How do I build free-standing walls (for a haunted house) with enough support to not fall over when leaned on?
Question:I am putting together a haunted house/maze for Halloween. I want to begin planning now. I want to build several free standing walls (on an existing concrete surface) that support themselves well enough to not fall over when leaned on. I am pretty handy, and I'm not afraid of construction. I am willing to frame out walls, but I need them to be sturdy and stable, since they won't be bracketed to any existing structure. How do I do this? Can any of you carpentry gurus help me? Thanks.
Answers:
When I worked for a haunted house, we made our portable wall system out of four foot wall panels made from 2*4s. Each wall panel would be bolted together and to make them self supporting, our maze consisted of numerous 90 degree turns and both the left and right sides of the hallway would be periodically connected at the top.
Good Luck
I am not a carpentry guru, but I wanted to let you know that this sounds REALLY cool!
Could you perhaps bolt some posts into the concrete surface and then attach the walls to the posts? That is how we built our deck over a concrete patio.
Where is this haunted house? Good luck!
Run a long 2x4 , 4x4 , etc. on the bottom nailed to the frame itself. Then attach a "guy wire "to this bottom support board and to the top of the wall frame on either side(s) ---- add some turnbuckles to tighten up on the guy wires.
You might consider adding the round foam 1/2 inch water pipe insulation around the guy wires for a safety precaution of running into them. Have fun---------- and be careful of high wind blowing it over.
you dont.......
Nice idea .. its not too hard to do really. Go down and buy some long threaded rods and ultra strong resin stuff (and bolts). then constuct the wall as you would normally as a 'stud walling' type design. If you are concience about stenght then add cross tensionsers within the wall (bits of wood at angles conecting two corners together).
Okay... now to fit it to the concrete pad, just drill down a fair size hole though the wood bottom and into the concrete and clean it out as best as you can. Fill it a third full with resin and put the rod in. Put nut and washer on top and tighten. Repeat every 1.5 to 2 meters and it should be stong enough for most things.
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