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JAG75
Feb 9, 2012, 7:12 PM
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Registered: Feb 9, 2012
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Hello,
First a little background....Aprox 10 years ago I used to do a fair bit of indoor climbing with friends but then life happened....got married...had a couple of kids and climbing faded off into the background.
Well fast forward to today, I have 2 very active kids (boy 7 & girl 5) they climb on everything and anything. Both kids have shown a bit of interest in climbing on a kids traverse wall at a local play area and I am looking at building a simple wall in the basment playroom in an effort to direct their energy in to something.
I have been scouring this and other sites looking at pictures of various set ups. There is a ton of great walls out there thats for sure. I have searched and read hundreds of posts and seen many incredible walls....and some not so incredible :D
with the area that I have to work with it looks like an 8'x8' wall will be the footprint I will target
I am thinking that if I am going to the effort of building something I might as well build it so that I can get some use out of it as well.
The design features I have kind of settled on are:
1) make the angle adjustable so that I can be challenged as well as the kids. And so it can fold back against the wall and not take up the entire play area.
2) 12" kick plate with an aprox 7' section that will hinge out.
A few of the optional ideas/thoughts are
Possibly make the sides aprox 18" so that when the wall folds right down you can have some storage behind it.
Add interest with removable volumes OR make the wall with built in features angles etc..
The big question I have is with regards to adding varying angles to the wall. From what I have read it appears that having a flat surface is more useful in the long run then adding fixed features. I am really leaning hard towards just making the wall and as required building bolton volumes.
Can I get some opinion/comments on this or any of my other design ideas.
Thanks
JG
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JAG75
Feb 9, 2012, 9:14 PM
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Thanks!!!
Definetely a good article.....it was the first one i printed off :)
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sungam
Feb 10, 2012, 1:31 AM
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Registered: Jun 24, 2004
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Sounds like a pretty good setup. I might be thinking about the storage thing wrong, but seems like the storage might suck since bolts/screws will be sticking out of the back of the board?
Also curious about the landing. You just gunna get a big pad or custom cut some foam or what?
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dharmanos
Feb 10, 2012, 3:13 AM
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Registered: Jul 19, 2011
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I'm thinking of building one that will be free standing. This way we can use it indoors in the winter and then move it outdoors for the warmer months.
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JAG75
Feb 14, 2012, 4:16 PM
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Curious what your plns are to make the wall free standing...
As far as storeage behind the wall my initial thought was to have the wall its self made out of 2x4 & 3/4 inch plywood. That makes for a total thickness of the wall portion 4-1/4" (3 1/2" + 3/4") If I then made a heavy duty shelf that was aprox 12" - 14" deep the front wall portion could act as a fold down door. This may be a totaly rediculous Idea though...
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lucky
Feb 14, 2012, 6:20 PM
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Registered: Nov 9, 2003
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I think that 7 feet is way too short for you to enjoy it at all. Check the pictures on my profile to see mine. My walls are about 10 feet high which gives between 12 and 14 feet of length, depending on the angle. Even with this length it takes creative setting to make anything more than 7 moves to the top. I would consider somehow making the wall longer.
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climb4free
Feb 15, 2012, 4:58 AM
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lucky wrote: I think that 7 feet is way too short for you to enjoy it at all. Check the pictures on my profile to see mine. My walls are about 10 feet high which gives between 12 and 14 feet of length, depending on the angle. Even with this length it takes creative setting to make anything more than 7 moves to the top. I would consider somehow making the wall longer.
I agree, I have 9 feet 4 inch vertical gain and wish there was more. I have a good amount of traversable distance, but height is golden.
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ax
Feb 15, 2012, 1:25 PM
Post #9 of 12
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Registered: Aug 24, 2001
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I've had several walls in my living room in the past. My favorite was a simple flat 12' x 8' high easily adjustable wall. I got more out of that one by far.
Other than that, with such limited space... an even smaller 4' x 8' system training wall served me even better.
Now I get to climb at work everyday! 
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JAG75
Feb 15, 2012, 9:32 PM
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Registered: Feb 9, 2012
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Well keeping in mind that this will be used 80-90% of the time by my kids and thier friends I think that the dimensions are workable.
I have kind of scrapped the shelf behind idea as I doubt it will be workable.
I would be interested in feedback from anyone that has used a hand crank winch to raise and lower an adjustable wall.
A key factor in this whole setup is making it astheticaly appealing so my better half approves. :)
Currently the ceiling and walls are all open as the basement is not yet finished but this may change in the near future. My initial task will be to re-enforce the roof joist area with plenty of backing so that once the drywall is up I will have something solid to attach to.
Since I am still in the brainstorming phase I came up with an idea to add in a removable section that would attach to the wall when lowered to a steeper angle that would fill in the space between the wall and the roof (see attachment)
Not sure yet exactly how the removable section would attach/detach
(This post was edited by JAG75 on Feb 15, 2012, 9:37 PM)
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woodie1.jpg
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rhonius
Feb 16, 2012, 3:30 AM
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Registered: Sep 20, 2003
Posts: 136
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I have built a couple walls with adjustable panels. I usually don't have the "removable" part on top since it is a pain and just have the route end at the top. Here is a link to the most recent wall I built. The wall is free standing inside a garage general dimensions are 11X11X10. Let me know if you have any question about construction and Ill try and help you out.
https://picasaweb.google.com/...bingWallConstruction
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dindolino32
Feb 20, 2012, 2:20 AM
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Registered: May 3, 2008
Posts: 155
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I think that you should first ensure that the kids are completely hooked and take them to a climbing gym. I find that my woodie is more of a training aid than anything. My wall is a 12" kicker with a 4x8 45 degree wall with 2 angled 2x8 pieces that make a "U" shape so that it is a steep arete shaped wall. I then bolted a 4x8 sheet to the ceiling and the angles are stout. I find my routes are pretty good and challenging, however I don't go to the gym any less. I just climb harder when I am there. The problem is that it is easy to get sucked into other things at home and I could definitely see kids using it a couple of weeks and then go out to skateboard or something else. I think the first thing should get them hooked so they have goals to attain.
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