This old ask House
We want to install a porch swing, but I can’t locate the joists above the vinyl ceiling panels, even with a stud finder. Is there a way to find them without removing the panels?
—KEITH SVENDSEN, XENIA, OH
TOH GENERAL CONTRACTOR TOM SILVA: You can’t avoid removing some of the ceiling panels in order to install your swing. But they are easy to take down and put back up, thanks to their interlocking edges. The bigger challenge will be beefing up the ceiling structure to carry the weight of the swing and whoever is swinging on it.
Go to the place on the porch where you plan to hang the swing, and use a small flat bar or 5-in-1 tool to carefully pry apart the interlocking joint between two ceiling panels. Pull one panel down. That will reveal the nailheads holding the adjacent panel’s nailing fin to the strapping that runs perpendicular to the underside of the ceiling joists.
Remove each panel above the swing’s location by working the small flat bar under the fin and loosening the nailheads, then pull the nails out with a hammer claw or the flat bar, taking care not to tear the fins. There’s no need to remove the vinyl J-channels that hold the panel ends; just flex each panel to free it.
When the ceiling framing is exposed, determine the
