Atomik's website provides a lot of information but please don't hesitate to contact us if you need assistance. We're here to help. If you get our voicemail during business hours, it's only because we are on the phone with another client or on the production floor in our facility. Please leave a message and we will return your call as soon as possible. You can also ask your question via our Contact Us page.
If the information here hasn't quite answered your questions, please follow this link to our How To Build A Wall page. Our How-To section is full of much more detailed information to help you on your way.
Kenny Matys
President - Atomik Climbing Holds
1.What length of bolts should I choose?
2.How many t-nuts should I get?
3.What size holes do I drill for the t-nuts?
1.When will my order arrive?
2.What about backorders?
3.Is the hardware included?
4.What are Atomik's climbing holds made out of and how does it compare to other products?
5.Can I order using a Purchase Order?
1.When will my order arrive?
2.What is the difference between a bolt-on hold and a screw-on hold?
3.Are the holds guaranteed?
4.What is the texture like?
5.Are bolt-ons better than screw-ons?
6. What color of holds should I buy?
1.What pattern should I use for the t-nuts?
2.Are the holds weather resistant?
3.Can I mount climbing holds on drywall?
4.Can I attach plywood directly to a concrete wall?
5.What should I build my wall out of?
6.How to build a System Wall.
7. How to build a Hang Board.
It's a trick question! You don't choose the bolt length on our website. You are choosing the wall surface thickness. The 3/4, 1" and 1.5-inch options are telling us the thickness of your climbing wall surface. 3/4" for plywood, 1" for Trex and/or 5/4 board and finally 1.5" for walls that are faced with 2x6, 2x8, or 2x10 boards.
The industry standard is 2.25 t-nuts per square foot of wall surface. So as an example, if you have an 8 foot by 8-foot wall ( 64 square feet ), you should get 2.25 x 64 = 144 t-nuts.
You should drill a 7/16" hole which is the outside diameter of the t-nut (unless you are installing Industrial T-nuts, then it's a 1/2" hole). I prefer using a spaded wood bit. Be sure to drill from the front of the panel through to the back. Let the bit do the work. Forcing the bit through the wood causes the wood to "blow out". Click here for more details http://atomikclimbingholds.com/wall.pdf
Once we have boxed up your order, the counting of days in transit starts the day after your order is picked up by UPS. The West Coast is 2 business days away from us. The North East Coast is 5 and the South East is 4. UPS does not count the day the order was picked up as a business day.
We are the manufacturer, therefore back ordered items are rare.
No, but our website is coded to offer several hardware options. You can add hardware on the page you see the product you want.
Atomik uses a polyurethane resin. We use this resin because it offers an outstandingly strong product and it allows us to be environmentally responsible. Polyurethane does not typically emit significant amounts of either EPA-listed VOCs or "semi-VOCs."
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) refers to organic chemical compounds which have significant vapor pressures and which can affect the environment and our employee's health. Polyester resin does not afford us these benefits. It is weaker and gives off very high VOCs.
We accept Purchase Orders on orders within the United States! Follow the steps below:
The standard of 1 to 1.5 holds per 2 square feet of climbing wall area unless you have children not yet in Kindergarten. 1 hold for every square foot of climbing area is what I recommend for the little tykes. I recommend this number because it is not the size of hold that poses the challenge but the distance from one hold to the next. Home and commercial gym bouldering walls almost always see a much higher concentration of holds.
A bolt-on hold attaches with one 3/8-16 Allan head bolt which passes through the hold, into the wall surface which has an embedded 3/8-16 t-nut. A screw-on hold attaches with 2 or more wood or concrete Tapcon screws.
We provide a Lifetime Warranty on our holds. We use a high-quality polyurethane resin with grade 8 washers that provide a great product. Atomik has an impressive less than 0.0001% warranty rate. Yes, 1 hold in every ten thousand for the past 5 years. In the event you do end up in this rare event, we will replace the broken hold with two. All we ask is for a digital photograph emailed to us so we can track how it happened.
Our texture feels like clean sandstone. Similar to 120 grit sandpaper. One of the differences between Atomik and other polyurethane climbing hold companies is that our proprietary process affords us to offer a rock-like texture and feel. The real benefit is that if you want a more skin-friendly texture, simply use a sanding sponge or paper and rub the hold. On my wall, I leave all my slopers and small incuts as is. I like the texture. On big holds that see my whole hand on it with full body weight, I comfortize them. That way I can "hang on my skin" longer. It's a personal preference. Sleep easy knowing that you have choices with Atomik's product.
In my opinion, yes. You can move them easily, loosen them slightly to rotate, and re-tighten with ease and you can tighten them down pretty much as hard as you want within reason. Screw-ons have their virtues though. Since very little hardware is needed, the cost-benefit certainly poses the question as to why not. Screw-ons attach with a 3/16 x 1 3/4 long Tapcon screw. The pilot hole that is drilled using a hammer drill is 5/32 in diameter.
We offer 39 different colors! Bright tones are best for children's walls. Earth tones offer a more mellow, outdoor feel to your wall. Fluorescent tones certainly make a statement. You can choose from individual colors, select your own custom assortment of colors, choose from our pre-determined color selections, or even have a custom color made just for you.
Staggered is best. That means if you stand your 4 x 8 sheet tall and measure from the top left to the right, the first t-nut is 2 inches in and 4 inches down. You should have 6 t-nuts on that first row measuring to the right, spaced 8 inches apart with the last t-nut 6 inches from the right edge. The second row is 6 inches in and 12 inches down. This row will also have 6 t-nuts in the row and 8 inches apart. The last t-nuts will end up 2 inches from the right edge of the panel. Click here for an image and details T-nut Layout
Indoors our outdoors, Atomik holds stand the time of time. Mother Nature does have a nasty child called UV rays and that will fade all holds over time. Yes, we can UV coat them but to be honest, all that does is slow the fading down. In our opinion, it's not worth charging you the extra money for the coating.
No, no, no. Drywall is NEVER structural. Please do not think you can " hit the studs in the wall" and be safe. It is not.
You have 2 options:
Yes, you can but you need to " fur out " the plywood using furring strips. We recommend laying 2 x 4s flat against the wall attaching with Tapcons or wedge bolts. The extra 1.5 inches that the 2 x 4 offers, allows a bolt to pass through the hold, through the panel and t-nut, and then into the space that you created so that the bolt does not push the panel away from the wall. Many think, "well why not just get exact bolt lengths?" In a perfect world, yes but the amount of thread that comes out the back of each hold varies. DO NOT LAY A SHEET OF PLYWOOD FLAT AGAINST A CONCRETE WALL WITHOUT FURRING STRIPS!
System Walls are easy. The key is to chalk line the entire panel so that you have a very dense grid pattern of t-nuts for maximum places to move holds to. Normally a climbing wall will have 72 t-nuts on a sheet of plywood. 144 t-nuts on a sheet of plywood ( 4 inches apart ) is not uncommon. You won't use most of them but what you will have is a t-nut in the exact place you want it to. Consider it this way, at $0.10 each, $14.40 for 144 worth of t-nuts is a sound investment for ultimate hold placement options.