clarify my question.  If
what I'm looking for doesn't exist then I will entertain answers that
help me some of the more fundamental design elements.  For example,
how do you design a wooden structure from which you can suspend 100 to
400 pounds?    If the structure has an "arm" how long does it have to
be to provide clearance during the typcial swinging motion?  I don't
want it to collapse and I hope to have it look attractive when I'm
done.

Thanks.

Hi j_ro, we love swings with chains also. I designed and built a swing
using cedar 1X4's and 2X4's and it turned out great. My son liked it
so much that I built one for him too. My son has a beam on his porch
and ours hangs from an "A" frame which I also built. The plans for the
swing are drawn in Microsoft Paint and if you want I would be happy to
share with another person who loves chain swings. Sorry, but I don't
have any plans for a cantilevered support like you want.

Redhoss

Redhoss,

Thanks for your reply!  I appreciate your generous offer and would
love to see your plans.  Perhaps it will spark a creative solution. 
:-)  I'm still holding out hope that someone has plans for a
cantilevered swing. ;-)

j_ro

Now the problem of how to share the files with you. There is one 12kb
.jpg, and two 100kb .bmp files. I tried to put them on one of the free
online fileshare sites and my dialup connection causes the service to
timeout. Is it possible that I can e-mail them to you. Can you receive
attachments.

Redhoss

Hey redhoss,

C'mon over to the researcher forum (see your researcher newsletter)
and your file sharing problem may be solved.

:-) K~

Yes! You HAVE to have a real swing. There's nothing like it!

Couple of ideas while you're waiting for redhoss...

These based on tutuzdad's idea -- 
http://www.bridgestreetinncambria.com/swing.jpg
http://www.jandon.com/images/products/by-design/estate/estate-swing.jpg
http://www.bucknur.com/images/furniture/swing_seat.jpg
http://www.innpark.com/RoomPics/Patio.jpg

Amish style
http://www.uniquelyamish.com/images/21.jpg

Something different! (I really like this one!) 
http://www.ragoarts.com/onlinecats/10M0/303.jpg

Good luck with your project!

-K~

redhoss: Sorry about the bandwidth issue.  Can we try
knowledge_seeker's suggestion first?  I guess I'd rather not publish
my e-mail address if I can help it.  Looking forward to seeing your
swing plans.

knowledge_seeker:  Thanks for the great pic links.  I think I would be
more open to this design if I was putting it in the yard.  On my deck
though, I think it will eat up too much real estate.  Although, what I
can take from these designs, is some of the decorative elements that
will dress up my swing.  Thanks for taking the time to run those down!

Hi again J_ro,

Yes, I figured the real estate issue would be a problem. You hate to
take up the whole deck with a swing structure.

I hope that redhoss comes back and sees my comment. Since we are all
independent contractors, I have no way to contact him/her directly. As
far as emailing the plans, it is against Google Answers TOS for either
you or redhoss to post an email address here (even a temproary one),
so please don't do that.

Meanwhile, if I see anything else in my travels, I'll let you know --

-K~

Thank you to everyone that commented on this question.  This was my
first attempt at using Google Answers, and I was pleased with the
community of researchers and frequent users here.

I've been studying my deck design and sketching out some of my own
plans.  I bought a book on general deck building skills and hardware
etc.  I also have been looking at arbor plans.  I think I have the
confidence to make a pretty decent go at the cantilever swing.  I am
pretty confident that I can tie the vertical supports into deck
footing/support structure for added stability.

Thanks everyone.  I'm going to close my question now.  

j_ro