By: Jeremy Hardin

Have you been setting on your wall for years? Have you set every possible hold combination and sequence? Is the most interesting part of your day coming up with the name of the route you just set?

Then maybe it’s time to do something about it! One of the easiest ways to turn a flat wall into a giggle inducing fun house, is to add a few volumes.

Sure you could go spend lots of money on commercially made volumes. But most setters are pretty handy with tools and can make their own. With these 11 easy steps you too can turn your flat-as-a-ten-year-old-girl wall into a wall with more dimensions than a double-D porn star.

Materials Needed for Volume

• 4×8 Sheet of ¾ inch Plywood
• Straight Edge / Tape Measure
• Circular Saw
• Drill
• Belt Sander
• Putty
• Jigsaw
• Assortment of Screws
• Small piece of 2×6 stock
• 1 ½ inch pipe or dowel
• Epoxy
• 7/16 Drill bit

Step 1: Creating the Shape

First you need to come up with a design you’re going to want on your wall.

Take the design you probably drew on the back of a sticky note and mark it out in true size on your ¾ inch plywood. If you don’t want to be a bum about this step you can find someone who knows how to work a CAD program and actually draw out the entire design with precise measurements and angles so all you’ll have to do is mark and cut.

You should start with basic triangle shapes, nothing with more than 4 sides for right now.

Step 2: Transferring and Cutting out the Shape

After you have your design marked on the ply, take a circular saw and go to work. Here’s another area not to be sloppy about, take the time to set up a guide so that you’re actually cutting straight lines. Good advice here is to also miter the bottom edges of the sides that will sit on the wall. You should be able to turn your blade so that you’re cutting at an angle. This will save you lots of time when you go to mount the volume.

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