Building a Homemade Backyard Climbing Wall (from Start to Finish)

This is a climbing/bouldering wall that I built over the summer when many climbing centres were closed during lockdown :( It's perhaps a bit more complicated than necessary for a home climbing wall, but I had plenty of time on my hands sooooo
CONSTRUCTION:
The frame was welded together from 1 inch square steel box section (about 100m was used). This was then covered with ~18 square meters of 18mm thick plywood. I used 12mm thick plywood for the roof supported by 100 x 47mm wooden beams. The roof was covered with 2 layers of felt to make it waterproof (I also added a gutter on the back). The whole wall was painted with several layers of weather proof paint to ensure it lasts a long time in the ~changeable~ British weather.
LINKS TO MATERIALS:
Steel: www.metals4u.c...
Plywood: www.clarkesofw...
T Nuts: www.fastco.co....
Wood to Metal Screws: www.fastco.co....
Climbing Holds: www.holdz.co.uk/
MUSIC:
"Rising Tide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons...
"Almost Bliss" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons...
"Guts and Bourbon" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons...

[@Jawsoflo]

The next best gift you can give yourself is asking a setter from your gym their rate to come put up a few boulders. They can set with whatever style/grade you're looking for in mind. Amazing wall dude

[@jameshanley5004]

Dude, this is beautiful, inspirational and such an incredible departure from the little overhang walls you usually see on here. Well done!

[@YnseSchaap]

In my country we have a building code that prevents me from building above 3 meters (10 ft) in your back yard so I had to build inside but what I have now would never fit or be legal outside

[@urfav_blonde567]

100th like

[@bananaaaaaaaah]

Are you still climbing? I would love an update and to see how the outdoor wall is holding up long term and if there are things you would have done differently?

[@10hickmanj64]

This is the best wall build on the internet and I watch wall builds all the time and none of them even come close to this one and that orange bloc is great you got great determination and I love the side pull with the left into reverse side pull with the right and then reverse side pull with the left to stop the barn door, great solve.

[@aaronwolff9433]

A lot of people are commenting about how great of a wall it is you built, but nobody has mentioned the amazing videography and editing you've done as well. Bravo my dude. Keep up the good work!

[@matthewbenitez7804]

this is definitely the most legit at home wall project i have ever seen so far ..haha dang. extremely impressive

[@copycatlyn]

dude..... holy smokes this was amazing. everything. you're a talented man!

[@pokerfeces]

Maybe this video lack of explanation but I do learned a lot. I was worried you don't have someone to help you build the wall, but I kinda relieved seeing you got helps, and a cat!

[@williambloom350]

My instinct always tells me to look away at a weld lol I was just turning my head at my phone!

[@shokland]

That is so far next level for what I'd ever be able to do. Fantastisk work!

[@Nibblor37]

In Germany your neighbours would be like: "Do you have a BAUGENEHMIGUNG for that?!?"

[@lucasrivera1855]

This is unreal. It looks amazing and the whole process is mesmerizing.

[@richardhall5489]

I love that you used a band saw to cut the tubes. Also..great video work. Inspiring.

[@BackcountryBanter]

What a great wall! Nice build. The orange route looked fun. Building a similar size wall has been on my to-do list for a long time... one of these days it'll happen.

[@thomaswalsh4552]

How are the walls attached to the metal frame? Just screws straight into the bar?

[@bananaaaaaaaah]

WOW!! Magical young man.

[@remymill]

I'm curious how you afforded not only the basic materials, but also the welding equipment (and impressive skills). Especially given that you only appear to be 20-22 yo. This is no cheap project. Impressive.

[@georgepilkington9350]

this build is amazing, climbing technique still has a way to go but this wall will help you learn and improve. a simple tip is always have a solid base with your feet and don’t cross your arms unless necessary, in this orange route you could have skipped a good amount of the holds and it wouldn’t be any harder. but props, keep it going

[@MartinJEngland]

Thanks so much! Yeah, I definitely have a long way to go with my climbing ability. Although since a lot of the routes involve traverses, I feel like crossing your arms is sort of necessary. Otherwise I just end up matching on small holds a lot which isn't as fun and doesn't seem to "flow" as well? I'm sure there are other options though!

[@georgepilkington9350]

@@MartinJEngland sometimes "bumping" can help with flow, to avoid crossing or matching. This is when you move the same hand twice, so on yours when you are on the corner trying to cross you could bump the left hand again to the pinch then bring your right hand in. It's just playing around, you'll find what feels good and easy, if it feels good then it will be efficient and that's the key to climbing. Also put more force through feet rather than hands even on overhangs and especially on the corner you start in, this helps relieve force off hands as legs are stronger. Have fun man, enjoying is the most important thing

[@marcchevalier1521]

Bravo for this superb construction and your sucess in the orange way👍

[@thorna100]

very impressive built but I would take a nice big 45 degree board over this. I think I would get bored of the small space of climbing a shape like this allows pretty quick. Epic work though building it all.

[@marsvin55]

Wow you gow so much skill! Creating this, and documentingh everything. Really truley amazing!

[@WobblyGroulx]

This is so awesome, man. Great work!

