I have received approval to build a climbing wall for the kids on the neighbor's shed. I have some thoughts regarding materials.
Since it is outdoors, I want it to last at least 5 years without becoming unusable. Half of the wall is exposed to rain and moisture. What material should I use for the best value for money and longevity?
My thoughts are:
1) Regular plywood with facade paint
2) OSB board with facade paint
3) Formwork plywood for concrete casting + facade paint (I probably want to paint something fun anyway)?
As mentioned, it should last outdoors for a few years. I will probably cover the wall during the wettest periods in autumn and winter.
OSB is unlikely to hold up in the long run for fastening the holds. Formply is expensive and not easy to paint. Also, no friction. With an estimated lifespan of 5-10 years, I would choose plywood at least 15 mm depending on how you secure it to the shed. Paint it.
I would probably want to mount the plywood on spacers against the neighbor's shed so that it doesn't get too many screw holes, and there's ventilation between the facade and the plywood.
If you're using regular climbing holds that are attached with T-nuts, the tip is to secure the T-nuts from the backside with two strong staples from a staple gun, so you avoid the hassle of them falling out.
Built a similar climbing wall for my kids on our garage wall. I went back and forth a lot but eventually mounted the holds directly on the facade. The cost for framing out, boards, and paint was too high in my opinion. I'd rather change the panel in a few years when the kids are tired of it if needed, or just paint the screw holes thoroughly. The climbing holds have been up for two years now without any problems but aren't used as frequently as intended (The kids are 5 and 8 now).
At first, I thought about placing them directly against the facade, but I would rather have the option to adjust the holds over the years, and I think that's crucial for maintaining "interest," that's my theory. Anyway, I actually thought about framing the board and using T-nuts according to Totte_S. Stapling them was a good idea. What type of plywood should one use? There are a few different variants... go for regular construction plywood?
The more layers the plywood has, the stronger - and more expensive - it will be. It's not high heights or heavy loads with children on the wall, so avoid the flimsiest boards...
I've been doing some calculations... it gets a bit expensive with both climbing holds and materials.
I think the wood material is about 1000:- and then climbing holds from Amazon about 2000:- (120 holds, includes T-nuts and mount) and then paint is extra. Yikes... (O_O)
Can you skip the primer and just apply facade paint? Mostly to save time.
Now it's been 28 years since I was with them building similar climbing walls. We used plywood with studs cc60. We actually cast the holds ourselves, as we had some existing holds that we made molds of in silicon.
To be honest... No idea. But I hope to modulate the wall by expanding it over the years to maintain the climbing interest. Just having the wall to have something to screw on during reconstruction is probably good for the future. But, it could very well go down the drain...
I had a climbing wall (indoors though) for children, and it held up really well with wood screws in plasterboard+osb. So the substrate for children who don't weigh too much doesn't need to be as much as you might think. Build a frame and then put on the cheapest form of "planks", maybe rough-sawn boards? Each hold has 2-3 anchors and each screw can support quite a few kilos as soon as it's set in proper timber.
Only little kids are supposed to climb, so råspont should work if it's framed correctly... and cheap =).
I will sit and think and calculate a bit and figure out what to do. 1) Lay down cheap boards and screw the holds directly 2) Use plywood with t-nuts.
I advocate for plywood since screws and t-nuts are included if you order from Amazon. .. Otherwise, I have to throw them away.... it feels a bit wasteful.
I've started working on the wall now. Chose plywood instead of OSB. It ended up being expensive but... I have to try.
It's probably overkill, but I have no idea how plywood behaves outdoors, untreated material outdoors is new to me. So I'm oiling all the edges and holes, as well as priming and painting all surfaces except the back.
The troublesome part now is oiling 90 holes with a brush, and it took too much time and was too messy with the brush and fingers... Is there any sensible way to prime the inside of the holes with some homemade tool? The holes are 12 mm...
I made a small climbing wall at home on one of our walls. It has gone well so far, but of course, we have concrete walls so I'm quite sure it holds. I bought the climbing holds from a Danish site I found, thought they had a nice price range. Though it's a bit of a shame to pay for shipping. Maybe someone else has found something better. https://www.kids-world.com/sv/
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