Daniel Williams // Wiltshire, England // UK
When did you build your wall? Was it a COVID baby?
We built it in May of this year and it was most definitely a covid baby.
How long did it take you to build and what did that time look like?
It didn’t take us too long to build. Once we decided on a plan and knew what we needed it only took us a couple days. We were both off work at the time, so we were able to build it and get climbing within a week.
Not including holds and padding, how much did it cost you to build? Any surprises there? Most/Least expensive part?
It actually only cost us about £100 ($130) for materials which was quite surprising. I thought it would have been a lot more expensive!
What are you doing for padding?
When we’re bouldering we are just using a couple of old mattresses, which isn’t the most sophisticated of padding, but it does the job!
What was your primary incentive for the wall? Did anything in particular inspire your wall design?
Our main incentive for building it was just to keep fit during lockdown. We both enjoyed climbing a lot before covid and we didn’t want to lose our progress we had been making in the climbing gyms. Also, with everywhere being closed, serious boredom was kicking in, so I had to keep myself busy with a project of some kind!
What was the most difficult aspect of the design and build?
I think the most difficult part was actually just deciding on what kind of wall to build, whether to have a short and wide wall for traversing or to just go straight up. In the end I’m happy we chose to go high.
What would you do differently?
I think we could have gotten away with making it a bit smaller, as it does loom over the garden a bit and it is quite a faff to move around, but we’re both still super happy with how it turned out.
Did you make any mistakes along the way or choose to re-do any aspects? If so, what?
We bought the wrong screws or bolts about 2 or 3 times before actually getting the right ones!
What is your favorite aspect?
I really like the height of it. It’s high enough that we can set up a top rope which is super fun but it’s also great because we can practice our anchor points and knots on it. That and the paint job!
How often do you use the wall? Do you think you’ll still use it as much when all of the gyms open back up?
We try to use it as often as we can. Our closest climbing gym is around 45 minutes away and closest crag is an hour so it’s definitely good to have!
Any words of wisdom to aspiring homewallers?
Do it. It’s real fun and you can get really creative. We have been carving our own holds too. It’s also great to have your mates around to use it and have a bit of a social without having to go out and pay for the gym.
