Off the Wall Question – Climbing Walls, ropes and ladders in a playroom
I will be installing a climbing wall and other play apparatus for my grandkids in my pretty good house renovation. Are there particular brands of materials to look for or avoid?
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You should read up on playground safety, you'd hate for grandpa's house to be associated with a painful injury. Kids can have a lot of fun without ever getting too high off of the ground. They will fight and push so you don't want them to be able to fall too far.
You can buy basic climbing wall grips online and make a wall by fastening a sheet of 3/4" plywood to the wall and then screwing the grips to it. I did that for my kids, the grips used t-nuts so could easily move them around to change things up.
Kids like hiding too so an enclosed area they can climb up to is fun. A catwalk would be cool. We had a trapeze bar which was super simple, just two large eyebolts screwed into the ceiling studs and two pieces of rope. The bar was just a section of wooden closet pole.
Thanks for the comments. The climbing wall will be ~8' high and leads to a loft that will be their cozy hiding spot. I'm planning to use Nuggets cushions under the wall.
I ordered an indoor jungle gym for my kids, has a swing, climbing wall, monkey bars, etc. You should look into a whole premade system.