For a few years now I've been wanting an egg chair or hammock chair to relax and swing in and this spring I went ahead and ordered the Hammock Sky large Brazilian hammock chair in hot colors, swivel hook, and swing hanger. Once everything arrived I realized that it didn't come with a few extra items I'd need.
I took the swing hanger to Lowe's to see if they could help me figure out what would work best to help hang my hammock chair.
Additional Materials to Hang A Hammock Chair:
- Two 5/16 x 5"construction lags ($1.83 each) (I already knew I'd be screwing into wood joists, this may vary for your needs)
- A 4" spring snap link (carabiner) rated for 280 lbs ($3.88)
- 16" of chain link rated for 1900 lbs ($18.76)
For the chain, you'll want to measure from your ceiling to the floor and do some subtraction to see how long your length would need to be. For my 8' ceilings, minus the length from the carabiners and swivel hooks and the hammock itself, plus floor clearance, 16" was my length of choice.
Hanging the Hammock Chair
The first task in hanging the swing since I was going to put it up in the plaster ceiling was to locate the joists with a deep scan stud finder. I got some help with this because it feels safer having the opinion of someone with construction knowledge. The stud finder worked perfectly, and we pencil marked where I wanted it to hang, plus the direction the joist ran to aid in placing the second screw.
Once everything was marked, I used a drill bit that's slightly smaller than the 5/16 lags to make a pilot hole. Then I switched to a 6 point star drill bit (this may be a specialty item, my Dewalt drill bit set had one included) and screwed the lag in using the pilot hole. As it got about ¾ of the way in my drill didn't have enough torque to keep going so I manually twisted it, carefully to keep the screw from stripping, and got it all the way in except for the last turn. I then repeated the pilot hole and screwing in the lag process, giving the first screw a good final turn once the other lag was in.
Depending on your ceiling height and how high or low you want your swing to be will definitely depend on how you go about this next step. But I put the chain on the carabiner that came with the swing hanger and then used the instructions to attach the carabiner to the swing hanger on the ceiling. Pull downwards on the chain using your weight to make sure it doesn't move at all.
Next, go to the hammock and clip the swivel hook to the top loop of the hammock. This will take some muscling to get it through. Take your second carabiner and clip it to the other end of the swivel hook.
Now you can take the hammock-swivel-carabiner combination and use the carabiner to clip the hammock to the chain and any height. Have a seat and again use your weight to gently rock back and forth to make sure it's holding properly. Here's what the whole set up looks like from ceiling to chair.
Assuming it stays in the ceiling, enjoy relaxing and gently swinging!
It's incredibly comfortable and I've already fallen asleep in it rocking and woke up 45 minutes later still gently swaying. The swing hanger works amazingly. In fact, this is the second installation of this product. I have another under our carport. Hopefully this tutorial helps someone else get their up faster than I got mine up!
See other home projects I've tackled too!
