Carpentry 101

Our first task was to saw the wood planks to the right sizes and drill some holes before putting them up.  Under the supervision of our experienced handyman Joe, we started our little workshop and got down to business.

Getting acquainted with the hand drill

Having fun slicing planks with our circular saw

After preparing the 6 sleepers (68") and 1 parallel sleeper (120") we went over to the pondok to begin building the frame of the wall - well mainly putting up the sleepers. 

All of us had a go drilling the sleepers to the roof

Quality control, or rather, too excited to begin climbing

It was extremely fun finally getting to use our different tools - the circular saw was a little intimidating at first but actually very simple to use. And getting the top structure up was just a small step but such a great accomplishment for us newbie carpenters. 

Hunting for Wood and Tools

To build a wall we needed wood - so we did some research online, shortlisted several wood warehouses and drove down to check them out:

Some of the shortlisted warehouses

First time wandering into these large wood warehouses

Very happy to see piles of wood planks

Bought our first round of wood planks from Ban Heng Long Trading

The people working at the warehouses were pretty amused to see two girls attempting to buy wood, they told us no one really walks in to the warehouses and most of their customers are contractors purchasing for building projects. After hopping from warehouse to warehouse, we found the best deal at Ban Heng Long Trading but we had to go to the main office at No 11 Syed Alwi Road #01-07 to place our order (we were all the way in Sungei Kadut).

Round 1 of Wood Shopping

Type of wood: Kapur - not termite resistant but the cheapest

Wood for Sleepers: 12pcs x 2.43m x 22mmx 70mm (@$6.80 each) = $81.60

Wood for Base and Roof: 2pcs x 3.6m x 22mm x 145mm (@35.40 each) = $70.80

Next, we went to buy some screws and bolts, a hand-drill and our very own circular saw.

Cool hardware shop

Shopping for screws and bolts

The Beginnings of our Bouldering Wall

How we got started..

One day my sister and I were day dreaming and we thought it'd be pretty cool to build a bouldering wall. Problem is we've had no experience building anything and absolutely no construction or carpentry knowledge. We called an expert to come take a look and he said he could help us build it over a weekend or so. After thinking about it, we decided that what we wanted was not really just a bouldering wall - but we wanted to build the wall ourselves. I always had a secret aspiration to be a carpenter so this was the perfect opportunity. 

We chose our spot - the pondok (hut) in our garden and began drafting our plans.

Measurements of our hut and planned distances of sleepers and studs

Figuring out the tools and number of wood planks needed

Planned dimensions and structure of our bouldering wall