Eldest daughter has been indoor climbing a few times and seems to be into it..

I wondered about getting some of the hand grips/holds and bolting them along our back wall so that she can practice low level stuff in the back garden.

It would be at a height where she could step off, but would look into getting a bouldering mat or similar.

Anybody got any home climbing walls?

Edit: would it be better to mount a wooden board the wall and then screw them to that, rather than mounting straight to brick wall

Not done it yet but planning similar on our garden wall. House itself is listed so looking at the surrounding wall.

Was just going to attach straight into the stone wall. Boulder mats for protection on top of grass mats under the grass itself. Just waiting for the 2 year old to develop some sort of self preservation!

I did it !
Massive thing hung on hinges like a gate so it can be flipped over and the other side used
Do they use it ?
Do they bollox 🙂

Bolt it onto ply.

And make it steeper than you think is necessary. No, really, otherwise it has no training benefit and gets boring pretty quickly. Even for kids. Use the shape of the holds to create the interest. Put twice as many holds on as you think is needed, and plenty of ridiculously small ones.

We built one going up into a tree house – about 10′ all in. They thought it was great when little, then we moved. 🙁

Do they use it ?
Do they bollox

This is because it is low level (less risk/apparent risk) and because unless you are into repetitive training, or can move holds lots, boring. It is the same reason why schools instal ‘trim trails’ at a cost of many £000’s, only to find a term later they are barely used.

Bit of marine ply – drill a grid of holes and use m10 t-nuts on the other side. Perhaps make it overhang very very slightly.

This means you can move the holds around really easily to make it harder/easier and basically keep her interested. Also means you don’t have to stud your brick wall with loads more holes.

Currently in the middle of one, great timing 🙂

My daughter is 7 but seems to be a natural so makes sense to have something for her to practice on at home. We have a local wall about 5mins drive away and she has 12mth membership so I don’t really need anything too extravagant. Basically plan something to practise specific moves that she maybe struggles with at the main wall at height to replicate them at home.

There are hundreds of threads elsewhere about home walls inside but not too much about outside ones. I found a diagram with the hole spacings etc and this is what I plan.

Side of garage wall has clear space to about 11ft
2 x 3/4″ marine 8×4 ply boards mounted to wall giving 8ft sq board. Mount that 1ft up so max height is 9ft and put a 1ft kickboard at the bottom for starts. 8ft sq section will be mounted on frame giving 10-15dg angle (Not sure yet how much).
I bought 50 holds and mounting hardware the other day for £93 delivered and plan to buy some more of them t nuts so I can basically move the holds anywhere I like.
I am having the boards and frame supplied FOC so I just need to buy the holds and fixings and then fit it which helps.

Am on the look out for old school crash mats but if I don’t get one before its finished then its going to have to be a bouldering mat from go outdoors (I think they are about £70)

My only advice would be not to underestimate the weight of 2 sheets of ply, fixings, holds and child, especially if overhanging on the outside of a garage wall.

A couple of old mattresses would probably do the trick for mats.

Hope you don’t mind the hijack on this. I am getting close to starting my build so if anyone wants to follow my build.

50 x holds purchased
3 x 8×4 3/4″ marine ply sheets ‘obtained’
Fittings for 50 holds purchased (More fittings required but not sure how many more until I have drilled the holes)

What I need to make/buy

1) The correct size drill bit for drilling holes for the M10 t-nuts
2) 12 x anchor bolts for the wooden frame I am getting made to anchor it to the wall (I do actually want to be able to remove it quite easily if needed)
3) Frame needs built (Joiner friend has offered to make it)
4) Some kind of paint finish for the wood. I think marine ply is fairly weather proof and the placing will limit the amount of rain it gets but I want something lasting. Any suggestions appreciated.

Will be downloading the holes guide tonight and make a start with the hundreds of holes I need to drill over the weekend.

Get some sandpaint on the boards,it makes a huge difference .

