We are building a home climbing wall for children. How to make a home climbing wall with your own hands - detailed instructions and cost of materials
Home climbing wall is a modern sports simulator capable of long time captivate not only the child, but also the adult. If the "Swedish wall" has not yet settled in your apartment, but the idea of installing it has been sitting in your head for a long time, do not rush. Perhaps a home climbing wall for children will become more effective solution occupation of free space in the house.
Classes at the home climbing wall train such qualities as the strength of the muscles of the arms, legs, back, the strength of the wrists and fingers, and significantly “pump” endurance. On the climbing wall, your child will be able to evenly develop not only flexibility and dexterity, but also, most importantly, logic. After all, he himself will have to make decisions on how to get to the very top.
The simplest solution is to buy a climbing wall, but it will be much more efficient to build it yourself, adapting it to the specific size of the room. In buildings home climbing wall there is nothing difficult. All you need is some tools, some carpentry material, bolts and nuts, sets of hooks and, of course, hands from the shoulders. Below we will take a closer look at how to build a climbing wall with your own hands.
Necessary materials:
Plywood sheets, thickness from 15 mm
Wooden beam 50x50 mm
self-tapping screws
Furniture nuts
Furniture bolts M10 in different lengths
We do not indicate the quantity and volume of materials, since you can independently calculate it, having the initial data of the area available for construction.
The simplest and fast option is to attach the holds with anchors (liquid or dowels) to concrete wall. But this option is not the best if you have an idea to at least sometimes change the location of the holds on the climbing wall and there is no idea to spoil the wall. A complete climbing wall wooden structure will give you many options for its use and will be appreciated by your fidgets. Therefore, do not be lazy, and start building a normal simulator.
First of all, you need to decide on the size of the climbing wall and its shape. The easiest and fastest way is to use an empty wall in your apartment and build a straight vertical climbing wall up to the ceiling. You can connect 2,4,6 sheets of plywood depending on the width of your wall. But as practice shows, a vertical climbing wall quickly bothers both adults and children.
If the children are very small, it is better, of course, to build a vertical wall. In all other cases, we advise building a wall with a slight negative slope. At first, such a wall will be a little more difficult to practice, but in the future, each workout will be more effective. In addition, a wall with a negative slope is much safer in case of a fall, since during the fall it will definitely not hit other protruding holds.
When you have chosen a wall on which a bright climbing wall will soon appear, prepare wooden blocks, which should be fixed to the wall over the entire area with anchor bolts or dowels.
The next step is to fasten the plywood to the bars with self-tapping screws. Never mount the plywood directly to the wall, as you will need extra space between the wall and the plywood if you ever plan on removing or repositioning the holds.
Before attaching plywood sheets, they must be prepared. First of all, it is necessary to apply a “fixing grid” on it from the bolt holes into which you will screw the holds. Standard size nets 20x20 mm or 25x25 mm, depending on how often you want to place the holds. It is better to drill holes from the front side of the plywood so that all the “burrs” form on the back side of the sheet.
The more holes - the more options for the location of the holds on the climbing wall. This is one of the most important advantages of a plywood climbing wall.
Next, you will need furniture nuts (sometimes called "bulldogs"), which you need to hammer with back side plywood in each drilled hole. On the front side, you will fasten the hooks with a special bolt. Usually an M10 anchor bolt is used for this.
Since the diameter of the nuts is 10 mm, the holes for them need a little more - about 11 mm. Make sure that all nuts are installed with high quality, tightly and do not “fidget” in the sheet. If you install the nuts poorly, in the future the nuts may scroll or even fall out of the hole, which will greatly add to your hassle during the installation or removal of the holds.
With a strong desire, plywood sheets can be designed to match the design of the children's room (painted in a bright color, applied a picture, glued photo wallpaper) or left in classical form. There are many options, the main thing is to have enough imagination.
The field of attaching plywood sheets to the bars, you can proceed to the location of the holds on the climbing wall. The optimal number of hooks for children's climbing wall- from 5 pieces per 1 sq.m. The more grip, the easier it is to climb. The location of the holds on the climbing wall also depends on your imagination. Usually, the hooks are evenly spaced over the entire area of the sheets.
Let's find out why the CLIMBING ROOM is a guaranteed SAFE EXTREME?
In Sweden, all elements over 1 meter from which children could fall and be injured have been removed from playgrounds. Thus, children's leisure was safe.
