Garage Climbing Wall

Step 5 Mount plywood & Make door

When mounting your plywood at least 2 people are required. The sheets weigh at least 20 poinds a piece and they are very awkward to hold. If the plywood has to be cut make sure that you measure 5 times and cut once. There's nothing worse than loosing $30 (and a lot of work drilling and hammering t-nuts) because you rushed and cut a piece too short. I had someone help me hold the plywood in position and put 2" deck screws in all four corners then a couple near the middle then my assistant could let go. The rule of thumb I utilized was 1 screw every 8 inches. Which is more than enough.

For the pieces that need to be cut to special shapes I made very careful measurements of lengths and angles checking many times before making a cut. After cutting the piece i would hammer in the t-nuts then screw it to the frame. I left the side where the door would be "un-skinned" because I didn't have a design for the door yet. I need a door that was strong enough to be climbed on.

In the end I made the door hinged from above with a small latch at the bottom that keeps it closed.

The next step is to mount the holds!

Comments

[bazookazuz]

Using OSB (the cheaper ply wood) is great, but the T-nuts will fall out all the time unless you glue them in with something like Liquid Nails. Not a big deal if the back is accessible, but a huge pain on a roof section.