Interior climbing wall material

Getting ready to build a new wall in my barn. Need interior rated material in terms of out gassing/air quality, but tough for Tee nuts and wear from climbing shoes. There is some SmartSide siding available cheap enough locally, but I am unsure about it in terms of air quality, holding Tee nuts and surface durability. It is an engineered wood product somewhat like OSB, but supposed to be more water resistant and tougher in terms of hail resistance. They have a video of throwing baseballs at various siding materials... 

Anyway, what's the standard for wall material these days? I have used just plywood with sand paint successfully before, but this siding is cheaper.

As a builder I have used LP smart side on houses.  It a great product for the purpose intended, however I don’t think it’s thick enough for a climbing wall. You will get crazy flex and I’m pretty sure t-nuts will pull through it.  I would be looking for think plywood or sub floor material would be the best

Make sure you use T nuts that use little screws to secure....the regular one that "bite" into the wood will strip eventually and in general suck for a proper install....albiet are time saver comapratively.

3/4 inch plywood is the norm. You can pay $$$ for a perfect (and incredibly thin!) surface ply, but it really isn't necessary. If you shop around, you can probably find mid grade plywood that will be just as good. I have been very happy with some 7-ply radiata pine from home depot... even less voids than the expensive sheets, nearly perfect surface, and much cheaper price. With a little bit of sanding, it is very nice.

For the t-nuts, make sure that your drill bit is sized correctly. Maybe find a quality forstner bit. Be careful to avoid blowout in the back of the wood. If you really want to be careful, add some glue to the t-nuts when hammering them in, or else get the kind that are secured with screws.

Sand in the paint is not necessary, in my opinion. It is hard on shoes. If you don't want plain wood, you can go crazy with regular paint though. I have been very happy keeping it simple with just primer and a bit of sanding to get a nice finish. Whichever paint you choose, you want something that will not cause holds to stick too much, so you might want to choose a matte finish and be careful about paint quality.

Thanks all!

Re: OSB, concerned about off gassing. Are the adhesives used in production still only exterior rated?

Also wondering what to plan for Tee nuts/sq ft ?

mountainhick wrote:

Thanks all!

Re: OSB, concerned about off gassing. Are the adhesives used in production still only exterior rated?

Also wondering what to plan for Tee nuts/sq ft ?

Ordered a box of 1000, more than enough for about 208 sq ft