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hibby11
Nov 19, 2004, 5:03 AM
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I've been interested for a while in making a climbing wall in a room in my house. We've got an open room and its being used for nothing so i figured what better way to utilize it than to make the whole room a bunch of problems. I'm just looking into it and am wondering how much this whole thing would cost me. The room approximately 20'by 15' and ceilings about 12 ft. Any ideas or advice on how to maximize this space.
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adoubleyou
Nov 19, 2004, 10:50 AM
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I can't help you on the cost factor, but if you're looking for ideas, check out my recent post of the boulder room I go to. I totally love it!!
Incredible private climbing shed
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tradnomad
Nov 19, 2004, 1:29 PM
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For good info on cost and materials required check out the Home Gym Database thread.
And for some more design ideas here's some photos of the wall I just built.
TN
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lnmego
Nov 19, 2004, 10:00 PM
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Bear in mind that ACX plywood is much more expensive than it was 1-2 years ago--think double or more. That is something that caught me off guard. Call around to get a good price.
You also need to figure out the square footage of wall space if you want an esitmate. Are you going to do all four walls? THe ceiling?
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hibby11
Nov 21, 2004, 10:09 PM
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Not quite sure i'm definitely doing all four walls and am considering the ceiling. I'd love to do the ceilng also thats for sure
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lang22
Nov 25, 2004, 6:53 PM
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hey hibby, i choose to build a wall in my basement after only climbing for a few months. i did it completely by myself, except for a friend helping me hold up some plywood while i secured it. my advice, it sounds kinda lame. in order to best figure out how to best utilize your space, get some cardboard, and make a little scale model of your basement. it recommends this on the metolius website and it did help me. my actual wall ended up looking exactly the same right down to the angles. my wall is 2 sections, one 8 feet by 9 feet, with 2 different angles, and 1 section just 4 feet by 8 feet(one sheet of plywood, stood up) on a less steep overhang. i lost a week of sleep trying to figure out the connector wall between the two sections, and i figured out a compromise of a solution. i'll post some pics later.
if i had a space as big as yours, i'd go nuts with angles and features. it would take a lot longer to plan, but the result would be amazing. the cost is another thing i wasn't completely prepared for.
the plywood, 4 sheet of ACX?, cost me about $160 canadian at home depot. couple hundred t-nuts from mec cost me 50 bucks. wood for the frame cost me around 160 bucks, maybe more. i had to rent a half-inch drill for the 4" screws to secure the frame to the wall studs and ceiling joists, another 30 bucks. i bought a starter pack of metolius holds from mec for about 150 bucks, and another $170 worth of holds from nice industries in victoria (absolutely wicked holds, btw, and great guys to deal with). it's a lot of money and effort but it's worth it! i can't walk by without climbing a problem or two!
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johnson6102002
Nov 26, 2004, 2:07 AM
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Registered: Aug 23, 2004
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In reply to: hey hibby, i choose to build a wall in my basement after only climbing for a few months. i did it completely by myself, except for a friend helping me hold up some plywood while i secured it. my advice, it sounds kinda lame. in order to best figure out how to best utilize your space, get some cardboard, and make a little scale model of your basement. it recommends this on the metolius website and it did help me. my actual wall ended up looking exactly the same right down to the angles. my wall is 2 sections, one 8 feet by 9 feet, with 2 different angles, and 1 section just 4 feet by 8 feet(one sheet of plywood, stood up) on a less steep overhang. i lost a week of sleep trying to figure out the connector wall between the two sections, and i figured out a compromise of a solution. i'll post some pics later. if i had a space as big as yours, i'd go nuts with angles and features. it would take a lot longer to plan, but the result would be amazing. the cost is another thing i wasn't completely prepared for. the plywood, 4 sheet of ACX?, cost me about $160 canadian at home depot. couple hundred t-nuts from mec cost me 50 bucks. wood for the frame cost me around 160 bucks, maybe more. i had to rent a half-inch drill for the 4" screws to secure the frame to the wall studs and ceiling joists, another 30 bucks. i bought a starter pack of metolius holds from mec for about 150 bucks, and another $170 worth of holds from nice industries in victoria (absolutely wicked holds, btw, and great guys to deal with). it's a lot of money and effort but it's worth it! i can't walk by without climbing a problem or two!
