I have built bunk bed rock walls for both of my children. I used designs from Ana White, you can visit her website at www.ana-white.com.A couple of days ago my children wanted me to build a rock wall to get on their beds instead of the ladder I build for them. You can build these for relatively cheap. The most expensive part is the holds, that has the most range of price. The more holds that you get the smaller they are. Since this is not a rock wall for only climbing, it is used to get into their bed even when tired, you may want to buy larger holds. I build one wall in about 2 - 3 hours. The hardest part was measuring. I didn't have exact measurements that I needed so there was some forgiveness in what I did. I'll give you my dimensions, you can adjust them as needed.
The bunk beds are about 55 inches tall. I wanted the wall to be angled but no more that 14 inches away from the bed, I am confined by space. I made my climbing wall about 22 inches wide. Adjust any measurements I give accordingly.
Make sure to sand all the pieces of wood. Find the best part/side of the wood that will be exposed.
Materials: (I used furring strips to keep cost down)
Wood:
2 - 1 x 2 x 8 ft
2 - 1 x 3 x 8 ft
4 - 1 x 4 x 8 ft
Tools and other material:
Wood Glue
Drill
Miter Saw
Circular Saw
Hammer
Small level
1-1/4 inch wood screws
2 inch wood screws (these are to attach to the bunk bed, length may vary depending on the wood used for bunk bed.)
3/32 inch drill bit
7/16 inch drill bit (will probably need to buy special.)
T-Nuts for climbing holds (can get on amazon)
11 Climbing holds (I used ones ones from cheapholds.com, and rocky mountain climbing holds.)
Easy Cuts:
1 x 4 x 8 ft
Cut 16 pieces 20-1/2 inches wide.
Steps:
1.) I cut both 1 x 3's at an 11 degree angle near the bottom using the miter saw. You have more than enough wood so cut off a couple of inches. These will be the outside of the wall..
2.) I lined the wood up against the bunk bed. Using a level, I marked a line at the top of the bunk bed. I marked a line at the bottom of the bunk bed. I then drew a line at 90 degrees up from the intersection of the bottom line and the edge of the wood up to the line at the top of the bunk bed. Keep the wood against the bunk bed the whole time
3.) Using a circular saw I cut the lines that I just marked. I actually used my miter saw for cutting the top line. I then used the circular saw to cut the 90 degree angle from the bottom line to the top line.
4.) I then check the wood against the bunk bed to make sure it worked. I have carpet on my floors so I was pressing down as hard as I could.
5.) Next was cutting the 1 x 2's. I placed them on the corresponding 1 x 3's. I left about a 1/8 inch gap against the bunk bed, leaving about a 3/4 inch gap away from the bunk bed. Using a pencil I marked the top and bottom of the boards where I cut the 1 x 3's. the 1 x 2's will be how you connect the 1 x 4's.
6.) Attach the 1 x 2 to the 1 x 3's. Using glue put the pieces together, just as you marked them above. I then used the 3/32 inch drill bit to pre-drill holes about 12 inches apart. Using the 1-1/4 inch screws attach the two boards.
7.) Now I cut the 16 pieces of 1 x 4 at 20-1/2 inches wide.
8.) Before I attached the 1 x 4's I pre-drilled the climbing hold holes. I used the 7/16 inch drill bit for these holes. I choose 4 boards and drilled two whole on the boards. Each whole was centered vertically and placed about 4 inches away from the edge of the board. I then choose 3 boards and drilled one whole that is centered vertically and centered horizontally (10 - 1/4 inches from the edge). The other 9 boards are left untouched, I'll call them blank later.
9.) I then hammered in the t-nuts in the holes that I just drilled. You hammer them in from the back. They provide threads for you to screw in the holds.
10.) I then screwed in the holds into the boards. I did this first but this could easily be done at the end. You can always switch out the holds if you decide to buy different ones.
11.) I finally attach the 1 x 4 pieces to the the support pieces that I created earlier. I placed 4 boards at a time on the supports. I pre-drilled two holes per board using the 3/32 inch drill bit. I used the 1-1/4 inch screws to attach them. I repeated the process until I secured all 16 boards. The pattern that I used was, starting from the top:
blank
two holes
blank
one hole
blank
two holes
blank
one hole
blank
two holes
blank
one hole
blank
two blank
blank
blank
12.) Once I built the wall I then attached it to the bunk bed. I used 4 total screws to attach the wall. I used the 1-1/4 inch screws near the top of the bunk bed and I used 2 inch screws at the bottom of the bunk bed support. I pre-drilled the holes, pressing down against the carpet to line up the top of the wall to the top of the bunk bed support. I then kicked in the bottom to make it a snug fit.
Good Luck. If you want any extra help leave a comment and I will help you as much as I can.
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