Thread: Haunted Houses and Building Inspectors

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When I first joined the forum there was talk from some unfortunate person who had a building inspector stop by and inspect his haunt.

There is a thread discussing this on one of the forums for building officials that I frequent.

Haunted Houses

Thought you all might wonder what the inspectors are really thinking about. I wouldn't encourage any responses to the thread (touchy folk, they are). But it gives a little insight.

Tim

I found it interesting if for no other reason than I live in the KC area and I am familiar with the Haunted houses they were referring to.

Can my non charge home haunt even be shut down by a building inspecter, or fire marhall
I was told by some one that if my haunt dosn't require any permits then the inspecter has no reson to stop by. Is this true.


I guess insecters see haunted houses as nothing but death trapes

If it is classified as "Special Amusement Building", then yes, they could inspect, and you should have a permit. Of course, local codes prevail.

You see that the majority of inspectors just want to run the other way, because the alternative is compliance, which would be near impossible.

Tim

If you do your haunt for free and it's at your house they really shouldn't bother you.

I am probly the one who brings up fire codes and such when someone starts talking pro haunt.

Your garage Haunt should be o.k. because you only run it one night, you make no money doing so, you might get 100 or so people through during the night, not thousands.
Just becareful about flamible items...props at eye level...heavy items that could fall on someone.....nothing laying across the paths to trip someone up like cords or holes in the ground...
Always a good idea to have a fire extinguisher handy...just in case...you never know.

If you ever go pro, you might want to get the inspectors in the area involved before putting up wall one, because I do know someone who built a small pro-haunt and went and put flyers everywhere...worked his butt off on it...and on opening night...the first person through the door was the Fire Marshall.....shut him down right there and then over many violations. And now it is like 30 some years later, he still runs a pro-haunt...but he mentions that adventure all the time.

Originally Posted by DIY Guy

If it is classified as "Special Amusement Building", then yes, they could inspect, and you should have a permit. Of course, local codes prevail.

You see that the majority of inspectors just want to run the other way, because the alternative is compliance, which would be near impossible.

Tim

Could you please describe what a special show building is? To me it sounds like a pro haunt.

Worked in our local Jaycee's non-profit haunt many moons ago (with Mathusela) and we did have to have the fire chief come out and inspect, but not the building inspector. Had to put flame retardent on all the cloth used in the haunt, as well as make sure all the exits were flourescently marked so they could be seen by the tour guides as they went through. Think those are good suggestion for everyone, as are these:

Per Jack: "Your garage Haunt should be o.k. because you only run it one night, you make no money doing so, you might get 100 or so people through during the night, not thousands. Just becareful about flamible items...props at eye level...heavy items that could fall on someone.....nothing laying across the paths to trip someone up like cords or holes in the ground... Always a good idea to have a fire extinguisher handy...just in case...you never know."

(Just because this stuff can never be overstated.) That's a very interesting thread, thanks for sharing.

411.2 Special amusement building. A special amusement building is any temporary or permanent building or portion thereof that is occupied for amusement, entertainment or educational purposes and that contains a device or system that conveys passengers or provides a walkway along, around or over a course in any direction so arranged that the means of egress path is not readily apparent due to visual or audio distractions or is intentionally confounded or is not readily available because of the nature of the attraction or node of conveyance through the building or structure.

Tim

When doing a haunt in Pa if it is at your house the inspectors usually dont want to get involved just like the thread its out of their normal stuff and hurts their head so we get pawned off on the fire dept. I like that because the fire dept will usually work with you especially with advance notice. If we have trouble with code enforcement it is always because someone complained. I will say this when things get put together it is always good to have someone outside of your group and not a fan take a look something that is simple always gets over looked during construction.