Construction Menu:
Woodie Construction
Design Ideas
Home Made Hang Board
T-nuts
Frequently Asked Questions
The REX BENNETT Woodie
The "HANGER" woodie

Woodie Construction
There are many different ways of building a home climbing wall or “woodie.” A woodie can provide a powerful training tool as well as being great fun.

Click here for a run down on another customers great creation, the Rex Bennett woodie

I will briefly explain how my personal wall was built and offer some tips. As time permits I will add other climbers tips and tricks. Please read disclaimer at bottom of page. I will not go into a lot of detail on construction, as I am no expert at this. You should consult a qualified trades person if you are unsure with construction steps.

My woodie is constructed almost entirely of wood and constructed as a garage woodie. This is the most popular form of home wall and can be built with a little effort and some ingenuity. To see other climbers creations go to the Woodie Gallery

Materials
3 Sheets of 17-19mm ply
Pine Studs and LVL(Laminated) for frame work
Screws
T-nuts

The wooden roof supports are exposed in my garage and these formed the structural base for my wall. I constructed a frame work for the roof and suspended the frame work for the angled wall from this. The bottom of the angled part of the wall is anchored to the floor with angle steel dyna bolted to the floor and screwed to the frame work. The red frame work is super strong laminated LVL pine available from most hardware stores.

The next task was to install the t-nuts. Click here for an in depth t-nut guide. Once filled with t-nuts the sheets were screwed to the wall. Full size ply sheets with t-nuts are very heavy, so grab a hand from a few mates, promise them free beer and many hours of plastic fun! It is handy to have the screw holes pre-drilled and countersunk before you start mounting the sheets.

Once the sheets are fitted, throw a few holds on and test for excess flex in any part of the wall and add stud work to suit. The best way to layout you holds is to place the randomly and move as required. For final approval you will need a qualified woodie puller to visit. Bundy (below) can be hired for a small fee of the liquid amber type.

Next I will add a finish board and vertical side wall. Stay posted.

Painting & Texture

I painted the non climbing surfaces of my first wall with exterior paint. I started to paint the climbing surface but realized this was a mistake. The holds will either spin on the slick paint or if left for a long time will stick like glue. I had to hammer some of my holds to get them off the sticky paint! So leave your climbing surface bare of paint. Many woodie's are covered in texture paint. (paint with fine sand in it.) I avoided this paint as I don't want to wear out my shoes or skin my hands, leave that for the real rock! To prevent your t-nuts rusting spray paint them or smear a suitable grease on them.

DESIGN IDEAS

To get a work out and have a fun time on a woodie you don’t need a lot of height. Its much better to have a shorter more varied wall.

The unofficial best angle for the bulk of climbable surface on a home woodie is 45-degrees. A vertical wall will improve your balance but will quickly become boring. A roof is lots of fun but can be a bit hard and trains on a limited range of moves. A large 45-degree section with a small roof and a finish board is great. Go to your local gym and experiment with the angles you like there before you build your own wall. A common design is pictured below

A finishing board is recommended because its easy to add and creates a great finish to a problem where you can throw for a high hold.

A good crash mat is essential! If you don’t go for those hard moves because of the crappy landing zone you will be training to fall off every time, not training to send! Experiment with different mattresses and wrap them up in a tarp. Avoid innerspring jobs as the springs can do damage! Remember to allow for the thickness of your crash mat, don’t put holds right to the ground as the bit below the mat will be wasted!

Build your wall add the t-nuts then it is time for the holds!

Simple Hang Board

If you don’t have enough space for a woodie or want an extra training aid, a hang board is a great way to go. All you need is a small piece of ply wood, screws, holds, t-nuts and a place to hang your board. There are many commercial plastic hang boards but a homemade one is cheaper and you can vary the holds to suit your training.

Just drill the holes for you t-nuts at slightly closer intervals than you would on a woodie. (I used a 10cm Grid.) Install the t-nuts and attach your board where you want it. Good places are pergolas and garage walls. Check the structure you are attaching your hang board to for structural soundness. Then add your holds and your done.

Chief route setter "Scoota" overseeing construction and the finished product. (Party lights optional.)

A GUIDE to T-NUTS

Click here to for cheap T-nuts

Something that all walls really need is t-nuts. T-nuts are a special fastener required to attach a hold to the plywood. The standard size in Australia, Canada, NZ, USA, and many other countries is 3/8" X 12m. In Europe the standard is the metric M10. Usually the actual hold will accommodate both systems. The two sizes are not compatible. Avoid the mild steel t-nuts available in some hardware stores, they are expensive and prone to cross threading, stick with heavy duty nickel plated t-nuts.

You will need a lot of t-nuts. A rough guide is 110 t-nuts per standard sheet of ply. This allows for miss-hit and a few cross threaded t-nuts. I use a 15 cm grid when placing t-nuts for a high use area such as a bouldering wall. Just measure up a grid on your ply. Don’t drill the t-nut hole "spot on" the plotted grid lines, vary where you place them around the grid point so your holes are at seemingly random but well spaced intervals as in the diagram. Remember to allow for studs and framework behind the ply, you can’t place a t-nut there so invest in some screw on holds. Drill a 12mm hole for your t-nut, no smaller as you will have trouble getting the bolt in. Drill from front to back to avoid ripping out chunks. Then hammer the sucker in (this is very satisfying but repetitive.) If you are worried about rust smear with grease or squirt on some spray paint but don’t clog the thread! When you first install a hold and place your weight on it the newly installed T-nut may bed down further into the ply making the hold loose again. Tighten the hold bolt again and your t-nut is ready to go! Be careful not to cross thread the nut when installing bolts.

 

Disclaimer
Rock climbing both outdoor and indoor is dangerous! Do not attempt climbing with out proper instruction. The information in this web site is not intended as an instructional tool, in fact some or all of the information may be false misleading lies and general incorrect clap trap, don’t trust a word of it. To carry out any construction, building or recreational activity based on the information contained in this web site would be foolish and the staff of woodie worx insist you seek proper training from skilled people first. In reality you should not get out of bed in the morning with out first getting the correct training and consulting your layer to see if you will be sued or can sue someone else!