[OpenTrackRacer]

We want to do a haunted scene in our garage this year. I need to come up with a simple (and hopefully inexpensive) method to divide the space and cover up the walls and ceiling.

I was thinking of hanging PVC with black plastic or black cloth but I'm not sure how to get it all fitted together cleanly. I'm also at a bit of a loss for the ceiling.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Warrant2000]

I've used black plastic for many years and it works great. Outside, I screw 1x1's together for the frame, then staple gun the plastic to it. I've learned that the plastic, under pressure, will rip from the staple. So I cut a small 1"x1" square of cardboard, roll the plastic around it a few times, then put the staple through the cardboard and plastic. Staple holds the cardboard, cardboard holds the plastic.

I've also used king size black bed sheets, but those get expensive. Cheap camo netting is always a winner. Halloween stores usually have the cheap plastic type around this time of year.

 

[Herman Secret]

Last year I did a wood frame with 2" x 1" lumber then used weed suppressant material to do the walls and ceiling, stapling it to the frame.

basically took 4 lengths of timber 8ft long joined at the corners making a large square, this did half of one side, then made another for the other side. run 10ft lengths across each end to support the tops of the frame, then ran the weed fabric up from the bottom of one side, across the top, over to the other side. If you can get 100ft rolls then you will only need one roll for each section of frame, other wise you will need to do some in sections (walls and ceiling in separate pieces) to use up the rest of the roll.

the sides are stapled top and bottom of the side frames

you may get an idea from the pics on my website

Hope this helps

 

[OpenTrackRacer]

Thanks for the quick replies. My original idea was to hang the frame from the ceiling but since the garage door will be open that's not going to work. I hate the idea of a wood frame however... it'll be heavy and hard to store. I just remembered that I have the connector pieces for a pipe canopy and I think I'll go that route. It'll be free standing and easy to store. The big question is the fabric. Sheets or table cloths are great but expensive. I'm looking at black landscape cloth right now but it's mostly sold in 4' widths which is a pain.

 

[Bubbels]

I am hoping to do something similiar this year. Someone on here, earlier on, gave an idea of using that land scape fabric, and putting rivets in it. Then I believe you can use poles or even rope to hang it from the ceiling. Finally making it drop far enough down so that you can put blocks on the back side to weight it down.

Anyhow that is my plan, just waiting for the garden sales to start. I hope that person with the idea posts here. I remember that they had pictures of what they did. More or less just have to overlap your 4' lengths.

 

[Ghost of Spookie]

Haven't worked this out in my mind yet but I would think you could use something like a clothes line or cord attached to side walls, etc. You might have to support it every so often along the run from a support wire in the ceiling. I would then consider taking either plastic sheeting or landscaping cloth and either sew, hot glue (suggest black glue), staple, whatever, a channel that you would thread the rope through. Sorry I'm lacking a good description here. Sort of like a drawstring PJ bottom or drapery rod panel.

If you didn't want to use black plastic, I would think you could "sew" landscape material panels horizontally so you could make the "drape" as wide as the roll is if you wanted or cut to desired width. Landscape material is pretty cheap. I've bought mine in the past at BIG LOTS. With 4 foot wide rolls, 2 rolls seamed together would be an 8 ft high wall (or a little less with the channel).

I've been thinking of doing a garage scene too so I think this is a good thread to brainstorm for ideas.

 

[Terra]

I did this last year. Worked pretty good. Remember that the wind will easily make this fly so I weighed it down with skinny cement blocks. For the open garage, I just made shorter links and hung it from the hinges of the garage door. Here's a video of what I did (I talk about it in the middle of the vid...):

YouTube - Sneak Peek Halloween 2008 - Spider Room

The landscape fabric was DeWitt Weed Barrier Pro. I found it in 6 foot widths at a major nursery near me (if I remember right, a 100 foot roll) for about $175.

Here's the outline I was able to do with it with some side walls and still have some leftover:

This year, I'm changing some of it and doing a different version of what Herman and Warrant are doing. I'm screwing in 1 x 2's into 8' x 5' frames and stapling the weed fabric to it. I'm still hanging them from the ceiling but I need the fabric to be taut because I am painting it to be blacklight 3D corridors.

 

[bradbaum]

My wife covered the walls of the garage with landscape fabric last year, including covering over all the wall shelves so no one could see our storage mess.

Here is the one picture I have of it:

Halloween 2008 :: Garage Wall picture by bradbaum - Photobucket

We used the garage as a actor's hangout prior to the haunt, and as a party area during the haunt.

 

[Evil Bob]

Last year I had black plastic in my pirate pub. This year I'll be hanging canvas drop cloths painted to look like the wattle and daub in Tudor buildings.

