'Stuff' needs buying and building and so a daily stream of parcels are constantly arriving and one of the things she really wanted for her sensory playroom was a mini climbing wall.
We needed to get this installed first as someone was coming to measure up for all the wall and floor padding and so needed to measure around the climbing wall.
The padding is a very strict rule of needing to be 50mm thick and must cover the entire floor and 80cm minimum up the bare walls.
The dimensions of the playroom was also defined as being a minimum of 20 sq. m which we'd drawn into the original architect's plans but by the time the house was built and magically reduced in size to 19 sq.m due to the incompetence of the original builders. This then had to be remedied by an extension being built on the back which gives us about 23 sq.m .
So we started out with a sheet of 8 x 4, 20mm thick pine board.
We also needed :-
Only the minimum basic tools were required :-
Neither of us are very artistic so painting some nice mountains and meadows as we'd seen others do was off the cards so we went for a simple clear varnished (lacquered) finish.
The board needs a finish as it will need protection from both scuff marks and from termites which are a huge problem here.
Firstly, I started by giving it a rubdown with a very slightly damp cloth just to get rid of the dust. Not too wet as the surface is already smooth and didn't want to lift the grain.
Secondly, I went around the quite sharp edges with the sandpaper to smooth off the corners slightly.
Now it's important to build up the finish with multiple coats to get the very hard-wearing finish that we needed so I started off easy with a 1:2 ratio mix of varnish to thinners to get a nice light coat on that would absorb into the wood and seal the grain.
After the first coat had dried, a quick once over with the sandpaper and slightly damp cloth before a 1:1.5 mix this time and a further two coats.
I'd measured all the depths and hole sizes of the 'rocks' and made a little plan before I went out to buy the nuts and bolts...
The eagle eyed amongst you will see that 35mm bolts would leave the nut lightly protruding so to take out an extra mil, I used an extra washer under the bolt head on the climbing rock.
The back of the board, of course needed to be flush so after drilling the bolt holes, I then created holes to the depth of the bolt through the board to in effect, countersink the bolt heads.
To get the required depth i.e. the depth of the bolt, I simply wrapped some masking tape around the spade bit.
After drilling a small pilot hole, followed by the 8mm hole for the bolt and then the hole at the back for the countersink, we get this!
The next step is very important. After all the holes are drilled, sand off the edges and then get some varnish in there! Termites can get where water can't so I can't afford to give them even a sniff of bare wood!
Next, we move onto bolting the plastic 'rocks' in place and with nicely square and well drilled holes (which mine weren't!) the washers will just slip nicely and firmly into place and hold there until you slip in the bolts and nuts and tighten the whole thing up.
At this point, its was getting late in the day and in my haste, forgot to take photos of the plugs and screws. It didn't help that I was doing all this alone and throwing around heavy 8x4 sheets isn't as easy as it once was!
Anyway, I used heavy duty nylon, 8mm 'Rawlplugs' and screws which I drilled in after I'd glued the whole back of the board and pressed it into place.
Because there was a slight bow in the board from mean leaning it against the wall, I did 4 rows of 3 screws and started with the centre two rows to pull it in, flat to the wall before drilling and screwing in the the top and bottom rows.
Now of course, there isn't a lot of headroom and I need to add a piece of padding on the ceiling but the kids who will be using this will range in age from toddler to about 8 years old so its enough. It's not going to fall down and if the kids fall off the floors and walls are padded and safe.
That's another job ticked off and I then could get back to the rather more mundane tasks of mounting fire extinguishers to the wall and sticking 'No Smoking' signs up!
