How to Make A Haunted House Part 1: Planning

Here I will explain how to make a haunted house out of your garage or home, this is also referred to as a home haunt. In part one, of many to come, i will explain how to plan how you are going to do your haunt.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pencil
• Paper
• ruler
• measuring tape
• calculator

1. First thing first, look at the space you have and the space you will actually use. Decide if it is going to just in the garage or in the front and backyard or drive way, as well. You also want to decide if it is just going to be an extravagant display or an actual walk-through. The difference between the two is that a display is just that. people walk by a scene or two and that it. A walk through takes them through an actual path through or around the house with many different scenes or areas and one directional flow of traffic.

2. Once you have decided on the space you are using, put your brain to work and figure out how you want people to move through the haunt and what scenes/props you want inside. As for me this started off as a hobby nut has turned in to a little more than just a small hobby so i will try to give as many tips as i can to keep your cost down. As you start deciding how you want your layout to be, get measurements of the space and make plans to scale on some graph paper using your pencil, ruler, and calculator. You layouts will change many times before your are done.

3. Now that you have a layout decide on scenes and props to fill your rooms. The best thing to do is to use what you can get a-hold of at a cheap price. A couple of things that go a long ways that are picked up off the curb on their way to the trash are picket fences, barrels, pallets, pvc, and the list goes on. Picket fencing is a good source to use for building temporary walls inside the haunt, making mazes in the front or backyard, or building a facade to cover the front of your garage. Black plastic are also good for building walls on a very cheap budget. Cut to size and hang from the ceiling and you have cheap walls separating your rooms.

4. Things to keep in mind when making your lay out is how big you want each room. Some rooms may be smaller then others. For rooms in complete blackness or lit by strobe lights you generally want them to be bigger then a room with just a few skeletons. You also want to decide on a theme for each room. I find it easier and more exciting to theme each room rather than just sticking with one them throughout the entire haunt. The theme can determine the size of the room so make sure you pick themes accordingly. Also keep safety in mind. you don't want people squeezed into a small room made out of black plastic with the only light being a candle. Use common sense when making your rooms

5. How you are building your walls is also another important factor to think about. Depending on the budget and theme there are tons of options. Like i have mentioned already black plastic is probably the cheapest and easiest to take down. Fence pickets secured to a 4'x8' frame made of 2'x'2 lumber is another cheap solution. These walls look great for library and haunted mansion themes. For those with a little more money you can build your wall panels out of thin plywood and 2'x2' lumber that are 4'x8'. You screw all of these together making a very sound structure that wont get pulled down as rowdy people go through. You can also attach props, lights speakers, or any thing else to these walls. Pallets are also a great source to build wall panels. Stand them on end and stack another one on top and secure them with 2'x'4 lumber and now you have 4'x8' wall panels.

6. Finally for planning decide on the themes. I have already discussed this a little bit already so im going to give you a couple ideas for themes: Library with books, skeletons, and a window disguised as a framed picture that drops down with an actor that jumps out, electric chair; build a chair out of lumber and put a good actor in it that can scream and shake as guests walk by, strobe room; consists of room with black plastic strips or chains illuminated only by strobe lights, Mad Scientist, area 51, graveyard, dungeon, Egyptian tomb, circus, forest, dragons den, door deception, butcher shop, and chain saw massacre are just a few.

7. I will be going in to better detail on themes later on. There is a lot to Wright and it is a bit jumbled and out of order but i will try to explain the best i can in future how-to' s. That covers some of the main points for planning and i will update this how to as a remember more details.

Tips & Warnings

• Check with local fire and building codes before going all out they might show up after all your hard work and shut you down. If you put signs up anywhere don't leave them there too long. Most likely you will have to have a permit and could possibly get fined if its there to long. Found that one out the hard way.
• Safety first make sure all structures are secure and wont fall, there aren't holes in the ground, don't touch guests, NO FIRE, make sure there are no nails or screws sticking out of anything.