 

[Elza]

I used a small room for an outdoor scene with a battery op. moon. I took the sky scene setter and put strips of duct tape (don't ya love duct tape) on the back side , at least 2 deep and then I folded along the strips of the duct tape and used a whole punch to put two clean holes side by side. The I took large paper clips and made hooks out of the and hung the setter from the ceiling the top of the hook went into the metal joists that crisscross and hold ceiling tiles...but you could probably put eye hooks up and use those. (This is a womans version of doing props without a man around...tee hee!)

 

[OpenTrackRacer]

That's exactly what I was originally thinking Terra. One thing I'm looking forward to this year is having major elements inside the garage so I can do extensive setup without weather concerns. That means I'll need to be able to close the garage without any rearranging. I'm going to do a single room so the pipe canopy should work fine. I think I'm going to use an EZ-UP shelter as an entry way so I've got to figure how how to cleanly cloak and connect that as well.

 

[obcessedwithit]

Stone walls

I use tarps and the stone maker for the yard lay it sown on tarp and spray paint , if you can find black tarps aro grey it takes less paint and it is a pretty good effwct that can be used for many years........

View attachment 5013

View attachment 5014

 

[maleficent]

A simple reusable solution is use black fabric curtains. I got a bolt of black fabric, measured out what size I needed for the space, cut 2 pieces, and sewed them together. I used large gromets and pieces of thin cardboard to help strengthen the fabric around the gromets, spaced out about at about 1 ft lengths along the top of the fabric. Then use large cup hooks in the ceiling to hang the curtains on, I leave the cup hooks up so once they are set in the right position the curtains can be put up quickly. Goes up and down quickly, reusable, you can paint it, hang light weight props from it, and folds flat for storage. The video shows a quick glimpse of how the curtains are hung.

 

[OpenTrackRacer]

Ahhh, those both look good. I have storage that sticks out a bit on every wall of my garage so I have to create false walls. I also want to cover the white ceiling because I think it'll stand out too much.

We went over the layout last night and I'm going to ditch the external EZ-Up canopy. I'll build my hallway inside the garage. I'm working on the pipe canopy design and layout on the computer now and I'll post it when finished.

 

[obcessedwithit]

thanks, these walls are inside of my horse barn about 12 ft wide isle, I have stuff on one side of the walls and the tarps cover all of it and cover the stalls on the other side, idon't do the ceiling cause of the height, but is usually dark with fog so no one really looks up.

 

[OpenTrackRacer]

Ohhhhh..... horse barn. The possibilities!!!

 

[Homestead Haunt]

Thanks for the quick replies. My original idea was to hang the frame from the ceiling but since the garage door will be open that's not going to work. I hate the idea of a wood frame however... it'll be heavy and hard to store. I just remembered that I have the connector pieces for a pipe canopy and I think I'll go that route. It'll be free standing and easy to store. The big question is the fabric. Sheets or table cloths are great but expensive. I'm looking at black landscape cloth right now but it's mostly sold in 4' widths which is a pain.

Lowes carries black plastic in assorted thinknesses as well as widths. You can get rolls at least 10' wide. Look in the Lumber/Building Materials Depts.

 

[OpenTrackRacer]

Ahhh, good tip. The 10'x100' roll of 6 mil black plastic sheeting is only $58!

Can anyone who has used this stuff comment on how well it works versus fabric?

Thanks!

 

[Diabolik]

I have used the black plastic and it works very well. there are different mil thickness as well. If you plan on using it multiple times, you may want to go for something a bit heavier. Some of the grades are very tough and cannot be torn very easily. they also fold very well with little wrinkling.

I just wanted to throw out my solution for covering your garage opening if you are looking for an easy solution. I basically made a large curtain. It keeps the tots from seeing what is inside the garage and my method is pretty easy to install and remove.

basically it is just a 2x4 that spans the entire garage opening. You cut a single piece of plastic about 4-6 inches wider than your garage opening on each side. wrap the plastic along your 2x4, stapling as needed. come down from the top 6 inches or so and cut 4 inch wide vertical cuts all the way down across the curtain. (this takes a little time) if you cut them equal and straight, it will lay perfectly flat. to install it, you basically lay the board above the open door at the front of the rails and let it hang down. When your are done, you just roll it up for next year. Oh, and just make sure you trim it about 3 inches or so from the floor so nobody steps or trips over it . I've had my curtain for 4-5 years and it is still going strong.

 

[Ghost of Spookie]

Using the concrete stone maker forms with the black material is pretty cool and a fast way to create a backdrop. Nice idea.