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[chris]

Hello, dear friends!

I'm building a 45 degree wall in my basement. It has to be free-standing. I need some advice about how burly the support structure needs to be.

The climbing surface will be 10ft x 10ft and I plant support it similar to how they've done it in the photograph below. However, now that I've framed-up the climbing surface, I'm looking at it in comparison to the four 2x4s I intended to use as vertical posts and they seem very insubstantial, even considering that I plan to buttress them at the bottom with some other pieces of wood at angles.

Can anyone advise on this? Are four 2x4s up to the task of supporting a 10x10 wall + holds + me? Should I scale up to 2x6? 4x4? 2x8?

Thanks!

Chris

[jetjackson]

2x6 in my opinion. The design pictured is going to have a lot of wobble. It needs more brackets and bracing at the back.

I've been seeing an abundance of home walls go up online with the lock down and it's only a matter of time until someone pulls one down on themselves and gets seriously injured. Some of the workmanship and designs I've seen are a tad scary.

I did a 20 minute talk on my freestanding board. I think I even mentioned in it that you might get away with 2 x 4, but now seeing some people who have done that, I take that comment back. youtu.be/UtR56KPKzGQ - video there. You can also read the thread I posted here about it.

Use 3/8 bolts on the joints at the very least. I can't see any bolts on the board pictured. If you use decking screws, on those 4 joints it could be trouble.

[Charlie S]

It's hard to tell based on the picture, but the rafters are clearly exposed in that guy's house. I would not be surprised if he tied into them on the back of the wall (in the shadows).

Definitely 2x6s.

The design in the picture could benefit by using some 45-degree pieces along the floor (cover up with pads) to prevent the supports from toeing out under load, and maybe even another piece going toe-to-toe at the terminus of the long supports.

I like the simplicity, but it's a little sporty.

One other thing I would change is to extend the length of the lower supports past the edge of the board. A huck for the top jug can generate a substantial amount of momentum. You don't want to pull the wall over on top of you.

[chris]

lol "sporty"!

Thanks for the thoughts, guys. I think I know what I'm going to do now. So as not to sacrifice the 2x4s I already have, I'm just going to get a few more a double them up along their long surface, to make it like a 4x4.

The toe piece you mentioned, Charlie, seems like a good idea to me too, and was something I planned on incorporating from the beginning. 

The top posts will attach to the climbing surface with 5/8th" bolts (or 1/2" ones if I can find them). I'll use some smaller ones for the foot of the wall and the middle support (just because I have those). Maybe you can make sense of the sketch below. 

[Charlie S]

Close, but not quite.

First, I wouldn’t make any support that comes into your climbing “box”. Doing so sets you up for a broken back. Maybe worse.

Go at a 45 (or some angle) from the kicker out to the side support, with the long side on the ground. Does that make sense? You can cover it up easily with a pad.

As for the supports that connect to the side extensions, I’d just run them the full length from the top of the wall to the end of the side support. This will also keep you from landing “on top” of that support, also a potential bone breaker.

[chris]

ah yeah that side support triangle is a good idea! definitely going to incorporate that one. thanks!