This homewall is a great backyard build. Since the local gyms closed their resident comp crusher needed a place to stay strong, so David put this up in Decatur, Georgia, with his son Zander using pieces from an older homewall.
When did you build your wall?
Three weeks ago with some additions in the past week here in May.
How long did it take you to build?
Cumulative – 5 days, over the course of a two and a half week period – whenever we got the time to actually work on it.
Not including holds and padding, how much did it cost you to build?
Roughly $700, if you count all the t-nuts and bolts and framework (heavier, treated wood, concrete, etc) to make the outdoor wall secure to climb on. All the rest of the wood was what we already had in our garage from an old wall and some extra pieces donated by a neighbor who was getting rid of some.
Did anything, in particular, inspire your wall design?
We had a lot of wood leftover from a boxed-in, indoor wall that Zander and I built when he was 9 years old with red, white and blue that we painted on separate pieces. This was dismantled quite a few years ago, and the wood was then stored in the garage. All of these older/used red, white & blue, multi-colored wood sections were the bulk of the build – hence the mismatched colors and our name for it – “Frankenwall”.
What was the most difficult aspect of the design and build?
Because the wall ended up being so tall, getting the angle of the main wall right for Zander was hard. We were going for 35 degrees but it ended up being 37 degrees.
What would you do differently?
I wouldn’t do anything differently, other than maybe get a little extra help for Zander and I.
What is your favorite aspect?
Spending time with my son working on a project together. And that wall angle is pretty cool in its finished product.
Any words of wisdom to aspiring homewallers?
DO IT! And don’t wait for another pandemic to build one! If you or anyone in your family climbs, it’s a great thing to build and then climb on – together.
Do you have any connection to climbing brands or gyms?
Yes – my connection is my son, Zander, who has been a competitive rock climber for 10 years. He has been affiliated with the Stone Summit Climbing teams in Atlanta since he was 6 years old. We have been a part of the local climbing community at all of those gyms, in addition to the Southeastern USA outdoor climbing community for years. As far as climbing brands — Zander is a Madrock athlete, a Friction Labs athlete and a Black Diamond Ambassador.
