The Flooring

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. 

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.