Plywood butt joint for a finished wall

[Borrall Wonnell]

I'm building an indoor climbing wall out of 3/4" plywood in a finished space. The wall will be well-secured to beefed-up framing. How do I avoid rough edges/splinters, particularly at the butt joints between plywood sheets?

My joint finishing options are:

1) Do nothing, simply risk splinters (it's decent grade plywood) 2) Tape/mud as you would with drywall (I doubt it would hold up) 3) Leave a 1/8" gap and use some T-molding between sheets (not exactly the look I'm going for).

Any other ideas? Besides NOT building a climbing wall, that is? :)

[GROVER]

Another possibility is to butt the joints with #20 biscuits. Carefully applied this technique should help align the plywood sheets and eliminate any height differences.

Joe G

[RicodJour]

Paint it. Any sealant with some body will help bind the edges. But if you're looking for something tougher you'll have to cover it with something else. One possibility would be some sort of tape, such as a roll of the tape used for flashing roofs and windows.

R

[Pavel314]

Nail the first sheet up and put a thin layer of plastic wood on the butt end, then force the next sheet into the plastic wood and nail it up. Remove the excess that squeezes out immediately.

[dpb]

The surest way other than a moulding would be to chamfer the edges slightly before putting it up. Clean up any remaining roughness and sand enough to be smooth edge. As another said, a good coat of an enamel paint will then help prevent edges getting started altho one might presume that the textured surface is an objective...

--

[RicodJour]

Right. Nice coarse sand in the paint, and maybe some glass chips, to toughen up people and let them know what real rock feels like. ;)

R

[ChairMan]

In news: [e-mail], Borrall Wonnell spewed forth:

sandpaper

[DerbyDad03]

Stucco

[N8N]

doesn't exactly answer your question, but I would seriously consider using T&G the way I'm envisioning this.

nate

[aemeijers]

What he said, and then mud the joint with epoxy or urethane, depending on what color you are going for. I'd coat the whole damn thing in the same stuff they use on bare concrete floors in stores, if you can afford it.

[krw]

That was my first thought.

[willshak]

Borrall Wonnell wrote the following:

No one has asked so far, so I will. How tall will this wall be?

[aemeijers]

If he can find a cheap source for 5/4 car siding or 2x t&g roof decking, that would produce a better-looking wall than plywood. Unless this is a wall for little kids, it pretty much needs to be 3x or 4x the climbers height, to provide any sort of climbing experience.

-- aem sends, trying not to think about younger stronger days when I could climb into the attic area of a just-framed house by jumping up and grabbing the joists, and pulling myself up with arms and legs....

[Joe]

Taper the butt joint, coat with a slow cure epoxy, put on several several layers of fiberglass, and let it cure hard. Next day, coat it with Bondo, sand smooth and paint to suit. It ought to last you for years done like that.

Joe

[Borrall Wonnell]

I've been afraid to respond, there have been so many good suggestions! I hate to pick one and make everyone else feel left out!

To answer the question, the wall will only be 8' tall. It is intended more as a traverse wall rather than a climbing wall. Some sections will be vertical, some at approx. 30 degrees. It takes up a corner of one room, about 10' along either wall. The ceiling will be used as a complete overhang. I also plan on attaching climbing ropes (more as an obstacle course than climbing).

T&G was considered but I have some small sections so T&G would only be a partial solution.

As mentioned, all will be 3/4" ply. Chamfering/paint sounds like a really good option at this point...you'll know the joint is there but it won't be conspicuous. I *could* fill with epoxy/bondo but I may want to remove/salvage the wall at some later date. It'll be a trade- off vs. potential splinters on the chamfered joint...time will tell.

Thanks all!

[David Nebenzahl]

On 4/19/2011 7:17 AM Borrall Wonnell spake thus:

I vote for #3, except that I'd use H-channel (overlaps sheets on both sides), assuming that wouldn't interfere with the climbing function of the wall. Not the look, no, and extra work and expense, but it would certainly save the edges of the ply, which *will* get chewed up otherwise.

[norminn]

Have you considered any kind of flooring to cover the plywood...carpet, tile, laminate?