Sheeting

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. 

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.