Help with home made rock wall

[Peter_SS]

I have made a plywood wall. I am looking for pointers on how to make a sculpted ruff surface like Vertical Worlds walls.

 

[summerprophet]

Go to a hardware store and pick up fine grain sterile sand and fiberglass resin.

 

Mix together and apply to the wall.

[ken4ord]

A lot less toxic for yourself, cheaper and not fixed in place alternative would be buy a bag or two of footies. They are quite cheap, a bag is like $20. When they get super polished you can just get rid of them. Also I install them on my bigger sloper holds to modify lager hold, especially when I adjust my wall to make it steeper. I also use them to block larger jugs to make them more difficult to grab.

 

Working with resin is just messy and will stay stinky for quite a while after applying.

[max]

Don't use resin if it's inside or anywhere near a door going inside. THat stuff stinks and is nasty.

 

[tradhead]

I put texture on the first panel of my home wall and haven't liked it much. It's hard on the shoes and doesn't really have any use that I've found. I don't know how steep your wall is; mine is 25 deg. overhung on one half and 35 deg. on the other. Maybe it would be better on a lower angle wall?

 

As Ken4ord suggests, I think that putting chips up for the feet is easier and more effective than texture. If you do end up wanting to try texture, make sure you get a good respirator with a cartridge rated for VOCs. Otherwise, the polyester resin will make you so high that it will be difficult to work. Those fumes are horrible for you.

[flashclimber]

I put the texture on one of my walls before. I ended up replacing the 4x8 because I got no use out of it (it also became real heavy, blocked the holes for holds, and didn't look very good). I think tradhead is right. If you are looking at a vertical or slab wall, it would be nice. Anything over 15 degrees overhanging and it becomes worthless (or just a waste of money).

[matty_g]

Metolius makes a great paint with sand. That has been plenty for all my wall traction needs. I wouldn't cook up any resin - to stinky....

 

ymmv