First couple of shots are of the empty driveway and the other empty space (soon to be haunted!)

The first thing we would have done before actually swing a hammer or cutting a single 2×4 would have been to desigin some sort of floor plan for the haunt space. We like to keep this step simple because before the final plan is done it usually get change a couple of times. In the past we’ve scribbled it down with paper and pencil but lately we’ve been doing it in a spreadsheet program and believe it or not that is really simple. [See How]

With that floor plan we then know where we need to build the outside walls. The outside walls are important because those are the wall that are going to support the covered roof. Also on the floor plan we‘ve determined where we are going to put the doorways and interior walls and of course all the Halloween props that we going to setup for the big night!

Next the roof rafters are sheeted with 4×8 foot sheets of OSB. Screwing OSB to the walls and the roof rafters give the haunt structure its rigidity and strength. It also supports the water shedding tarps without them the rain would gather in giant sagging tarp pools of water between the rafter. These tarps pools always leak and can become extremely heavy for the roof to support which can become dangerous. We always do our best to make sure that the water runs off the haunt. Keeping us and our Halloween pops dry!

Once the roof is sheeted and the bottom of the walls are also sheeted its time to wrap the outside in a shell of water shedding tarps. First we do the walls and then the roof. We do it that way so that the top edge of the wall tarps will be underneath the roof tarps whose overlap ends up hang down a portion of the wall. To hold the tarps in place we screw slats of wood through the tarps into the roof rafter and into the wall studs.

Finally after all the outside tarps are on it is time to “skin“ the inside walls and ceilings with old lumber tarps. We got these tarps from various lumber stores around town. These are great because most of them are black on one side! Perfect for creating a creepy atmosphere for all manner of scary Halloween props. Some of the lumber tarps are tan in color and others are white, we just used which ever color suits a particular scene’s need. But of course most of the interior of the haunt is done in the black tarps.

There you go, there is a glimpse into some of the steps we take when constructing our Halloween Home Haunt. This is not an instructional how-to article nor are we suggesting that this is what other people should do, we are simply sharing what we choose to do for ourselves. However if you have any questions send them off to us and we‘ll get back to you OR leave a comment and we‘ll answer that too.

Thanks For Reading! ScreamingScarecrow.