this is pretty good deffinitly make teh scale model out of cardboard adn measure like a million times otherwise you will waste alot of wood equaling alot of wasted money. wood is very expensive but make sure you put in a lot of angles and make little vertical sections. use ceilling space it is alot of fun
it is going to deffinitly cost you a bundle min ewas over 2000 dollars in total.
good luck and dont forget to post up pciks of the project
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dlintz
Nov 26, 2004, 3:53 AM
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In reply to: Bear in mind that ACX plywood is much more expensive than it was 1-2 years ago--think double or more. That is something that caught me off guard. Call around to get a good price. You also need to figure out the square footage of wall space if you want an esitmate. Are you going to do all four walls? THe ceiling?
If your wall will be inside (not exposed to elements) consider using BCX instead. It will have a few more knots and imperfections but will be much cheaper and adequate for your needs.
d.
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okie_redneck
Nov 26, 2004, 7:37 AM
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http://www.rockclimbing.com/...p.cgi?Detailed=34478
My wall is 17'x18' built in my stairway. I used MDF rather than plywood. It's $18 a sheet. It's heavy, but strong as hell. Just don't use it outside. Buy your T-nuts from atomicholds.com. They are cheaper than any other place I've found. It's also a good place to get started on holds. Just e-mail scott@atomicholds.com. Let him know you're building a wall, and he'll probably send you a hold or two for free. You'll want more at the rate he's charging. I like his holds as mich as the ones I paid twice as much for.
As others said, use graph paper to build a model. You should know what you're going to need before you start shopping. You'll be attaching to existing studs, so you can figure out exactly how many 2x4s you'll need before you even start. You can look it up, but a 1:10 ratio of sand to latex paint gives nice smearability. If you're patient enough, you can use tile adhesive as texture. Anyone who's ever tried to remove tile knows that it cures to be impossibly strong. It's the closest thing I've found to a gym texture. I'm doing my wall a bit at a time beause you can't smear on it for a month after you apply it (brittle).
If you can do math and follow a straight line with a saw, you should be fine. I built mine by myself by cutting the MDF sheets in half to make them more managable. I even put up the 20 degree overhang by myself.
Oh, some of you won't like my anchor. It's to keep me from decking or swinging into my doorknob.
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johnson6102002
Nov 26, 2004, 5:58 PM
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Registered: Aug 23, 2004
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okie_redneck MDF? umm i dont think thats such a great idea its a bunch of sawdust put together and if you are putting force on it at angles more than 20 degrees the chance of faliure is much greater than that of 3/4 inch plywood and mdf is preety heavy and makes a real mess when cutting it!
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okie_redneck
Nov 27, 2004, 3:50 AM
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I stand by the strength of MDF as long as it isn't exposed to the environment. A friend of mine who is a contractor and has built 2 commercial gyms thinks it's plenty strong. I talked everything through with him before buying my first 2x4.
I'll be using plywood for my roof only because of weight.
By the way, where do you get information that MDF is so much weaker than plywood? My work bench is made of MDF.
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lnmego
Nov 28, 2004, 1:54 AM
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Registered: May 18, 2004
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I have 5 sheets of MDF and one of plywood. All 3/4 inch. The plywood holds t-nuts better. The plywood ones tend not to spin, push out, or pull through as much. This is my first experience with MDF and it is with recycled wood from a previous wall. Your experiences may vary. If cost weren't a factor, I'd go plywood. If it were a $20 per sheet difference, I'd save the $100 and buy holds. I do have to be careful placing bolts so I don't push the holds through.
And the wood I have was from a home wall built originally by Pusher, so atleast at some time, they didn't think it was a bad idea. (or they were paid by the job and had no maintenance contract :D )
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