Flooring ?

[spookjj]

Alot of these big older retail stores have that ugly off white tile floors... we're weighing our options in renting one of these places for our haunt in the next year, but, not 100% certain the best methods for covering the floor tiles whether using (carpet, easy washable floor paint...etc), making wood platforms...etc. Wonder if you could even throw down tarps and cover with dirt if theming for like old town setting...

[krazedklownkilla]

I would think Carpet would be the best thing to use

[Greg Chrise]

Carpeting is the best if you can afford it. Be careful of used as one year we got tons from a hotel and apparently some of it was from the bathrooms. The reason it is great is that the weight of walls kind of sinks into it and they no longer will move around when forced.

At worst case a cheaper method would be black landscape cloth, Used pond liner. A hodge podge of floor designs from the Home Depot paneling section made to look like hardwood floors with holes, bricks, etc.

Some sections can be dirt, mulch, hay even indoors. It gets everywhere though. Occasionally throw in a few bridges over shallow ponds of water.

I don't know of wash off paint being something that can put up with being walked on.

You can use plywood or exterior gypsum board as a base for acrylic concrete overlay designs like stone patterns, brick, cobble stones and dark tile patterns like a castle with big rectangles all the way to slate finishes like the entry way to Walmart only antiqued. If you move you just pick them up and store them flat. Lay them down and line up the pattern, done. They get heavy. It isn't that easy.

[Madhaus32]

Our haunt is in a mall with tiled floors like what you are describing. Most of our scenes are indoors so wi just left the tiles as they were, but we had an outdoor graveyard scene too. For it, we just brought in some dirt in a pickup truck and put it down. It worked really well in the low light, plus it added the feel (and smell) of wlaking outside. Then at the end of the season, we simply swept it outside.

[Front Yard Fright]

Seeing as our haunt was always done in our yard, it was hard to create a convincing scene with grass as our floor!

In 07 or 08 we started doing floor frames with OSB over top to make up a solid floor. The frames were built using 2x4s and we built very similar to the way most haunters make their wall frames. (With much more supports obviously.)

It worked extremely well and we were very happy with how it looked. The only bad thing was that the OSB began to rot after we had it in storage after season so we had to replace it every other year. (Something you wouldn't have to worry about if you are indoors.)

[spookjj]

Greg... I like the idea of using the old pond liners or do concrete stenciling . Any paneling or wood obviously have to glue down, gysum board got to look into that a bit. With landscaping fabric.. it's either mesh or plastic looking, I suppose you could use the mesh fabric and take a gravity fed gun and try to coat the mesh so it's not so transparent, but, I think it would have to be glued down again... I can see people kicking it and putting folds in the fabric pretty easily otherwise. But, yes mixing it up accordingly and right for the scenes I suppose the best bet. I forget but doesn't the paths need to be 4ft wide at minimum for fire code? how about roofing sheeting paper, if could find 6ft wide rolls or so

[Greg Chrise]

Exterior grade gypsum board, we can spray concrete designs on it, it is what would be behind tile work in a shower r other place expected to see water. Typically an outdoor kitchen is framed out and sheeted with this. It is very heavy like slate. It will not warp. If you put tabs of say liquid nails here and there it would be able to be popped up later. However, I'm thinking more on the line of 3/4 inch plywood you can find lots of times as used floor underlayment for $1 a sheet on craigs list. It is already pretty heavy at about 30 pounds a sheet. Then an over lay would add another 30 pounds. We are generally on unfinished concrete but I think even on tile it would require lateral tests in a camaro to make it move once the walls are on top of it as well.

Hallways are usually slightly less than 4 foot as it is 4 foot on center with the minimum being 42 inches or 3.5 foot. Landscape cloth can be doubled and the mesh goes away. Again it is under the walls and slightly stretched. Pretty much every roadside shanty selling plants or rugs is using this as a temporary carpet. Some rooms and areas might be 8 or 12 foot wide.

Roofing tar sheet has a terrible smell of tar and kreosote smell that does not go away and the tar tracks on people's shoes into areas you don't want marked up. Impossible to clean up after wards.

You can also go nuts if you have the budget or a source and cement real stone down. If there are no additives to your mortar it will pop off of vinyl pretty easily.

Indoors you have to be conserned with what kind of glues you use. Some adhesives cause brain tumors if you are in California. Anywhere else it is okay. They leach thinners over long periods of time as they cure, some never stop emmitting fumes.

Another crazy material would be vinyl from old billboards. Pretty heavy mill stuff. It can be painted over or actually have it printed new with some crazy images?

Most land managers want the space at least the same as it was offered to you and an initial selling point to get a place should be that you are designed to not mark anything up or pop holes in the floors or walls. It will save extra deposit money r being turned away as an undesirable tenant potential.

[Greg Chrise]

I have always thought how much can be done with a complete subfloor adding gimmicks to it. But the expense had never been something we have gone for yet. With enough people we were able to totally set up and trick out 4,000 SF in a week and be completely out in 2 days. Having some portion that is expendable it the trick. Less off season storage costs. So when you do have a floor system in a room it does something like hides an actor or floor shakers or sound effects or has a wild lava path light up, fog system or something. Then it is worth saving and storing. Of course designs are an investment worth keeping.

If I had more than a few bridges and peers I would want full tilt room floors and things like that. It just comes down to how much off season expense and maintenance you can afford.

[Greg Chrise]

Over the years I have gathered all kinds of weird things that may be used one day. Semi truck tarps are like 24 by 24 foot in sections. some are 40 0r 60 foot in length. We have boxes of garage floor liners that are like 1/6th inch thick heavy plastic originally intented to protect your garage floor from having your jaguar leak on it. All came to me for free with just using my mind and how to use these things just takes the right application. The garage floor stuff could be cut into strips and become an entry to a cooler or morgue scene. It just takes years of talking to people and they give you all kinds of bulky crap. I have a cotton semi tarp and large old tennis court nets that can become roof hangings or if you had a shipwreck scene.

Weird things you find or ask for and you go with what you have found repurposed rather than what you should buy.

[Jim Warfield]

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