Thread: 10x10 tent haunt

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I use a 10x20 driveway canopy. I divided it down the middle with tarps and dropcloths. On one side I had the "Galerie des Ghoules" (a haunted mansion theme) that led from the graveyard into a dogleg path. The kiddies got their treats, followed the other side of the dogleg and into "the spider king's lair" on the other side of the canopy. This emptied out onto the street. Hope that gives you some ideas!

I have 2 - 10X20s I set up side by side for a 20X20 party tent and several 10X10s that don't get used anymore since I got the 2 bigger ones.....As others have mentioned, wind is a factor so secure them anyway possible.....If I had it to do over, I would spend the money I did on those tents for a metal 2 bay carport....MUCH more secure, and something to keep the snow off the vehicles in the winter........ZR

i thought that once you covered your haunt in anyway you had to follow certain building and lighting codes.

Originally Posted by pumpkinheadedskeleton

i thought that once you covered your haunt in anyway you had to follow certain building and lighting codes.

That's true for pro haunts....They have an extremely strict code they must follow from fire retardant walls to a sprinkler system...I believe they even require you to become certified so you know all the rules in my state....Needless to say, I'll never become a pro....ZR

I use 10x10 tents for craft shows as well. I use a 50 pound sand bag on each leg and securely tie it to the frame. It sounds like overkill, but when other tents start sailing away mine stays secure. I also recommend using the tent sides that go with your tent and putting the black plastic over them. These also help quite a bit with wind, and may help contain the noise a little bit more. The biggest con I would say is size. Once I have a few tables and a few people inside my tent, it can feel very crowded.

I would set up a car canopy for my guests to seek some shelter in, if needed. Very frustrating! Wind. Gusts. Concrete blocks got tied to the supports or old plastic kitty litter buckets full of gravel duct taped around the poles and clear around the buckets!
Duct tape each of the pipe framework's sliding joints, so they don't slide apart. Use a rubber mallet to assemble and disassemble the joints and spray WD-40 in the "female" ends at least once a season. The tape can be peeled off when taking it down and storing it away. Much better than having them decide to slide apart in the wind and create a real hazard of dangly metal parts at eye level.
I started building 2 by 4 reinforced sidewalls with sheets of plywood up 4 feet to give more protection from blowing rain and wind, which added to the amount of time and work all this took to build it then take it down.
This Fall I just ditched the tent poles and built the wooden walls , then bent re-bar where and how I wanted it for a framework. I welded some flat steel scraps to the ends of the re-bar, drilled 1/4 inch holes in the flat scraps and bolted the frame together, covered it with a plastic tarp, screwed the other end of the re-bar steel plate to the walls. I made a dome frame from just three pieces of 1/2 re-bar.
Then I stacked some concrete blocks on the inside, put 2 by6's double-wide for benches on the blocks and screwed through the walls into the benches to give my walls more stability and weight. The 2 by 6's have short 2 by 4's holding them together and then a few more 2 by 4's going down the holes in the blocks and the ends are also screwed to the benches making everything all tied together and weighted to withstand most weather we would ever see here. The benches don't slide, tip or become playthings for the bored potential vandals in the audience.
I made this creature three-sided since it is only 15 feet from my front door and the protection is facing west, south and north, most of our weather comes at us from the south/west.
I park my cars around the structure since it is in a parking lot. I also use day-glo orange/red cones and of course everything is painted white.

if you going to use tents be sure to have props or some sort of distractions to get people to not look for your actor the sec they walk in, size is going to be tight so you might have try different spots before you find the right place for your actor/s,you can use painters plastic or tarp to set up small walls or hidden spots, dim lighting or strobes try to make it dark but yet visible to walk through, the flaws on tent haunts are like other said the wind is #1 Enemy so be sure to hold it down well, some thing like bamtunebam had wrote looks it will hold well, i've personally started with a canopy for my haunt and from my experience its not always what you have or what props you have, its your act/actors that make the haunt stay in character and time scares right and have fun