[dave]

Hear me now. :!:

Basically i'm just wantined to canvas some opinions and get general advice on the subject of woodies (not boners, training boards). You see hopefully in the next few months (touch wood) me and mi bitch will be buying a house in tha westside ghetto, and obviously my first job before installing a kitchen or redecorating the bathroom will be to build a woody.

The kind of terraced house we'll end up with will probably have a low damp old cellar with coal chute, and a big cool converted attic room, so the attic seems to obvious choice for woody venue. Also the slope of a roof means that a 45deg board would be the natural choice. I wanna know if anyone has had any experience of building a woody in an attic?? For example, is it OK to use the roof joists to support the board, how do you fix framing to walls, will the floor give way, has anyone had trouble getting 8x4 ply up to an attic, etc etc etc???? :?:

Also any general comments regarding building home woodies would be appreciated. Don't bother posting URLs to usefull sites cos i've seen 'em all, i just want your personal perspectives on this matter.

Cheerz guys, keep it real.

[Bubba]

Another thing on the list of features was to be a "readers woodies" fnarr! feature, which would feature home woodies and their builders, preferably naked  :shock: , especially the laydeeez! Must get it done....

Mine's currently under a rebuild but is in the garage so no use to you.

Nic Kidd built a woodie in his top room of a terrace. I think he just leant the boards up against the roof beams and secured them at the bottom directly into the floorboards. He's on hols at the moment but I'll get him to drop any tips onto here, and he's an engineer so should bloody well know his stuff.

[dave]

cheers, thats just the kind of thing i was after, i.e. engineers advice without having to pay for it!

I think i heard somewhere that using the roof supports could pull your house down, but thats probably just an urban myth. My original plan was to build an ajustable-angle one, given a cellar with load of height, but i don't think its worth it in an attic room. Bo selecta.

[underground]

Using the roof supports might pull your house if you were about 300 stone, but I guess you're not (eh dave?)

[dave]

No, they don't call me "Ritche Patterson".

[Bubba]

Is Richie eating too many pies, not that I'm one to talk...?

Poor lad is still plagued by his bad shoulder I think - last time I saw him he was out soloing v-diffs at Burbage.

[dave]

Dunno, but them love-handles on Stick-It were summert else!

[HOLDZ]

'ey up,

I built my first woodie in an attic, by screwing the wood directly to the roof joists, and it's been up 12 years now (used my first student grant) . It's rather steep thou, but there's a massive joist running from left to right, that makes a great open handed pinch, but with a set of screw ons makes a good kinda sloper.

But the only thing with it being up in the attic, is the cold, it gets really cold in winter and you can't use it in summer cos it's way too hot.

One thing I would recomend is to add 100's of T nuts when you build it, as I didn't put that many on, and it'd be such an arse to take it down and add loads more.

  You can get loads of holds from HOLDZ.co.uk, cos after bulding my first woodie got kinda into it, got a job at DR climbing walls and made walls all over the world for them, for 6 years, then sacked it, and started HOLDZ.co.uk

STeve

[dave]

Yes cheers for the advice - I'm not too woried about the temperature thing cos hopefully i won't need to use it in summer.

I'll probably end up getting some of the big slopers from holdz, assuming i get it built.

[dave]

Nic Kidd built a woodie in his top room of a terrace.............. He's on hols at the moment but I'll get him to drop any tips onto here, and he's an engineer so should bloody well know his stuff.

So then, any tips from your man Mike?  :?: I'm still looking for info on this subject......

I think on boldering.com this would be called *BUMP*.

[Bubba]

He's now a member of this very board - calling NORTONSHARLEY !!!

He's yer man - come on, Norton, spill the beans!

[Norton Sharley]

What's there to know?

Build a board in your attic, realise it's pulling the house down, take down the board, cover the space with plasterboard, rent out the house at extortionate Sheffield rent prices (I wish), move to Scotland and rebuild the board in a proper room.

How hard can it be.

Cheque is required in the post to pay for the new roof before advise can be proferred my dear Dave.

[Bubba]

Cheque is required in the post to pay for the new roof before advise can be proferred my dear Dave.

Now I know you've moved to Scotland, but......  

[Norton Sharley]

Oh al right then.....

Engineers recommended procedure:

Stage 1:

Shut attic door to retain mess about to be made, plasterboard is very dusty.  You should also wear a mask, preferably smeared with Vicks of course although you may be too young to remember those days.

Remove plasterboard from roof (inside dickhead).

Lob removed plasterboard through 1940's version of Velux window on other side of room.

Go for beer in Broadie feeling rather chuffed at stage one complete.

Stage 1.5:

Clear up mess in rest of house after leaving the house back door and all other doors open.

Go for two more pints in Broadie to comiserate having to do cleaning for first time in years.

Stage 2:

Buy boards from Arnold Laver (way cheap) but remember to take your car so you can get the boards home.

Go back into AL's and ask them to chop up all the boards so you can get them in your car.

Get home and ring friends asking them to help to lift boards up two flights of tiny stairs.

Go for beer in Broadie to bribe friends.

Stage 3:

Using fuck off long screws (technical term to use in Wickes) screw boards to joists (the bits holding the roof up)

Go for beer.........

Stage 4:

Persuade a friend who writes gear articles to scam loads of holds for testing and bolt them on to boards.

Get fat bastard mate (Bubba should do) to hang off boards to load test.  Suggest you watch from the street.

Go for extra beer with all your mates, wall is now complete    

Stage 5:

Train for 6 months in Foundry until you are strong enough to hang off your boards.

