[whodat18]

We have a building we are using for our haunted house and we will use 32 ft x 40 ft of it. We are building 4'x8' wall panels. I can't figure up a floor plan of how to lay this out and I need your help. I would like 3' wide hallways. Maybe 5 or 6 scenes . One scene we will have a vortex tunnel in. The tunnel specs are 8'x16'.

If I need to increase the floor plan size some I have about 2 more feet to work with. I need you guys to help me with a floor plan!!!

 

[horrorman]

Hello Whodat. If you are doing 4'x8' wall panels, go with 4' hallways and your maze should be easier to lay out. Everything will be divisible by 4. Building is 8 panels by 10 panels. For the tunnel (8' x 16') you can do a room size of 12' (3 panels) x 20' (5 panels) to hold it. I hope this helps a little. Best of luck this season.

 

[whodat18]

Thanks Horrorman....yeah I'm probably going to have to go with 4' hallways. Wondering how I will connect the panels in corners. I'm using a tongue and groove method on panels.

 

[horrorman]

Are you doing two sided panels?

 

[whodat18]

Yes it is.

 

[horrorman]

This link may help you. http://www.frightprops.com/faq/index.php?action=artikel&cat=1&id=121&artlang=en

If not, there are other ways to accomplish it.

 

[Ghost Ninja]

I agree with the 4' hallways for the easy math and the standard hallway width should someone care to ask, like a fireman. As for the design, look somewhere on the forum for Terra's post on the seven levels of a scare. There is a whole science or tech to the art of the scare. It has a rhythm or a tempo with an invitation, calmness, tension, distraction, unexpected scare and then "safety" before the next scare. More or less that's the basic set up. So now start thinking of the layout in terms where to put the simple scares, the big finale scare, the actor stations, etc. Balance what you have against what you want and then lay out the plan to see where the holes are and what you need to buy or build or fill with some brilliance if your out of time/money. Good Luck!

 

[whodat18]

You guys are very knowledgeable. I will brace the top of the panels but wonder if I should brace the bottom too. I think it should be sturdy enough just bracing the top.

 

[Screaming Demons]

The standard is to attach all the panels together side to side and then brace them across the top as much as possible. This would include angles on the corners and across the tops of the hallways. This has the added benefit of making your guests feel squeezed in as well as giving you a place to hang things from.

As long as all of the panels are connected together and braced across the top, the bottom bracing probably isn't needed. That can get real complicated. What some haunt owners do is, if any of the panels make a wall next to the actual walls of the building, brace it to the outside wall. Either that or put something heavy against the outside of the wall to keep it from moving. There are lots of stories of particular scares causing people to jump back so hard in one spot over and over that they moved the entire structure over the course of a few hours.