Thanks to this step, the percentage of child injuries has doubled. What is it connected with? Due to the fact that children constantly want to climb somewhere, without satisfying this need, the children began to massively climb trees and dangerous places that were not intended for this (with a complete absence of soft mats and safety systems).
At the end of an unsuccessful experiment, the Swedish government completely changed the course of development: now a large number of playgrounds are created every year, where there is an outdoor climbing wall of medium height.
Special safety mats as a means of insurance
The first case is special, here insurance is made thanks to thick mats, which are completely safe.
We note that the height of the climbing wall, the thickness and stiffness of the mats are calculated by CK FormAT specialists, based on standard solutions. Also based on individual order under certain age group, taking into account all the characteristics of customers.
For example, we cannot recommend the use of mats at a height of more than 3 meters without special training. At the same time, absolutely every novice child can safely start climbing up to 3 meters. Initially, it is desirable under the supervision of parents, but after several classes, you can safely leave the child (from 7 years old) alone. At the same time, parents must be present at the first classes in order to personally verify that it is completely safe.
Auto Belay System = increased security
For climbing walls over 4.5 m, the use is mandatory.
It is possible to use mechanical, semi-automatic and automatic system insurance. We note that even with mechanical (in other words, manual belay), you do not need a professional instructor if you are an amateur beginner. Enough of one more person who has read our instructions, where everything is clearly and extremely clearly spelled out. Automatic belay allows a person to overcome high-altitude routes on a climbing wall without the involvement of other people. Such insurance is the safest.
For the manufacture of home and children's climbing walls, we use only environmentally friendly and safe materials who have been tested and the best way suitable for children. In particular, for the manufacture of popular climbing walls, we use, which is designed for professional sports climbing walls and can withstand a static and dynamic load of more than 200 kg. The plywood sheet goes through a detailed sanding process and finished with safe paint and layers of non-toxic lacquer for longer life.
As for embossed, unlike a number of manufacturers, we are guided primarily by the safety, durability and environmental friendliness of materials. In particular, as one of the components we use epoxy resin, which is many times more environmentally friendly and stronger than polyester resin, which is used by most manufacturers due to ease of use and low cost. Yes, polyester resins are cheaper and easier to manufacture, but we definitely won’t save on children’s health, since the very idea of children’s home and, in general, all climbing walls is healthy lifestyle life.
When we lived in the Thai province of Krabi, rocks of stunning beauty surrounded us everywhere. It is still one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life. Naturally, climbers often climbed these boulders, and you could also buy many climbing courses. I remember the two-year-old Mishutka watched them so carefully, and I even wrote on my blog that it's great when a child sees this from childhood. Good example I haven’t bothered anyone in my life yet :) When we returned home, I really wanted to make the child’s room bright, interesting and developing as much as possible, so memories and plans were embodied in the idea of creating a children’s climbing wall at home. Mishutka has probably been using it with might and main for a year now, but I just got inspired to write instructions on the blog on how to make a home climbing wall with my own hands.
FROM THIS ARTICLE YOU WILL LEARN…
1. Why does a child need a climbing wall
2. Detailed instructions on how to make a climbing wall with your own hands
3. The cost of materials for a home climbing wall
4. Where to buy climbing walls and other accessories
5. Video on how to build a homemade children's climbing wall with your own hands
Why does a child need a climbing wall
First of all, a climbing wall is necessary for physical development child. Earlier in small spaces apartments for such purposes were used swedish walls- they did not take up much space along the wall and allowed the children to put energy somewhere. Using a climbing wall for such purposes is much more efficient. When climbing, literally every muscle of the body works - both the legs and arms are involved, up to the hands and fingers, the back also trains well, which improves posture. Flexibility, strength, plasticity and coordination develop. In my opinion, there are already so many pluses in order to make a climbing wall for a child. But besides all this, with such training, concentration of attention, tactical and strategic thinking, endurance, spatial and visual memory are also excellently brought up.
To be honest, at the moment when I decided to make a climbing wall at home on my own, I didn’t really think about all these pluses. I just understood that it would really benefit the child, that the child would like it, and it’s also so cool to have your own home climbing wall. Well, really?! ;) So, I took the tools and got down to business.
