Building A Climbing Wall In Your Backyard

Hex Insert Bit Set – $12 – Both a 7/32” and a 5/16” will be needed to screw in your bolts. I couldn’t find these specific sizes at Home Depot, but Escape Climbing has them here. EVA Foam Tiles – 3/4” Thick, 96 Square Feet – $100 – These should NOT be used as a substitute of any of the above options.

With chilly temps from coast to coast to coast in the forecast, this might be the perfect time for you to build your dream backyard ice tower. Northwestern Ontario’s Eagle Canyon once farmed 30-metre ice climbs in a canyon north of Thunder Bay. Downtown Banff had a reappearing wall on Main Street where new climbers could experience steep ice. It was built by MEC and an event called the Knucklebasher that used to take place every winter. If you want your wall to push you to develop your climbing, you’ll want some routes that are challenging, but not frustratingly difficult at your current skill level.

Gather Your Materials

All materials, unless otherwise noted, were taken from the Internet and are assumed to be in the public domain. Dead Tree Climbing- Yep, the dude has bolted holds onto a dead tree in his back yard. Protect your playhouse from the weather with a beautiful roof.

Here is a quick guide to different types of fasteners, but when in doubt ask for help from carpentry savvy friends or hardware store professionals. Both lumber and plywood are typically available in standard sizes. You can use these dimensions as the basis for your wall design to simplify building.

How To Build A Diy Climbing Rock Wall In Your Backyard

They are drawn to scale — the front face is 12′ wide and 12′ high. I picked this height after a visit to Lowe’s that revealed that the largest post they had was a 16′ 6″x6″. In this initial Sketchup model of the final design, I focused on trying to capture the scale, angle, and position of the climbing panels. The face on the left side will be paneled as well, and there are two tiers of floor on the back for the fort. Some of the railings and minor supports are not shown.

Most larger YMCA’s or other community recreation centers will have one these days. Ask what they like to train on and what brands of holds are used locally. I called and spoke directly to the owner who asked what set of holds I wanted and told me to call back the next day to make sure they were ready to go.

Then find a group of friends who want to train with you on your sweet new wall. The boxes are removable too, to make plant care a snap. This isn’t just a simple retaining wall, but instead a raised garden bed with a back wall made of pressure-treated lumber. Concrete retaining wall blocks line the front for a neat, nicely edged look. Long and low, with two circular flower beds in addition to the one running nearly the length of the porch it abuts, this retaining wall provides loads of planting space behind it. With just a couple days of labor, you can create serious curb appeal with this retaining wall that offers room for a raised flower garden.

Run them vertically and connect them to two base boards that are each approximately double the height of your walls. Then connect your two bases to your walls through four separate boards placed at forty-five-degree angles at each end of your base. You’ll want to make sure that your boards are securely connected and aren’t at risk of separating. I suggest you browse around there as well to get some inspiration for which climbing holds you want to choose.

You can decide all of this and more during the design stage. At this time, you’ll want to make detailed plans for your climbing wall. This will ensure that the building process goes smoothly down the road.

To make the build and assembly easy, we sized the wall at 8fx8f. This meant that we didn’t need to use saw as all the materials came at the right size. And the best part of this project plan – we were able to order all the materials online and got them delivered to our home. Here’s a handy wall angle calculator to help you make your decision. Remember your training goals and how you’ll be using your DIY rock climbing wall.

The winch that we own is rated for 2500lbs (over 1 ton!) and has a self braking mechanism that prevents the winch from spinning out of control, even if you let go of the handle. The last thing anyone needs is for a wall to collapse on them while someone is climbing. Here’s a link to the website that sells the hand winch that we used. As with all building projects, there are always hidden costs. Make sure your budget includes the cost of hardware, lumber, tools, equipment rentals etc. With these goals in mind, I learned a little bit about Google SketchUp and started to plan.

But it’s a small price to pay for imaginative & active kids. And I have to sweep right inside the door to the backyard constantly. It’s time for the last round of the Room by Room Summer series. I hope you have had as much fun visiting everyone’s homes as I have. It is true that you need to have a good amount of woodworking skills for this project.

Instead of using door hinges, to make adjustable walls, we used fence hinges that were rated to hold 300 lbs each. 3) Create a timeline for your build and know you’ll probably take longer. Climbing wall frame – to make the wall sturdy we built the frame from 2x4s. Remember that holds tend to loosen after some time, especially with temperature or humidity changes. Shan testing out the new circuit she set with the seafoam holds, which are the 20 Pack Start Kit by So iLL.

However, one benefit of screw-ons is they require a little less pre-planning since they can be screwed onto the wall essentially anywhere. You’ll need to plan how holds will be added to your wall. Many brands such as Metolius, eGrips, and SoIll sell climbing holds as kits. When designing your wall, include hardware in your plans.

We were able to turn a corner of our patio into the perfect wooden playhouse for our kids this summer. Even though we do not have a large yard, the outdoor playhouse is full of fun. If you want to build your own bouldering wall and you’re having some problems with where to start or what should be included in the process, then this guide is perfect for you. Keep reading so that you’ll know everything there is to know about building the perfect bouldering wall. Most people don’t think of them for a backyard because of the work that goes into making it, but once you’ve got your wall built, it’s hard to imagine not having it. You get all the benefits of climbing without all of the dangerous equipment or steep fees that you’d find at a gym.