Our house has a rather large space above the garage that my wife, Melissa, and I immediately recognized as the perfect place to build a climbing wall. Before Melissa and I started the project we visualized how simply and easily we’d erect the woodie in the attic. “Get some plywood up there, sheet it, and Wa-Laa — Climb on!” Yeah, easy right … we started getting materials in November of 2006 and here it is May 2007, and we’ve finally finished the major construction! Now, we only have small cars incapable of moving plywood, so that was a hurdle in itself, organizing someone to transport the materials — Thanks Kyle!
The plan.
The reasons for having a woodie are infinite: climb/train when ever times available, maybe the local crag is seeping beyond blow-torching the holds dry, or it's 110 degrees, a difficult schedule can make it hard to find time to climb ...
A woodie in the attic can make your dreams come true!
Materials we used to build our woodie:
• 12 sheets of 3/8”OSB for flooring • 16 sheets of 3/4” plywood • 14 2”x8”x10’ boards for the 75º wall • 20 2”x4”’ studs (mostly for the sub-floor construction) • one 2”x10”x16’ board for the hand crack • three 2”x12”x10’ boards for the system tiles • 800 T-nuts • 100’s of screws (3” and 2”) • 8 tubes of liquid nails • 1 gallon of drywall mud • 2 gallons of white paint • Lots of holds!
Chattanooga local Corrie Eldred cranking out a hard problem.
The space in our attic is roughly 10ft tall, with a floor space of about 16’ x 16’. Translation = it would take 8 4’x8’ sheets of plywood to cover the 50º wall, about 6 sheets to cover the 75º wall, and a 12” x 16’ strip to cover a horizontal roof section. Because it’s attic, there’s already, in place joist boards, to sheet plywood directly on to, and there’s no wasted space on the sides you would normally get with rectilinearly shaped garage wall.
Over the years, I‘ve created 6 walls to hang my grips (holds) on, and been involved with a number of others. With each new wall, I learn a few things about crafting a better woodie since the first in my folk’s basement, although I haven’t gotten any faster at building them... This would be lucky 7. The first wall was a horrendous nightmare creation of vertical wall panels and mini-dihedrals covered in painful, bolted on basalt chunks, mono and two finger pockets. Back then, 1991, I just didn’t know any better, for lack of a good gym anywhere near, but I still had some fun, and somehow managed to avoid getting hurt on it, or worse, someone else.
The henious process of moving sheets through the crawl-space in to the attic.
Usually I like a design for the wall to include two main varieties or angles. One, just slightly over-hanging, (i.e. for smaller holds, slopers, hanging on longer, warming up) and a second, that is steeper (i.e. for power, upper-body, and working core strength). The steeper portion will probably include a 45º(or comparable) section, and possibly a barrel or box type feature, something that will allow you to pull a small lip, (i.e. really steep on the bottom to a break with a less steep panel on top.
Adding features to the wall can add bonus moves, however it can complicate the design because it often disrupts the flow. These disruptions can be avoided if you can construct complexly measured and cut diagonal panels. And, if done well, you can create some wonderful angles and shapes with a little liquid nails and an angle grinder to smooth things out. The biggest drawback to the free-form construction method, while being way more time consuming, and material eating, it also would eliminate the reuse of your expensive 3⁄4” plywood should you ever decide to relocate your woody.
"Do we really need to sheet it?" Nathaniel tests out the arm-bar.
"Do we really need to sheet it?" Nathaniel tests out the arm-bar.
Arêtes and other complicated features can be novel to climb on a few times but for training purposes they tend to lock you into the same set of moves, restrict crossways movement, allowing for stems, rests and head-butts … and it’s probably best to avoid them unless you have loads of space. The K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid) rule usually reigns supreme in so many cases.
I drew up a small plan for this wall, after we’d finally gotten the floor installed to carefully examine the different possibilities of building a barrel/box feature next to the 50º space. Having a 16’ x 16’ 50º wall seemed like too much wall at that angle, so why not mix it up? Having the large feature had some negative drawbacks though. It would close the space in a bit, restricting movement for more than several boulderers, and leave us with a big, gross, dihedral panel.
