Best Paint For Home Climbing Wall

By | November 28, 2025

Best Paint For Home Climbing Wall – This fun wall is created in a small room and can be made by anyone with the right tools. Learn how to build a kids rock climbing wall with step-by-step instructions. Paint your walls to make them more colorful!

About a year and a half ago, my wife and I made a deal. I held out my end of the bargain…and after a year and a half, my wife finally took my side and allowed me to build a small rock climbing wall somewhere in our house. We had a small spare bedroom where the kids sometimes played and where guests stayed, so I decided to put it there.

Best Paint For Home Climbing Wall

Some of the best guides are published online. You can find tutorials and videos online if you search for a while. The gold standard for building a bouldering wall is his Metolius guide: https://www.metoliusclimbing.com/pdf/How-to-Build-a-Home-Bouldering-Wall.pdf

How To Build An Indoor Kids Rock Climbing Wall

The first decision is to decide on the initial design, which walls to use, and which walls will be vertical or overhang. Even if you’re just building for these kids, I highly recommend making the walls higher. It doesn’t take long to master vertical walls. Stiffer vertical walls require smaller handholds (increasing the risk of injury if not used correctly) or more technical footing (requiring rock climbing shoes). If you need a wall for your kids and yourself, it’s best to include it to make sure there’s at least one overhanging wall section. Even if you have big arms and strong legs, it’s still a good workout. Since we have children between the ages of 2 and 8, I decided to split the halves in half vertically.

Vertical walls are very easy to install. Horizontal strips should be placed along the walls. This allows you to position the actual rock climbing wall away from the wall of your house and allow space for the T-nuts/bolts to secure the holds.

For fringe strips, some people recommend 2×6. I used 2×4 lumber which I thought was sufficient. Using a smaller size piece of wood will allow you to drill more holes for the three nuts. Each fringe strip is approximately 18-20 inches apart. Others recommend 16 inches of spacing, but we needed more space in the hull/cargo bay.

Be sure to purchase kiln dried (KD) wood. If you purchase green wood (meaning it’s still wet), be sure to let it dry in your garage for at least 4-5 days. If you paste it on the wall before it dries, it may cause mold to grow on the wall or be blown away. Sawn wood is also better than raw wood in that it is less likely to warp.

How To Build A Home Climbing Wall

Try tapping the center of the stud using a stud finder. He used two screws for each barrel stud. We used 3.5-inch star drive screws [like the following] (star screws are much better compared to standard Phillips; they require less pilot hole drilling and are much easier to drive. (and exerts great power). If going through drywall, you should use at least 3.5-inch screws, but you can easily make a case for using 4-inch screws. If you remove a wall or move, cut out the baseboard and save it.

Some people recommend using his 2x6s for the joists if you are creating an overhanging wall (highly recommended). I wanted more space for the arbor, so I decided to use 2x4s. Things seem to be going well. I used 2x6s for the header joists (the part where the overhanging joists enter the ceiling and walls).

Attaching the header joists to the wall/ceiling puts extra stress on these points, so I used 4-inch leg bolts for a little more strength. I used a little trigonometry to determine the required angle and where to place the header joists. We used standard joist hangers to attach the overhanging joists to the walls and ceiling. The spacing between the joists was 16 inches. I inserted the top block between the joists as suggested.

For added strength (and because I wanted to leave a small play area in the wall), I inserted some additional supports connecting the furring strips to the overhanging joists. We will discuss these additional supports later.

Playroom Design: Diy Playroom With Rock Wall

For an actual climbing wall, use 3/4-inch plywood (23/32-inch is also fine). Generally, you should use color grade (i.e. smooth) hardwood plywood. Avoid using oak as it is open grain and difficult to finish. Use maple, birch, etc. My home improvement store/lowes had some kind of pine wood (paint grade) that I got for some purpose and it worked fine. Honestly, I don’t remember what type of rock climbing wall I bought. You want something that’s lightweight and looks high quality, but you don’t want the polished/unsanded variety. Not worth the few dollars you save.

Cut the plywood to the desired size according to your design. Some people say you should first drill the hole for the tee nut, install the tee nut, then paint (and insert a golf tee to protect the tee nut). This sound made us turn back.

After cutting the wood, I primed it 2-3 times and painted everything the way I wanted it. I wasn’t in charge of the painting. I don’t take credit for that.

After painting, I was worried that some of the paint would peel off, so I wanted to give it a little more protection. Minwax polyacrylic acid water-based protective finish with a clear matte finish. We used different paints on this wall (we had the right colors on hand), but the polyacrylic broke some of the paint (cracks that look like old oil paintings) ). You can see it when you get close to 4-5 feet. I wonder if I should know this and try using it again…? Maybe – I think that saved the wall. Do not use standard oil-based protective coatings as they will yellow the paint. I’ve used the rock climbing wall for over 6 months and the color remains the same.

Best Paint Colors For Your Laundry Room

After painting, I determined where all the fringe strips, joists, and plywood would intersect. Then I drilled holes for the three nuts. I went back and forth on which drill bit to use. There are already two options in the correct size (7/16 inch). A regular drill bit (spiral type) and a spade bit. I tried both, but the results were not satisfactory. So I decided to buy a Forester drill. Forstner is typically used to create holes that leave a flat bottom (such as in cabinets), but is also very useful for very sharp edges. When I did this test, I couldn’t find the 7/16 inch drill bit that he always uses, but the result would have been the same. I bought the Forester drill bit on Amazon for about $10-$12 (the hardware store and Lowe’s store didn’t have the right size). I probably won’t spend it on anything else, but it was money well spent. Below is a photo of the test strip I did. Forester on the left, then regular drill bit, then speed bit – there is a big difference. The following photo is an example of how Forester Bit worked on a painted wall. The first photo shows 2 and no damage.

Make sure to drill the holes straight! If you don’t drill the holes straight, the bolts won’t go in properly and will cause you a big headache down the road. I thought about making a jig so I could straighten it, but it was a pain, so I just tried it. There was no problem. You will need to drill approximately 72 holes per sheet of plywood. Should you use standard sampling or random sampling? Answers and discussions of all these can be found here and online. Approximately 80 holes were punched on one sheet, and the holes were randomly punched.

After drilling the holes, the next step is to install the T-nuts. You may want to use the T-nut to move the hold freely. You will need to get a 3/8 inch T-nut. These are the standard for rock climbing. There are two main types: 4-jaw T-nuts (with spikes) that are removed and used, and round-bottomed T-nuts that are attached with 3 screws.

Both can be easily found on amazon.com. 4 prongs are very cheap, but the quality is not as good. Buy one that attaches with screws to avoid major headaches. In any case, I recommend applying a coat or two of superglue between the shaft and the plate to make contact with the plywood. The last thing you want is a T-nut left behind. I like the threaded T-nuts because you just screw them in and you’re done.

Meet The Man Responsible For America’s Climbing Gym Craze

If you use 4 poles, do not place it together with a heater (the heat will not last). Please connect instead

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