Making outdoor hallways out of pallets

[thehauntedhollows]

I am going to be in charge of a charity haunt next year. We are making the hallways out of pallets. Does anyone know of any good sites that explains using pallets with haunting or any haunted houses that have pix of pallet hallways? thanks

ben

[Jim Warfield]

Pallet walls have been discussed several times on the main Hauntworld board.
Remember they are heavy, if you stack them and the wind blew them over on somebody...........
Pallets run the gamut. They may be made from wood so hard that you will have to drill a hole before it will accept a nail or a screw, the wood also can be very spilntery, bad for customers possibly running bare hands over it in a dark maze.
I would use a slege hammer and pound 2 by 4's into the earth, in the center of the pallet wall space to hold them up from both directions at the same time, then run a 2by4 across the top , screwed to the upright 2by 4 to tie everything together to give it as much strength as possible, customers may also be very scared or roudy and slam into your walls with all of their bodilly force.
Plan ahead and place thicker , stronger pallets across from your scare stations to absorb the impact.
If your walls are to be left up for long periods of time, I would place a couple of solid cement bricks (small ones, not blocks) under the edge of the pallet to actually keep the wood from making ground contact, resulting in premature rotting away.
This also helps if you might be making your path through the walls more all-weather with gravel or wood chips, making drainage under the wall because it it brick-elevated.

[shawnc]

Also remember that most of them are only four feet or so high. If you have to double them up, they will be even heavier and not as sturdy as if you started with an eight-foor panel to begin with.

Your best bet may be to try to get some eight-foot 2X4s donated, or even some studs, and use break the pallets down for parts to build regular panels.

[Nightmaretony]

They also don't take to pain or fire retardent too well. A better bet to give the look is labor intensive, but bnuild a framework and use light picket stakes to represent the pallete pieces. Those are easier to paint and not splintery.

Jim": me likey the gravel idea for drainage by the walls. Was going to simply have them elevated a couple of inches above the ground and have a small ridge of the dirt path to hide the crack, but that works out as well.

[terrorAt2596]

Check out my home haunt...myspace.com/terror2596 Or main site... www.angelfire.com/tn/tristanshaunt

Tristan

-Terror AT 2596-

[haverghast asylum]

Here are some pics of my haunt. The inner walls are built out of pallets. They don't look sturdy but trust me they were strong. http://s204.photobucket.com/albums/b...erghastasylum/

[tustinhaunt]

I have used pallets in my haunts before, but not for anything like walls. I have used them to make paths and also to build a house facade. If at all possible, you should avoid the use a pallets - not just because of the things previously mentioned - but also because they are extremely difficult to do anything with other that when they are in their original pallet form.

The first year we used pallets, we tried to take them apart using a crowbar. Not only was this extremely exhausting to do, but most of the slats broke.

Then we used a reciprocating saw to cut each nail holding the slats together, but this is also time consuming and will mess up a ton of blades.

Stick with luan and 2x3's for an exceptional alternative!

[haverghast asylum]

I guess if you have a lot of money go for the laun board idea. I however am just doing something for fun and pallets is all I had to work with. I understand pallets are not he best but it is all I had. As long as my walls are srtong they are good enough for me.

[shredman]

can someone help me and tell me how to get the walls to stand up and not just fall??????????????? I need to start soon, I am tired of doing black plastic like always, and i'm asking like everybody around here. Lol

[The HorrorTeller]

If you haven't found anything out yet...I's like to offer these suggestions.

Two ways I have completed completed walls for a maze and even my main haunt were by using the bi-fold doors. These I obtained from our local habitat for humanity restore for the price of only $ 5.00 each. They do not have to be put together- you only have to prime and paint them to keep them weather proof .
Or you could leave them natural and let them weather to look old.
Using a scrap piece of wood... you screw the sections together and brace it at the top to hold sections together. The restore may let you have them for free if you are a non-profit...but a 5 bucks each...way cheaper then buying the ply and 2x4's needed for the standard haunt wall.

2nd is the use of metal t-posts that you pound in the ground.Get at least 8 footers and pound in 1 foot. slide the pallet over the t-post- align the next pallet and then pound in the t-post. join them together again using the scrap wood and screwing the pieces together to hold. I suggest you do not double the pallets .
Instead perhaps using landscape fabric wire it to the t-posts very top...its dark and strong and won't weather for many years.
If you need further explanation- just let me know.

info@thehorrorteller.com
www.thehorrorteller.com