[@lemmonsinmyeyes]

Neat, well done boss !

[@twiggehtwi]

amazing, i do this for a livingand we make them the same way as you did only we end it with laying glasfibre over it and paint it with plastic.

[@akanord]

Amazing job, well done! I'm wondering how the plywood is doing today with all the moisture and/or rain? I can see (10:36) that the t-nut holes are a bit exposed without resin or paint, is there any water damage filtering in?

[@larse8005]

Well done, very nice skills and what patience... I would have torched it all within 2 hours :)

[@harrisashraff]

Beautiful video. Thanks for the awesome idea 😀.

[@Livsnjut4rn]

Nice one

[@whitehousetj31]

piece of work that is, well done!

[@hansjonsson6176]

I wonder how the plywood gona stand the rain, but it looks great, good job

[@IA__]

i really want to try the orange one 🤣

[@stevenparsons2470]

I’m sure you’ve heard this many times, but what you’ve done here is quite incredible!!! How much would you charge to build this in my garden, seriously!!!?

[@sandrouhac5133]

Respect from Croatia! This looks amazing! I'm close to building my own wall (piling up $$$ :) ), not this "complicated" though ':) And if I may, you seem skilful enough to make your own holds, I did some for a friends' wall and they turned out rather good and basically inexpensive, so you could do that too, cheers!

[@johnyeung6329]

Nice! What a great idea and well done.

[@simon3785]

this was just a joy to watch:)

[@mv2woods]

Great wall build!

[@rangerdeden_id]

Nice dude

[@kevinmunz]

Great build. No chalk though?

[@JustinCasey216]

Awesome build! Next one twice as tall? Lol

[@jl1685]

Really cool!

[@CamMackay96]

Amazing stuff! I could see myself wanting something similar in the future, have you got a rough estimate of how much the materials cost? Obviously I can't weld so would have to pay for labour too but curious what kind of costs were involved.

[@thomasseillers3905]

what was the total cost?

[@subrav43]

Please tell me about sizing and bill of material! I don't find it in the video

[@LuisRamirez-rn8yi]

How much and where did you buy the mattresses???

[@nathankohonen2924]

great job

[@thediychannel4650]

nice project, bro

[@mustardahc]

awesome work!

[@EL-rq2bs]

How long did it take you? and what was the estimated cost for material not including holds?

[@ralaghi]

Hi, great video. Congratulations for your project it looks really great. I'm planning to build a bouldering wall like this, can you share the measurements? What was the thickness of the steel bars that you used and also what's the measurements of the section of the bars (is it a square or rectangle profile?) Thanks in advance!

[@MartinJEngland]

Hi! The steel bars are 1 inch square steel box section with about a 2mm wall thickness I think. There's a bit more info in the description as well I think

[@ralaghi]

@@MartinJEngland thanks!

[@notkapper3213]

Wow! just wow!

[@davidr7236]

Lovely edit :)

[@telemibabs2081]

Yooo this is Amazing, Excellent Work !!! I want to make similar frames but in Lagos and need some advice, help & discussion. Do you think this can be completed in 2 days ? is it still up now ? if not how long did it take to bring down ? 🙌🏿Your execution is impeccable so keep at it 🙌🏿

[@carlosolazagasti]

How has the wall taken the environment ? Has it deteriorated ? and if so, how?

[@elijahbeadon7050]

Dude sick!

[@BenedictTanShanWen]

You've built a little beaut! :3

[@jihoonlim217]

awesome!! impressive!!

[@dragonledz4148]

Impressive

[@Regular6782]

Wow! This is amazing. Are you going to make the CAD model public? I'd like a copy if so.

[@MartinJEngland]

Thanks for your kind words! I'm not too sure about making the CAD model public as it has quite a few errors in it and also isn't complete. So I wouldn't want anyone to use it to build their own in case they used some wrong measurements.

[@adimeshort]

Did you just use expanding wall anchors (for hanging mirrors etc) to anchor this climbing wall frame to a concrete slab?... with deck screws?.... Only wondering

[@flowthewolf1]

This is epic

[@423marie9]

Are the cad drawings/measurements available for this project?

[@jomorkenstrseth3526]

did you just use self drilling screws to attach the board?

[@maurolocatelli5836]

Wow man. that is just amazing. I live in Spain and I want to do the same. Would it be possible to ask you some questions on how u did the 3d project ? so sick

[@maurolocatelli5836]

@Leandro Barriga dude try sketchup pro free trial. I am actually using this. U can than buy the pro versión via their web site or u can find cheap licenses on aliexpress.

[@cerealdude890]

Are you supposed to get a permit for a structure this big?

[@MrRecruit4]

What I really want to know is how did you convince the HOA (or whatever building association they have in UK) to let you build this??? Here in the U.S. you have to have a permit for practically everything. It's so annoying!

[@picturedavvorld]

amazing work mate! how much did it cost in total?

[@Fogmeister]

Oh man this looks amazing. I've been wanting to build something like this in my own garden. Can you give a rough estimate of how much I could expect to spend on a project like this? £1500? £2000?

