Thread: Wall Panel Help

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Well we built two of our twenty-some walls we need for our haunted house but ran into a problem... They aren't very sturdy.
Here is what we did: We split 2x4's into 2x2's and framed some 4x8 paneling we found for 4 bucks with them. And they stand up fine, but they twist. Kind of... Not exactly sure how to explain it. Any thoughts on how to make them stronger without spending too much money? How do you guys construct sturdy wall panels? Hope this is in the right place!

I built about 90 panels this spring. Each panel is 4x8 OSB on both sides with 2x4 framing. Each one is heavy which is what I like. No way a person is going to blaze through one of these. Also made some panels that are 1',2', and 3' wide for odd spaces as well as corner pieces.

I bought the OSB from lowes. After tax it cost me about $5.50 sheet. I used a 10% off coupon along with their tax refund gift card they had this past spring which saved me an additional 10%. I bought about 600-700 2x4's for about $180. They were used and full of nails. Spent a couple weeks pulling nails and cutting everything to length. Spent another month screwing my panels together. Better than using nails in case I decide to reuse the OSB somewhere else. Spent another $5 per panel on paint and primer. I had enough room to pain about 20 panels at a time inside my shop.

Now I am in a cruch to get some props made. I should have spent my time working on props and just pay somebody to put together the panels. Things will probably come together at the last minute...

add cross supports in the middle, should help a lot

Originally Posted by Skeered

I built about 90 panels this spring. Each panel is 4x8 OSB on both sides with 2x4 framing. Each one is heavy which is what I like. No way a person is going to blaze through one of these. Also made some panels that are 1',2', and 3' wide for odd spaces as well as corner pieces.

I bought the OSB from lowes. After tax it cost me about $5.50 sheet. I used a 10% off coupon along with their tax refund gift card they had this past spring which saved me an additional 10%. I bought about 600-700 2x4's for about $180. They were used and full of nails. Spent a couple weeks pulling nails and cutting everything to length. Spent another month screwing my panels together. Better than using nails in case I decide to reuse the OSB somewhere else. Spent another $5 per panel on paint and primer. I had enough room to pain about 20 panels at a time inside my shop.

Now I am in a cruch to get some props made. I should have spent my time working on props and just pay somebody to put together the panels. Things will probably come together at the last minute...

WOW! I got a question: Is your haunt indoor or outdoor? I just gotta know because I am fighting myself between the lower cost of OSB and the durability of Plywood. My haunts are mostly outdoors so ... I really don't want the haunt panels to get all soggy after one night. It does have a cover on the top and sides but with our high winds and pre-Halloween snowstorms, you naver can tell.

How about running a bead of wood glue over your framing? Kinda like a hollow core door?. They are light and don't twist much. That is probably going to be the cheapest and easiest way to get the most strength out of it. I just cannot imagine making wall panels that light and not expect to have give. Also as empty said add more bracing if you don't have enough.


My haunt is indoors. I have about 3000 square feet to work with.

Originally Posted by Empty_W

add cross supports in the middle, should help a lot

Yeah, do this. Have you ever seen like a garden gate that has all of the slats and then like a "Z" pattern on it? The diagonal part of the Z will give you more stability.