Eventually after much deliberation, and beer, we decided that it would best to keep it flush and add “volumes” to the wall, which would allow us to continually change the flow, and add any feature wanted to build. Volumes are individual features built from the same plywood and framing materials you used to build your wall. Volumes can be constructed in any shape like a hanging tufa, a pyramid, a box, any size, spun in any direction, holding dozens of holds — the options are endless. We decided adding volumes later would let us get climbing ASAP and give the most flexibility to our wall.
"Ummm ... Refreshing!"
Unfortunately there were a few complications that would make the job a little more work. The first problem? No floor, just a big header-beam running down the middle of the room that rose above the floor joists about 10 inches. Normally, you’d just sheet out the floor and call it good. But with exposed electrical wiring and that big beam in the middle it was decided that the safest option was to build a 10” high sub floor which would keep climbers from falling on the back-breaking garage beam.
So, finally it began, one dark and wintery evening in November. I enlisted some of my taller climber friends to help construct the first phase of the woodies sub floor. The biggest challenge was lifting the sheets through a 4’ x 2’ crawlspace from the garage to the attic. We accomplished this by unhooking one of the struts from the fold-up ladder and passed the sheets up at an angle one by one with two people pushing the sheet up and two people lifting it through the opening.
The system was working perfectly until someone (whose name shall be omitted from this report) slipped and busted through the ceiling into the garage, narrowly missing our Subaru WRX. Luckily he survived the episode unharmed and we continued the moving project after we patched up the ceiling with a little duct tape. Not having a floor up there made it quite dangerous, so everything needed to be done extra slow and cautious like until we had a place to walk around.
Before finishing the sheeting we decided to add some crack features, just to do something different, and provide a bit more variety to our indoor experience. On the 40º degree wall we found a long 2”x10”x16’ that was used as a form from someone’s driveway in our subdivision. It has a crusty edge coated with concrete texture, perfect for jamming. Spacer blocks made from 2’x4’ and OSB plywood scraps placed about 2’ to 3’ feet apart provided a secure place to screw on the long board against the joists. Make sure to check the spacers carefully or you might end up with a crack that’s to thin or wide to have any fun jamming on. The size we made is perfect hands for most guys. Super man-hands or petites will probably get mauled.
The finished handcrack. NOTE: The light brown goo is extra layers of Liquid Nails to make better jams.
The finished handcrack. NOTE: The light brown goo is extra layers of Liquid Nails to make better jams.
The cracks are almost done.
Cracks
On the opposite side, the 75º wall we made a short knuckles section going to a couple hand jams using the same blocking method as the other wall. After all the plywood was in place on the wall I began the long messy process of coating the crack grips with layer after layer of drywall mud and liquid nails. These materials are sandable and you can even produce crimps and footholds. The key is to build up a base, that’s not too thick, with the drywall mud, then coat and seal it all together with the liquid nails. At the bottom of the crack pods I built up thick layers of liquid nails to make some juicy locks. Inside the cracks I made smooth bumps and ridges to make it a bit easier to get locks. Without any kind of texture in the crack it was way too difficult for me. Cardboard strips for smearing the goo and disposable gloves can help keep fingers clean.
Plywood for climbing walls is expensive stuff. I found 3⁄4” for about $20 per sheet. It is possible to use the less thick plywood, but it flexes and having a t-nut pull could get nasty. Usually I pre-drill all of the plywood sheets in a random style just trying to get some kind even distribution of holes.
For this wall I decided to employ the grid method, which consists of drilling a hole every 8”. To do this start 4” from every edge and then drill a 7/16” hole every 8”. This method will keep you from hitting any joists and gives you a very well covered sheet. Make sure you drill your holes with a 7/16” drill bit or the t-nuts will be a little loose. Another good trick is to drill a bunch of sheets at once. We had pretty good results drilling three at a time. A chalk line will help grid the sheets up quickly.
The sheeting is almost done.
Keep in mind that replacing t-nuts from the backside of the wall is sometimes impossible, or difficult, so it’s best to make sure they fit well and are pounded thoroughly. If you are really concerned about having perfect t-nuts you can take a hold and pre-press them to make sure t-nut is perfectly embedded.
All that was needed now was a little trimming on each sheet, so that we could line it up with the 16” spaced joist boards. And we put up the first panels. Sheeting the wall is very satisfying because it’s instantly transforms the wall.
Painting the wall isn’t really necessary but it can make the wall look a little nicer and can improve the lighting situation if you use a light color. I applied one coat of the cheapest white I could find at the local paint store. Since I had concealed most of my corners and seems the paint gave the surface an immaculate appearance — perfect for boot rubber, pencil, chalk, and marker drawings, stickers, and other fun stuff.