[@cycloneranger5354]

My guess is at least 5000

[@pelfinho]

I spent 1,200 on a much smaller wall without using a steel frame. This has to be much more than that!

[@javiergonzalez5809]

Good wall, but over-engineered. 2x2 tube is overkill and adds about 35-40% to the cost. 1/8" 2x2 angle with 3/4 ply trussed every 8 feet from the ground up will give you a bomber surface with no defamation...and give you more coin for silicone and polyurethane resin.

[@escaladaseguraamimanera3621]

y que haces con el espacio interior? no tiene ningún uso?. me parece que te sobra el espacio, bro.

[@MartinJEngland]

It's used to store the crash pads so they don't get wet when it rains

[@escaladaseguraamimanera3621]

ok, thanks

[@noname.9221]

Respect. Im russian )

[@MontagoDK]

I hope it doesn't rain where you live... those plywoods will be destroyed quite fast.

[@tomedinburgh4490]

I was just about to comment this. It looks like Britain..very keen to see how it holds up to the rain with all those holes drilled aswell.

[@MontagoDK]

@@tomedinburgh4490 not only rain, but the general moisture in England is so high that it'll start to swell and rot quite fast. It could be treated with something that prevents all this though. but it looked like normal plywood.

[@tomedinburgh4490]

@@MontagoDK i grew up in the dales around Manchester - humidity doesnt matter if it never stops raining 🤣. Super keen to see if hes solved for it and it holds up. Would be amazing to have a go and build a sort of outdoor shed boulder combination thing.

[@IUSEJITTER2]

its goooood but not tall enough for you to make some decent routesetteling

[@imadeitworse8275]

Using a handle like that to hold the wood that's cheating But nice video

[@orangesnail25]

Deceptively short lol

[@kingjohn219]

Teach your cat how to climb.

[@romanklymenko5618]

A lot of efforts but for training totally useless

[@Pludrike]

How about putting all that time on something useful? Maybe something easy like sharpen up and not looking like a weak joke.

[@MultiCruton]

How is this NOT putting time into something useful? Developing construction skills and creating something in order to progress (sharpen up) in a hobby he clearly loves ? Also don’t know where you are but we’ve had an awful lot of lockdowns where any of our “normal” activities have been limited, so building a spectacular climbing wall and subsequently getting stronger seems like a pretty frickin good use of time.

[@marijuanamonk]

2.30 is that a drywall anchor you just hammered into the concrete?

[@fckingkim]

Good job bro.

[@Faitheist1652]

I have mad respect for people who can work with their hands like this. Very impressive.

[@WspinaczkowyBlog]

I also have a climbing wall at home. Height 5.5 m, 74 m2 of panel. I built it 6 years ago. My advice to all those who build something for home climbing - REMEMBER TO WARM UP before climbing. Since it's easy to just get out of your chair and start climbing, it's just as easy to get injured without warming up. You have been warned :)

[@tommeyer3871]

10:14 dude in the back building a roof for his trampoline or what? :D Nice build, can barely even call it homemade anymore with the level of thought and craftmanship that went into this, your parents must be incredibly proud seeing you out day in day out building this masterpiece from scratch. Very impressive I hope you have some kinda protective gear in place, to shield all that from rougher weather conditions, would be a shame if it wouldn't last you for years to come

[@chrisembryclimbing]

I agree with Aaron. Terrific camera work, audio mixing and all. Love the wall itself as well how it has character and angles like in a gym. Fantastic work Martin, keep it up. You are truly an inspiration to us all.

[@LinaMortaji]

Great wall. I want to build one but i don't know the cost. Can you tell please how much it did cost? Thank you

[@monoTNT]

Could i do a wall but with pvc board instead of plywood? I would think it might be better for the outdoor conditions.

[@raphaelkinney]

KZbin recommended serving up the good stuff. Excellent build and very well done!

[@darrylhscroggins]

Very impressive build! And congratz on the orange send ;)

[@zip7806]

You should Replace your Concrete screws with Epoxy anchors. Also, consider starting your climes from sitting on the ground. its like adding 3' of height to the wall.

[@spacescienceguy]

I don't even have a backyard and I want this.

[@HosonZes]

The structural integrity of your build is impressive.

[@dbennett1501]

Beautiful work :) . How much did this cost you roughly ? I want to do something similar . Great work great vid thanks for sharing

[@pravinkumar907]

Palms sweating watching your send your orange route. Well done, must feel amazing to send a difficult interesting route on a wall you built yourself!

[@spacedout4061]

I was waiting for a new video, looks great!!!

[@vetlegrimstad4376]

This is extremely impressive!! Great work dude!

[@claybob]

A thing of beauty. Well done.

[@petpillow]

What an awesome climbing wall to have at home!

[@malware-jf2fh]

How did yoj attached the bpard unto the metal frames? Did you just use a screw? Thanks for the info. Im planning to build one in my vacant yard

[@georgepilkington9350]

this is absolutely gorgeous

[@JoaoMFaria]

mega project that turned out super beautiful and a hell of a climbing wall! congrats and epic use of a lot of free time! :D

[@JosephGuillot587]

I have cliffs deep in the woods behind my home, not that big, but about the size of that wall.