Detailed instructions on how to make a climbing wall with your own hands
Yes, yes, I did it myself alone - a girl with arms growing from the wrong place) But even I managed, so believe me, everyone will be able to make a home climbing wall for a child :) So let's get started;) I'll tell you everything as detailed as possible and with a photo, because I filmed the entire process from start to finish.At the first stage, of course, we acquire a base - plywood with a minimum thickness of 10 mm, because. the mortise nuts that will be driven into it are designed specifically for this thickness. I took plywood 15 mm thick and high, in fact, to the ceiling. Decide where you will have the front and where the back. On the back, we will still need to screw the wooden blocks. It is for them that the climbing wall will be attached to the wall. On the front side, you need to drill holes with a diameter of 11.5-12 mm, moreover, at regular intervals in height and width. Here's how it looks: the future climbing wall in the photo lies face up, a bar sticks out below it, the points where we start drilling are measured and marked with a tape measure.
Please note that we are drilling from the front side, because on reverse side splinters and other sawdust come out. We don’t need them sticking out of the climbing wall at all, so we “hide” them from the “wrong side”, but, nevertheless, it’s still worth walking through them with a sandpaper in order to remove very large splinters. Also, do not forget to put some other piece of wood under the plywood so as not to damage the floor, because. the drill falls sharply when the hole is almost ready.
I really didn’t want to mess with a drill, but I’m quite good at using a screwdriver. It turns out that you can buy a drill bit for a screwdriver quite inexpensively and work calmly with it. It's downright wonderful! You just need to clarify when buying in a store that the diameter of the drill should be 11.5-12 mm (because we will drive in a "bulldog" with an M10 diameter, the hole is needed 1-2 mm wider) and you will drill a tree. In this case, the shape of the drill is not the usual spiral, but such a pointed one.
After drilling holes, remove the drill, returning the screwdriver to your normal view. After that on ordinary self-tapping screws screw the bars from the “wrong side” along the edges of the entire climbing wall. And also one across the entire width in the middle. This is how it will look if you turn the future climbing wall upside down.
In the photo, pay attention to how evenly the holes go in rows. I drilled them every 25 cm vertically and horizontally. Some, probably, are wondering: why are there so many of them, in fact? And then, so that later it would be possible to change the position of the hooks, screwing them here and there, complicating or facilitating the “track” in this way. Now we need to drive the so-called “bulldogs” into these holes, or to be precise, mortise nuts. Here's what they look like.
Sometimes they are called "crabs", because. if you look closely at the photo, you will see that they have metal "legs" with which these nuts "dig" into the tree, securely attaching. You need to drive them in from the back. Do not confuse! And this is what should be the result.
Eeeee... To be honest, that's all :) Of course, it remains to screw the climbing wall to the wall, but everything is quite clear here. True, here I could not do without help, because at the same time I couldn’t afford to hold a heavy board and drill a wall)
I did not dare to screw this heavy construction, like a climbing wall, on ordinary screws, but bought bolts with washers and large dowels. This is how the mount turns out, only at the “head” of the bolt I put another round ring - a washer - for greater reliability)
The climbing wall is screwed along the rails - that is, in rows on top, on the sides and in the center. In the end, I also decided to paint it bright and juicy. light green color. To be honest, I wanted to draw the whole jungle here, but somehow I didn’t get it =) Although I like it that way! Micah is Spider-Man)))
It’s a pity they took away my password from Instagram, where I posted a video of how cheerfully Mishutka crawls up and down the climbing wall :) Now I can’t show it clearly, so only photos. But believe me, the child is delighted. And what a shock his friends who come to visit are, not a single child has left us without breaking a sweat on the climbing wall :))
The cost of materials for a home climbing wall
Now let's take a closer look and calculate how much all this pleasure cost me.
TOTAL COST OF A HOME CLIMBING ROOM: 5,844 rubles.
Additionally, I bought the following:
But since these are not at all obligatory attributes of a climbing wall, you can safely do without this costly article;) Nevertheless, I recommend painting the climbing wall (and it looks more aesthetically pleasing and less splinters) and lay some kind of mattress or sports mat under it, to soften the blow in the event of a child falling from a climbing wall. It must be understood that the "toy" is still quite dangerous.
Where did I buy climbing wall accessories?
I took the hooks, bulldog nuts and suitable bolts for them in one place - in the SkyGear store. To be honest, I didn’t like their service wildly - they took the money immediately and disappeared for two weeks, while the goods were sent only after three weeks. My nerves gave out, I read reviews on the forums that they often do this. We received an order with money - and only after that we send the manufacturer an application for the manufacture of holds. Naturally, you have to wait quite a long time.