Sand Texture Mixture. Use a ratio of about 10 to 1 paint / sand by volume. Add or subtract a little as necessary to get the texture you want. Sand settles to the bottom of the paint very quickly. Each time you dip the roller in the bucket, twist and plunge the roller to re-mix the sand / paint so the texture will be even.

Linky

Is 3/4″ about right do you all think? Watching with interst as I’m planning this for Mini B – he’s mad for it, but our nearest indoor wall is a 60 mile round trip, nearest natural somewhat further 🙁

18mm ply is ideal. What’s that in old money?

Just had to measure 18mm against 3/4″. Must be the same thing. Its blooming heavy and will easily take any weight hung off it.

Will finish it in the sandpaint. Is it worth putting a coat of something on it to inprove waterproofing 1st?

Personally I’d just make sure the exposed top edge has a bit of flashband or similar on it to stop it being tempted to delaminate. If it’s decent marine ply then this will help. Mine was indoors though, so i’m no expert on that.

Built a climbing frame / fort with 2x 8x4ply sheets with holds for the 8 year old and an internal ladder for the 4 year old and a slide for both of them.
All built out of standard wood sizes (plus holds and plastic slide) and it will morph as they get older. Fireman’s pole has already been requested.
The two ply sheets are at 90 degrees so the 8 year old has to go round the outside of the corner while 3-4 feet up – just hard enough to test him. The upper deck and slide gives him a target.

Found this for the holes plan

http://www.elementclimbing.com/v/vspfiles/files/pdf/TNutPattern.pdf

If it’s a traversing wall, though, it may be possible to put in fewer t-nuts at the bottom and use screw-on footholds instead. If your kid gets better, then much smaller footholds will be the order of the day anyhow.

I built one last year up the whole height of our house. I used 18mm plywood screwed to the walls and used 100’s of T-nuts drilled and fixed from behind at 150mm centres similar to a commercial wall. I painted it with home-made paint comprised of industrial floor paint with sand added. I also added petzl bolt hangers at around 4ft spacing and a chain / screwgate topout so the kids can lead climb up it. My 4 year old daughter used it loads last summer and hopefully will start again now the weather is getting better. The holds we bought were in the shape of the alphabet and numbers 0-10 which we used to play games on helping her learn her numbers and letters.

Got 3 8×4 sheets marked out over the weekend. 70+ holes per sheet to drill…..

The frame is nearly made up (Thanks to a friend. Decided to make 3 separate frames which will be bolted to the wall and then offer the ply up to the frames.

Next job is to drill the holes. Anyone know what size bit I need for M10 t nuts??

I used a 10mm drill. The t-nuts wouldn’t push in but went in fine when tightened in with a bolt. And that way they won’t come out when you don’t have a hold attached to them.

I keep coming back to this thread for pictures.

WCA would have had this thing built, climbed and the X-Ray photos up by now! 😉

I was looking into one of those auto-belay devises to make a proper height climbing wall…at £2k per device, the lad can just fall out of the tree…

DrP

I was looking into one of those auto-belay devises to make a proper height climbing wall…at £2k per device, the lad can just fall out of the treelearn to manage risk for himself…

FTFY

Anyone know what size bit I need for M10 t nuts??

12mm at a push but ideally 13mm spade bit.
10mm won’t allow the body of the T-nut to pull into the hole you’ve drilled – think about it – there’s 1mm of steel all the way around the bolt. 10+1+1 = 12mm
Have built dozens of walls over the years and we always use a 13mm bit.
2lb lump to put them in from the rear and the tech-tip is from the front BEFORE use – have a buzz gun with a 13mm socket and a 10mm hex bolt with a repair washer to wind it up nice and tight.
Make sure though you are really really careful when you buy your holds/t-nuts as many manufacturers actually supply old school imperial thread bolts – especially where they need a long/shanked body/cap head.
Make sure you check otherwise you end up with a wall with lots of “M” and “I” marks next to the holes…..

Thanks hammy. Had done a bit of googling and came to the same conclusion. Seem to recommend a 13mm brad point bit.