Ummm, it's beautiful what a little white paint can do ...
A systems wall can be a wonderful tool if well done well. It's like a campus board where you can use your feet, or a "Bachar Ladder" that doesn't swing. We decided that we would dedicate a space for two rows of tiles up both walls and the roof. This would allow us to go up one wall and down the other. To build our tiles we found some cheap big boards and cut them into squares. Next we cut some 4” squares out of ¾” plywood to act as spacers.
Next was to bevel a 45º edge onto all sides, the more edge you can give it, the better. If you don’t do this you will end up with the worst blisters you’ve ever had!
Next, sand them until perfectly smooth. You are going to run an infinite number of laps on these tiles so the smoother they are the happier your skin will be. Any cracks in the wood can be filled with drywall mud/liquid nails combo mentioned in the crack section.
Once you’re satisfied with the edge and texture of your tiles pre drill 4 holes into each tile. After you’ve put so much work into these it would be devastating to split one, so the pre-drilling should eliminate this worry. You will be putting an insane amount of force on these tiles so it’s very important that they are strong and well anchored.
Now put em up! If you preset all the screws it will make the next task faster. A chalk line will help keep them inline. The distribution/spacing is up to, how much space you have, how many tiles you made … we ended with 31 tiles which was perfect for our space but this only left us with one in the roof… There are so many fun exercises you can do with system tiles, tops, sides, underclings, cross feet, rose moves, skip one, dyno, skip two…. As well as campusing on them.
There are lots of philosophies on how to set the wall; the best rules I’ve found over the years are these:
Jibs (little screw on footers) are important! Be careful not to break them over-screwing. Buy several sets and cover your wall in them. These are an important part of your training experience. These will teach and demand the best from your footwork. When key jibs are worn out you can rotate them to make them harder, or provide more texture.
The biggest sized holds should be placed higher up on the wall so that you avoid bonking body parts on them and to avoid excessive foothold use/ rubber scuffing. Don’t ruin that wonderful set of jugs by using them low down on the wall, that goes for sensitive hold like slopers. For longevity these should usually be set up high feet can never touch them.
Carefully select the footers on your wall. Try to find the smallest hold that you can still use.
To get the most from your bouldering sessions keep the feet small through the bottom 3-4 feet of your wall. It makes you focus and forces you to high step.
To get the most from your bouldering sessions keep the feet small through the bottom 3-4 feet of your wall. It makes you focus and forces you to high step.
Even distribution will make for the best usage of your wall. Set a somewhat random distribution of large holds throughout the wall, then medium sized holds, then pockets, then small, and so on… A good way to think about this is be able to reach from the hold you just placed to the next one. Keep moving around the wall as you do this. Then when it comes to finding problems through the wall there should be a great variety that makes sense.
A Hammer-drill or drill press are perfect tools for making handholds. Select anything with a flat back that has the size and texture you like. The hardest part is not breaking the rock while drilling it.
Your local hardware store has the 3/8" bolts and washers to complete the job.
This is a nice piece of t wall sandstone with screw holes instead of bolt holes. we added a bit of liquid nails to the back to help keep it flat.
Here's an animation with a trapdoor I installed to keep people from falling into the garage.
Trap Door
This simple trap door feature I should have installed long ago... Anyway, but finally got around to in in January, 2008. Now I can take my 20-month-old son up there without being so worried.
we called the hard plywood edge the "edge monster" becasue everytime your foot slipped off a hold it left a nasty mark on the back of your calf. we finally fixed this in January 08 with the help from some foam padding.
we called the hard plywood edge the "edge monster" becasue everytime your foot slipped off a hold it left a nasty mark on the back of your calf. we finally fixed this in January 08 with the help from some foam padding.
the little bits of cycle innertube keep the screws from going through the foam pad.
Finally I found a bunch of carpet padding, two to three layers over the whole floor, and dontated a nice futon and some extra crash pads up in the attic to help the back slap factor. The eventually added a bit of carpet to keep all the carpet padding in place.
Nathaniel Walker has made lots of holds for the wall over the last few months and his recent efforts have involved hardwoods. They are very slick but go easy on the skin. These hardwood holds are obviously very cheap to make if you have a wood shop.
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