There is a clause on the site, they say, order the colors that are available, and you will not have to wait. So, I called them up and ordered what was allegedly in stock, but in fact there was nothing like it and I still had to wait for production. In the end, they still sent me everything that I ordered, and the goods, in principle, without any complaints, but the sediment remained, so I probably would not recommend this store, I just shared my experience. But the choice is yours, with a creak, but they still fulfill their obligations.
As an option, another kind of good reviews shop Membranka, where everything is also sold for rock climbing and building a home climbing wall with your own hands. I don’t remember why I didn’t choose him, apparently Skygir had better conditions.
I took plywood, slats, drill, paint and self-tapping screws in local hardware stores. For plywood, I rode to the base, because. and it came out cheaper and such large sizes of lumber are rarely delivered to stores.
I bought screws with dowels, as well as a sports mat in Ikea. That, in fact, is all. And then a video on how to make a children's climbing wall at home.
Video how to build a homemade children's climbing wall with your own hands
Actually, here is the very video that “taught” me how to make a climbing wall) It was thanks to him that I realized that making a home climbing wall with my own hands is very simple and even I can handle it myself. The whole process described by me above is very clearly and rather briefly seen.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments. If you liked the instruction, I will be very grateful if you share it with your friends on social networks by clicking on the logo of any social network in the panel on the left.
Please your beloved children and do not be afraid to pick up tools - everything will work out! ;)
Life in the modern world is fast paced. And, of course, this affects training. I am sure that many have had periods when they did not have time to go to the gym. Some give up at such moments, do nothing and wait for a good chance, unexpected free time to go to the climbing wall. Some do not want to lose shape and do various exercises at home: push-ups, pull-ups, pumping the press, those who have a fingerboard do hangs. And some do something radical - they build a home climbing wall and practice on it when there is a little free time before work or after. In this article, I will show you how to build a small indoor climbing wall.
Building a climbing wall with your own hands is not difficult.
Before you start building a climbing wall, think about what goals it should fulfill, where it will be located. Based on this, the dimensions, the slope of the climbing wall, which hooks need to be purchased will be clear.
So that the construction of the climbing wall is not delayed, first of all order the holds. Typically, the production of hooks and delivery takes one to two weeks. During this time, you can think about the plan of the climbing wall and build a climbing wall. After that, the matter remains small - to wind the hooks.
The reliability of the structure depends on the thickness and quality of the wall on which the climbing wall will be attached. If the wall is load-bearing, you can safely attach wooden rails to it ( wooden beams 40x40 mm, more depending on the complexity of the design), and then plywood panels with a thickness of 12 mm or more. If the wall is thin, you need to consider additional mounts beams for structural rigidity, in some cases it may be necessary to use iron guides and corners.
For a home climbing wall, I chose a free wall in the corridor. In order not to make horizontal guides, it was decided to increase the number of vertical beams to four.
I sawed the beams and shields in a hardware store. The store where I bought the shields provides a free cut to the size you need. Advantages of store sawing - even cut(I was not lucky, the master was in a hurry and cut off a couple of shields a little inaccurately), saving time and effort. Therefore, before you go to the store, make a clear plan of the climbing wall, write down all the dimensions. Think about what else you need, calculate the number of dowels and screws. This will reduce the number of trips to the store.
To attach the beams to the wall, I used Fischer dowels measuring 8 x 65 mm and self-tapping screws measuring 6 x 90 mm.
After installing the guides, you can move on to the shields. At the planning stage, I had the idea to make a wall with small screw holes. For their installation, only a wooden, even base is required. But in the course of purchasing materials, I decided to make several holes for the bolt hooks (passive hooks). To install bolt hooks, you will need to make holes with a diameter of 11.5 mm in them before installing the shields and insert a drive nut with a 10 mm thread, which is called a bulldog.
Driving nut:
Installing shields is not difficult. We set the shield according to the level and fasten it with self-tapping screws measuring 5 by 50 mm to the guides.
After installing the skeleton and facing the climbing wall, I proceeded to leveling the surface of the climbing wall. sandpaper removed the unevenness of the plywood, and also walked along the edges of the climbing wall.
The problem of scarcity motor activity is becoming more and more important in children. especially for urban dwellers.
And if in good weather a child can throw out excess energy at least on the playground near the house, then in rain or hard frost it becomes impossible.