Pics will be another week or so. Holes to drill this week. Frame will be ready this week. Unfortunately my weekend is full so it will be a project for the evenings.

I pulled 12mm outer diameter nuts into 10mm holes in hardwood ply no problem at all.

A drill tends to cut slightly bigger than its nominal size and wood is slightly plastic (as opposed to elastic)

I did look at my 13mm bit but it would have been a little large.

To be fair I doubt I could have hammered them in cleanly.

I used a 12mm bit, whacked them in from the back, then used a block of wood with an M10 bolt through it to pre-tighten them from the front (you MUST do this or your t-nuts might just pop out and spin helplessly behind your wall the first time you try to put a hold on).

Do it properly 😉

http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/pdf/How-to-Build-a-Home-Bouldering-Wall.pdf

Some say 12mm, some say 13mm. I say try a 1/2″

Still no pictures. I don’t know how to put them up.

In now have

Boards all marked out
13mm brad point drill bit
150 tnuts
50holds
3 x frames built
6 x 12mm steel threaded rods to go through the wall of my garage.
12 x steel plates
12 x nyloc bolts

Builder friend is coming over next week and it will be up. If someone shows me how to post up pics I will do so

If you’ve got a flickr or a photobucket account, you can upload them to there, then get a direct link you can post here.

You sound better organised than I was.

Latest update…..
Spent last night hammering the TNuts into the holes I have drilled. 140 of them 🙁 My wrist was knackered by the end of it.

I then rigged up on of the bolts to some washers and a block of wood and tightened all the tnuts up to ensure they were square and tight.

One more board to do then I will undercoat and then paint.

Just planning to use and outdoor undercoat plus a general (Cheap) household matt paint for the top coat. It will be quite nice to allow my daughter to draw on it if she wants then repaint every so often.

Any issues with this for painting? Climbing centre said it wasn’t worth putting sand in paint etc as any smearing done with the feet would be pointless on a sloping wall

Just had a flashback to building our climbing wall (commercial one in the midlands) – we had a nice pile of ply that needed T-nutting – all in all about 400 sheets of ply with 80 holes in each – took us 3 weeks solid to do – nearly drove us all mad

Personally I would sand paint any wall, makes it easier to smear and so more fun – we used Coo-Var with emulsion over it, works really well but it isnt cheap, although we were indoors so slightly diff kettle of fish

Getting really close with this now. Have a few pictures to show but I don’t have a flickr account (It asks me to make a yahoo email and I don’t want one). Think I may be able to do something on Youtube when I get 5 mins.

Anyhow, 2 frames are now fixed to the outside garage wall by way of threaded bolt though the entire wall (Including a double brick thickness section). I ran out of plates and nylock nuts so the 3rd frame will be fitted Tuesday evening. I can hang off each frame quite happily so using 3 of them should spread the load perfectly.

2 boards are now fully tnutted and I have nipped all 140 of them up using holds and bolts to ensure they are pulled straight and tight. Painted them both with outdoor undercoat (White) and once I get a couple of strong blokes to help me lift them into place I will screw them to the frame with decking screws. I can just about lift a board to move them around, no way will I be able to lift one 5-6ft off the ground.

After that it will just be a case of setting the holds of which I have a starter pack of 50 holds which should be ample for 8ftx8ft

Made this 2 years ago. He still uses it.

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8x4ft sheet grafted to the bedroom wall. I don’t think I would have got that past the wife tbh. Would be ace having it as the way to get to my daughters high bed 🙂

If anybody is in the Guildford area, Craggy Island (indoor climbing wall)have just thrown lots of fibre glass climbing wall sections into a skip. They’ve probably still got the ‘T’ nuts in them. A couple of sections bolted to some fence posts in the garden would make a great little climbing wall 😀

You are kidding me…. Someone is selling 4 of them panels on ebay at present for £100 each.

I am too far away to get them but I would have them in a heartbeat

Oh, our local wall gave lily a present last night for her new wall. A huge Core (brand) Love heart shaped hold. Cant wait to get this thing finished. I could have gotten a house built quicker