UKC

For a while now I’ve been pondering the idea to build a home climbing wall, freestanding to go in the back garden.

Having recently broken my ankle in a climbing accident I’ve figured now is the best time to get working on it as I have a fair few weeks at home and off work ahead.

Can anybody point me toward resources and plans for building one? Also if anybody has one of their own I’d be keen to see photos or plans and hear any information regarding their own home builds for inspiration.

Thanks all! 😊

youtube.com/watch?v=0Ht5PUiWlOs&

There's a ton of videos on youtube about building bouldering walls.

One thing I would do differently if I'd do it all over again is get T-nuts with support screws or just put support screws next to the T-nuts yourself to prevent the T-nuts from spinning.

And screw on holds are just as good as bolt-ons in my opinion.

If you haven’t already got one, you might get the most bangs per buck by putting up a fingerboard over a doorway? Look on the broken ankle as an opportunity, and put a training plan together. Building an outside wall at the moment will be pretty unpleasant, as will using it. A fingerboard is immediate, and being warm and dry is a good incentive to use it.

I built a dead simple one over lockdown.

The frame was (meant to be, got the wrong stuff delivered and decided to forge ahead anyway) 4 2x4s going vertically, and 3 horizontal supports, one at the top and bottom, and another across the middle. I covered that in two 2440 x 1220 sheets of ply (A full size moonboard is roughly 3660 x 2440, I build the frame that big but having stood it up I wasn't keen on risking falling off onto the shed roof!), I got cheap stuff and varnished, but marine ply would be better as some bits started bubbling even though I siliconed all edges liberally. Getting the half size sheets would have been easier to work with. 

The legs were just two more 2x4s coach bolted (M12ish) onto the outside of the frame about 2/3rds of the way up. I drilled holes near the bottom of the legs and put a ratchet strap through each side to pull it upright. As it was on grass it sunk a bit and was rock solid. The back legs were against bricks I buried and packed out with some building sand. That gave me a wall that felt happy between 25 and 40 degrees. You could tighten the nuts from the outside once built to lock the legs in place.

I covered the back with a plastic sheet tacked down with roof felt tacks, and then put thin wood battens over them to lock it in place as we had a wind tunnel for a garden. 

It was solid enough to get loaded into a van and delivered to its new owner in Bristol when we moved!

I'd t-nut it next time. I struggled to find bigger holds that were screw on only, and it really limited my options. Obviously you can use big screws with washers but that never inspired much confidence.

Have you considered the possibility of scaffold poles and kee-klamps for the support structure?  Bomber, forgiving of mistakes, rot-proof, more or less infinitely adjustable, and easily dismantled. 

But not, perhaps, beautiful.