However, the energy does not go anywhere, and the lack of movement leads to whims and a bad mood. You can solve the problem with installation of sports equipment in the apartment, in particular, a children's climbing wall.
Home climbing wall for children: what is it
In the very simple form climbing wall is vertical surface with small protrusions located in a certain way, depending on the complexity of the route. A more extreme option implies the presence of additional inclined planes.
Photo 1. Climbing wall for children, made in the home. The design has several planes.
The main advantage of the climbing wall is that it does not take up much space in the room. The existence of such sports equipment will help the child not only throw out excess energy, but also improve coordination, improve body flexibility, train strong hands and tenacious fingers. Rock climbing develops perseverance, visual memory and logical thinking.
Geometry and dimensions of the climbing wall will depend on the size of the free space, which is planned to be allocated for his device. The easiest option for placing a climbing wall is one of the walls of the room. If space allows, you can build a corner climbing wall on two adjacent walls. An advanced variant is a projectile with a negative slope. In the apartment standard layout with room height 2.5—2.8 m it is advisable to make the simulator under the ceiling.
How to make a wall for children's rock climbing at home
A self-made climbing wall is plywood shield reinforced around the perimeter with a wooden beam.
For reliability, the structure is additionally reinforced with stiffeners from the same beam in the center, and, if necessary, in other places.
Special children's hooks are screwed onto the fixed shield, which are artificial stones various forms and sizes.
You can buy them in specialized sports stores or order online. The hooks should not be too small so that the child's arms and legs do not get tired.
Reference. Quality climbing wall holds are made from a mixture quartz sand and polymeric materials. The surface of such products is rough, which allows the hands and feet not to slip during lifting.
At the initial stage, smaller stones are placed at the bottom and serve as a support for the legs. As the skill of the child grows, small holds can be moved higher, turning into handholds.
Design and calculation of the necessary materials
For the manufacture of climbing wall need:
- plywood thick 10-15 mm;
- wooden beam 40*70mm;
- dowels and bolts with a countersunk head for attaching the timber to the wall;
- self-tapping screws for connecting the frame and base;
- set of hooks and fasteners to them;
- hexagon for tightening bolts;
- drill or screwdriver with a drill bit 11 mm;
- emery skin;
- paint and decorative elements optional.
The first step will be the design future climbing wall. Having decided on the location, it is required to calculate the required amount of materials. The footage of plywood directly depends on the area of the future simulator. Number of hooks - 5-7 pieces per 1 sq. m. If the fasteners are not included with them, then you will need to purchase it additionally.
Generally suitable for connection furniture nut DIN 1624 M10(the so-called bulldog) having "antennae" along the edges, digging into the surface of the plywood. The nuts will need the appropriate size bolts DIN 912 M10, tightened with a hexagon. The easiest option is to take the hold with you to the store, where sellers will pick up fasteners suitable for the climbing wall.
Wireframe creation
At the second stage, the frame of the future climbing wall is created. Holes are drilled along the perimeter of the base in the wall in increments of 50-55 cm into which plastic dowels are driven.
To give the structure additional strength, several stiffeners should be added by screwing inside the perimeter parallel to the floor surface 2-3 planks of timber.
The length and diameter of the dowels are selected depending on the material of the walls, and the size of the bolt is calculated by the formula: sheet thickness + beam thickness + dowel length. Countersunk head bolts should be taken, since plywood will be screwed on top of the frame.
Attention! It is forbidden to attach a climbing wall or the holds themselves to drywall constructions!
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Foundation preparation
You can do it yourself with manual router or order a cut - often sellers building materials offer such a service. Ready basis mark for future holes.
The best option — mesh with a step of 20-25 cm horizontally and vertically, which in the future will allow you to rearrange the holds, creating new routes of varying complexity on the climbing wall.
Then a drill with a drill 11 mm(provided that bulldog nut diameter 10 mm) holes are made. The procedure is carried out on the front side so that possible chips are on the back. After that, a "bulldog" is driven into each hole from the back. The finished base is screwed to the frame using self-tapping screws of the appropriate length, if necessary, processed with emery cloth and coated with paint.
Installing the holds
The last step will be installation of holds, which are fixed in the selected holes with bolts tightened with a hexagon. This climbing wall design allows you to easily change the location of the stones, complicating or simplifying the route.
At first glance, more simple option it may seem like screwing the plywood sheet directly to the wall, however not always possible to find the right length of bolts for hooks, which leads to difficulties in tightening.
