UKC

Hi all,

I’m moving house in the next 3 month or so and I will have a garage which I want to put a training board in. Can anyone recommend a joiner, carpenter, handyman who would be able to help? 
 

I’m always happy to take on a project but I have a tendency to rush things and I really want to get this right. I know I can buy a home wall for 4/5k but I’m hoping this may be a cheaper option? 
 

Sheffield/Barnsley area

Depends on the size you are looking at and the shape? 
It will cost less than 4-5k for a carpenter to complete for sure if you’re thinking of a size that 2 sheets of 8x4 ply will cover.

I might be able to help.. I’m a carpenter and have built two free standing boards and a small bouldering gym 

So simple to build. Loads of information online.

I built a free standing campus board which was collapsible to put behind the sofa in our first rented flat.

I built my first board in a spare upstairs bedroom of a rented house. Free standing. Three sheets of ply with a slither taken off one and used as a kicker. Used 8x2s for the vertical leg supports. Went for 45° to maximize height / length of board.

Moved house, rebuilt the board in a garage. Again it was free standing with leg supports as it was a rented property. The garage was roomier so we could go higher and put it at 40°.

Bought a house, moved the board again, built it in the garage of the house we bought. This garage was lower so we went for 55°. Also as we owned the house I built it into the garage. Went off various plans I found online for this. Moon, metolus etc.

We moved again and got a house with no garage. This time I wanted a full sized moon board as we are close to rocks but further from climbing walls. Worked on a design with a couple fo engineer friends and a YouTube garden room series. Used all that to draw out plans for a triangular insulated wooden building. Put the panels from the old 55°  to use on one side at 20° and bought all new for a 40° moonboard on the other side. Got holds second hand. Second hand widows and door etc.

Each iteration has improved my confidence and knowledge. It isn't difficult. Measure twice once. Plan it ahead. Read up on the moon site, the metolius site and probably a tonne more.

I'd fully recommend doing it yourself. The wood will cost £500 ish. Holds second hand or self made. And it's much more rewarding. Also means you have the skills to move it when / if you move house in the future or go further and improve on it.

We did this ourselves and it was great, the result is exactly what we wanted, a garage-size outbuilding covering all walls/ceiling woth a large 45 section.

If you are time poor then I would recommend outsourcing the labour, I probably should have done this as it took about 6months to complete between work/baby/climbing opportunities.

What I would recommend is to invite yourself to view what others have done, ask about problems/hacks/lessons learned etc. You’re welcome to come and see our effort (Matlock area).

The board is well worth it - I can’t get out most of the time without a babysitter, pulling hard on something interesting means when I do turn up at the crag I feel fairly confident I can get up something 

I'm not an expert carpenter, but have built a few home walls in my time. A circular saw, and an electric drill/driver should be all you need.

My garage walls have tended to be two 8x4 plywood sheets plus a kickboard, and have been built over a weekend at most. Tying into roof joists can be tricky, otherwise you can build a self-supporting wall with some additional timber.

There's a few forums on Facebook about home wall building that have some really useful info. 

and keep an eye on facebook etc as there are lots of people who want to sell their home board. you should be able to find one locally.

two of the boards in my garage pictured below. Each one took a day to build, and each cost about £200 in materials. Locate and mark the position of the ceiling joists with a detector, fix a trimmer to them and off you go. 

I usually fit shelves for storage behind them which also function as triangulation to stiffen the wall, and store bouldering mats.

A little bit of planning with a paper and pencil, and a bit of trigonometry required. All that’s required is to cut timber accurately and have an adjustable set square to cut the angles.

If you do decide to do it yourself and want any tips, drop me a line

Paul