For those who do this, how do you board up your windows. I've read somewhere that you're supposed to build like a frame that sits around your window, and the nail the boards to that frame. Are there other methods to glue/stick/etc the boards without building the frame.

What about wood, any recommendations on where to get old looking wood?

Thanks!

Here is a discussion on making/acquiring weathered wood:
Weathered Wood

Here is the method I used:
Making new wood projects look old - Halloween Forum

HauntProject.com - Your visual source for Haunting How-To's

boards out of foam!

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You could go get some onld pallets and rip them apart.

I cant wait to see it!

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If I were going to do this, I would do this.

1 Go get a sheet of 48 x 96 x 1 foam from home depot.
2 Cut off strips to the correct size (of fake boards).
3 Cut out strips to make a frame to support the strips.
4 Paint the strips with a white roof coating to uncase them in a rubber like film.
5 Paint them with a cheap light brown paint & high light with some black spray paint to age.
6 Let dry
7 Put it all together; with dry wall screws (long enough to go into both sections of foam) attach the fake boards to the frame.
8 Install onto your windows.

Now if you have ever tried to take apart a pallet than you know how hard it is. If not you are in for a very long day, those thing are built to stay together and the do.

Now this project will take a day or two. The roof coating is key for strength and durability. It will take paint very well and you can play around with texture by wiping and brushing. The black is just for age.

Good Luck and have fun.

I was trying to solve the same issue you have. I wasn't too keen on building a frame for the illusion of a boarded-up window. Then I was at Spirit Halloween store and saw this:



So, that got me thinking. I could make the wood using the faux wood made out of foamboard (Spookywood) found at Spookyblue's site: Fake Wood From Foam Boards - SpookyBlue.com

Then attach it together with a string on each side. Finish by attaching some fabric backing (burlap, cheesecloth or jute netting). Hang by nailing in two nails at the top of your window frame and hang up. I think that this would be good enough to give a decent impression of a boarded up window with a minimal amount of work.

Ran out of time this year but I'll do it next year.

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My friend Tim used pallet wood. He put 2 hooks above the windows [like for Xmas lights] spaced at roughly the 1/3 1n3 2/3 points. He put matching hooks beneath the windows. He took pieces of wood that were longer than the width of the window and stapled them to black nylon cords. He may have tied knots below the staples--I don't recall. The cords are long enough to reach from top hook to bottom hook with some extra for attaching rings. He tied 1/2" interior diameter welded rings to the ends of the cords. Place the rings on the top hooks first and then attach to the lower hooks. The nylon cord should have a little stretchiness [is that a real word?] and you want the cords to have a little tension so the boards don't swing when the wind hits them--it sort of kills the 'nailed up' illusion when that happens. He leaves the hooks on the house year round and stores his window treatments by just rolling them up . He likes the pallet wood because it's pretty distressed to begin with and it just gets worse looking when you rip it off the pallet. He puts an inch, sometimes a little more between the boards and puts a few on at angles. He made one for the storm door, too, but I don't know how he attaches it. I like this method because it does take a ton of work and it doesn't hurt the exterior of the house anymore than my wife's Xmas crap. There's probably a 3M removable hook out there somewhere that won't even leave a hole or mark.

I'm boarding up my windows for the first time this year. I got one out of five done so far. First I picked up a free pallet and after measuring it, I realized the wood was not long enough. Since I can't paint, I went to Home Depot to get a very large 1/2" foam board and a roll of wood grain contact paper. I stuck the contact paper onto the foam board and used a knife to cut long "boards." Since my window ledge was at a slant, I couldn't make a frame so I just use velcro to stick it onto the frame of the window. It holds pretty well.

That is EXACTLY the site I was going to direct you to. I really want to try this someday.

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I did this a few years ago at my old house. Just cut a bunch of strips of pink foam insulation (1/2" i think). Painted them black then highlighted with white. Then glued them all together. A little flimsy though as it needed some sort of backing, although they never broke and i still have them in garage somewhere.

By jrzmac at 2007-03-06

By jrzmac at 2007-03-06

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