Stage 6:

Re-plaster ceiling of room below the attic after first couple of good wall sessions.
 :cry:


P.S. Remember to take down the wall before getting a house survey or valuation done  :shock:

Anything else you need to know Dave  :?:

[Bubba]

Get fat bastard mate (Bubba should do) to hang off boards to load test.  Suggest you watch from the street.

You cheeky fuck  

[dave]

Anything else you need to know Dave  :?:

That should do nicely, cheers. :wink:

[Norton Sharley]

Oh, yeh, remember that the trusses are built to hold up the roof not  Bubbas so make sure if you've got a typical old terrace that you support all the main board weight off the big fuck off cross beam called a (baslhdljjgajd :roll:  :roll: ) or someat.  It's the big beam.  Otherwise the roof might cave in.

I've also found that attic cellars ( :!: ) are pretty good for holding parties or building hyperphonic set ups.  Just another advantage of getting a woody.

Bubba, we should have a vote, best woodies you've trained on, I propose 819 woodie (original cellar mix man) for holding up the living room floor at many a party

[SamT]

I built a woodie in my old house's celler - definatly and option if yo julie is insistant that she needs the attic room to store all her bling bling. She'll also not be impressed at getting covered in bits of plaster falling of the bedroom ceiling every time bubba falls off the finishing holdz  

Cellars are never really dry. However - if its relatively dry then there are things you can do.

1 damned good sweep - remembering to keep the door shut to prevent entire house being filled with soot.  

2 - put a sheet of visquene down - (fuck off tuff plastic sheet available at blders merch eg pagets.)

3 make sure coal shute is still open. and get 1m cubed of ready mix concrete delivered and poured down coal shute. level off (wearing wellies)

hey presto - clean dry floor - even better when painted with garage floor paint.

4 paint walls white - or autumn barley if your so inclined.  

5 build simple frame by wedgeing 3*2 beams into the corner between floor and wall and fixing to ceiling joist with a big bolt.

The floor joists are a lot stronger than the beams in a roof as they are designed to hold up sofas with couch potatoes sat on them so no fear of house collapsing.

Ventilation is all important - make sure you either have good air bricks or similar vents (coal shut not covered). These have to be front and back so there is good airflow though the cellars taking moisture away.

Where ever possible - avoid shopping in B&Q etc. eg 10 screws = £40.
IFS (industrial fixings supplies) edmund road (nr queens rd) 8 million T nuts and bolts - a tenner.

I found the best way to transport ply is cut into 8*2 strips. they just fit in my car (ibiza) by winding down the passenger seat and sliding them down into the footwell. makes it easier to negociate through the house.

Nortons points about the broadie are of course of overiding importance.

good luck and Ill see you down the physios in the spring  :roll:

[Bubba]

Bubba, we should have a vote, best woodies you've trained on, I propose 819 woodie (original cellar mix man) for holding up the living room floor at many a party

819 ? Brings a tear to me eye... but my favourite was one of the very first in Sheffield, our own 20 Westbrook Bank glory hole.

One day, a journalist from the Guardian turned up to photograph me swinging about down the cellar, as he'd heard about this strange pastime from god knows where. Well funny, there was me in the old Gruaniad in glorious technicolour (well, black and white actually).  The daddy of the original cellars was Chris Gore's though - a beautiful object in a nice warm cozy cellar.

[dave]

Where ever possible - avoid shopping in B&Q etc. eg 10 screws = £40.
IFS (industrial fixings supplies) edmund road (nr queens rd) 8 million T nuts and bolts - a tenner.

I found the best way to transport ply is cut into 8*2 strips. they just fit in my car (ibiza) by winding down the passenger seat and sliding them down into the footwell. makes it easier to negociate through the house

Those is good tips - cheerz.

I was gonna try scrounging 3/4 inch ply from building sites for £zip - which is a bonus cos after buying a house I'm gonna be skint.

I would like to have one in a cellar, but all the houses we're looking at buying (walkey type area) have cellars so low that i can only stand up with my head between the joists, and thats before pouring in an inch of concrete.

[mark]

819 cellar. Climbing to the sound of Patta endlessly playing Fool's Gold.

Best cellar ever...
Without a doubt the one I got taken to in Salt Lake City a few years ago. The guy had a huge garage/outhouse. Twenty feet wide, twelve feet high,thirty feet deep, i.e. built to house 2 enormous American 4x4s. Entirely panelled out, roof included, differently angled boards everywhere, covered in holds. Built by the Pusher guys, cost thousands of dollars. Better than most commercial bouldering walls.

Worst cellar...
John Welford's, because it only has 6 holds on it and I can't hang any of them.

[fatboySlimfast]

best would be the one i built in dave mellors cellar on Harefield road when i rented there in 1989, not cos it was awesome but what it did for me power and made me realise how to get stronger!(it was crap!)
I saw one in Tennnesee, Chatanooga that was fricking enormous,
still didnt want to climb on it though

[Norton Sharley]

Just got this image of Sam trying to drive through his house in the Ibiza with two bits of 8x2' stuck out the window    

Stick need to get them cut at the merchants mind.

Even cheaper fasteners at Greens on the industrial estate behind the incinerator and next to Arco.  Still buy fasteners for work from there and ship them to Scotland

Gore's cellar was not a cellar, more of a cave community dwelling hole thingy

[Bubba]

Link here on woodie construction:

http://www.indoorclimbing.com/climbing_walls.html