Outdoor Climbing Wall On Side Of Shed - Suggestions

Hi All
Just fininshed my decking project, piccys to follow on that but i have a few boards left over. I was at a craft fair recently and there was a chap selling climbing frames and one of these had a climbing wall attached to one of the sides which got me thinking.

My kids love climbing up the trees/climbing frame etc and i thought that it might be a good idea to put one up on the side of my smaller shed.

The shed is reasonably sound (not that great though) and i was going to secure some wood on the inside of the shed vertically (floor to roof) to make it a little more sound. Then build a frame (same as decking) and then bolt the frame through the shed and onto the wood inside the shed. It would be secured on the roof also to stop it toppling over.

Then i was going to purchase some of those foot hold things, bolt them on and voila, a climbing wall. It would end up the same height as the boards with a 'sitting' area on the top (strenghtened of course), a wooden rail going all the way around and a ladder down the side so they can get down easier.

Does this sound like a good idea or am i asking for trouble? Anyone else ever done this?

Lee

not a good idea sheds are cheaply made to take the loads in the desighned directions only!!
take a hold of the roof to the corner off the door and rock back and forth and see if the door opening stays square

even an adjoining frame a few inches away may cause feet to go through the walls after several accidental kicks

Generally speaking if you are building a climbing wall you use sheets of 18mm ply onto which you bolt the holds. That ply is then generally attached to something very strong on 400mm centres.

Given that we're talking about children, and that falling off from the height of your shed is unlikely to be fatal, you can probably relax that a little.

I think you'll find sheet material (maybe 12mm ply would be ok) better than decking or planks.

Given that you want the 'wall' to be at a fairly steep angle, much of the weight should be transfered direct to the ground rather than via the shed, so I think you'll be OK on that front.

Finally, make sure you can get to the back of the ply so you can easily move the climbing holds - your kids will soon get bored with the first configuration and want them moved to something harder. Before you know it they'll be wanting harnesses and ropes for Christmas and dragging you off to the peak district on holiday

snowdrift said:

Finally, make sure you can get to the back of the ply so you can easily move the climbing holds - your kids will soon get bored with the first configuration and want them moved to something harder.

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Thats are very good point, most kids will soon get bored with it after 10 minutes, are you really sure you should be doing this?

suppose shed is 8 foot tall, how high can they climb? not 8 foot because asuming the child is 4 foot tall they are already standing 1/2 way up, so can only climb 4 feet, you are not going to get that much variety in 4 feet are you?

Ok so you make it 12 feet, is it not going to need reinforceing as its only fixed to the bottom 8 feet of the shed and has got 1 or 2 kids hanging off from up to 4 feet above the height of the shed, what if that is high enough and kids heavy enough to tip shed? (not over but enough to move it)

The other thing i was wondering, what happens when it gets wet? how safe will the "hand / foot holds" be after a few months of rain, i was not only thinking about slipery but starting to rot.

grow a tree instead, but they take too long