Remove drywall or not before building climbing wall

LeeAB wrote:I don't understand why you need to have the drywall to have insulation. Unless it is blown in, it should be baffles stuffed between the studs and would not need drywall to hold it in place. While drywall itself may provide some insulating properties it would be minimal.

The membrane of the sheetrock completes the encapsulation of the dead air space that promotes the heat retention. Its a system.

My .02: leave it up. Cheesy studfinders aren't worth the $; what you do to locate studs is use a drill. DO THIS LOWER THAN ANY E OUTLETS!! Find an outlet as they used a stud to mount it, see if you can tell what side of it the stud is on by the nail slot inside the box. If not, run a drill bit on either side, you either feel it hit a stud or not. Then you can measure 16" centers, and confirm the stud with the drill. Use a 4' level to mark the line up the wall.

Mike Lane wrote: The membrane of the sheetrock completes the encapsulation of the dead air space that promotes the heat retention. Its a system. My .02: leave it up. Cheesy studfinders aren't worth the $; what you do to locate studs is use a drill. DO THIS LOWER THAN ANY E OUTLETS!! Find an outlet as they used a stud to mount it, see if you can tell what side of it the stud is on by the nail slot inside the box. If not, run a drill bit on either side, you either feel it hit a stud or not. Then you can measure 16" centers, and confirm the stud with the drill. Use a 4' level to mark the line up the wall.

That's funny, that's exactly what I do at the very frequent times that I can't get my stud finder to work, but I didn't mention it because I thought it was just my own lame noob workaround! It does make little holes in the drywall, but it is highly effective (unless you accidentally find a "stud" that is actually a drywall nailer or piece of blocking).

Leave everything. Drywall has many advantages both for insulative qualities(what Mike said) and more importantly fire safety. A lot of insulation is not rated for open use as the facing is combustible. You will curse your decision to demo if you ever do sell, not to mention it does nothing to improve your wall.

Read the Metolius booklet a few more times. You could give that booklet to a builder with no wall experience and they could build a great wall for you.

Take the time to plan the wall both on paper and with string lines outlining all the panels. Transitions are the part of wall building that separates ok walls from great ones.

Definitely leave the carpet, just cover with plastic carpet protector and plywood until the framing is done. In my experience it is the atmosphere in a home wall, both the temps and the lighting that determine how usable the space ends up.

As for stud finders, buy a rare earth magnet stud finder. They are cheap and really work.