When Building Walls...

[Nightmaretony]

Since all my land is quite irregular (and no, laxitives won't help out), there is no really level land, so the plan is to use dirt paths and for walls I am planting concete foundations with a 4 by 4 treated column and then 12 foot beams, then the walls are screwed onto those. Since they are outside, Jim's top cap idea will be a must, of course.

First test was on the graveyard wall, which was a resounding sucess....
http://www.nightmarepark.com/public/...rth%20road.JPG

This has the advantage of easier construction on irregular terrain and the panels are just the sheets alone, no backing needed. Just small joiner plates on the top and bottom will do the trick.

(and yes, I HAVE been stealing rides from the local amusement parks...why do you ask?

[gregsalyers]

How do you guys do your corners.....

[mindtumor]

We have always used 4'x 8' walls, 1/2" thick plywood framed with 2" x 4"'s with another down the center. Our haunts are always square walled and we make sure that there isnt a run of more than 3 stand alone walls in a straight line. We run 3 2-1/2" drywall screws through the 2 x 4's of one wall into the next and then brace with 2 x 4's on top of the walls. You can see a picture here http://www.evilusions.com/gallery/di...album=10&pos=0 . As long as your bracing is right and walls are shimed in low spots to keep the from wobblling, we don't have any problems. We have customers that have litteraly ran through the plywood of the walls, but the frames are usually in tact, so it's strong.

This is the same method I used and I have to say it is quite strong as long as everything is top braced. Some times the walls wobble on the bottom a little so I just drive a sinker in the bottom. It doesn't drive through the concrete but the point of the nail digs in just enough to prevent the wall from wobbling.

[Jim Warfield]

I use scraps of sheet metal , bend the edges smooth by bending them all the way under, then punching holes with a Rockford punch (squeeze, pop! You are done no broken drill bits, no electricity)
I then put screws through all of these little 1/8 inch holes I popped using self-tapping almost flat, pan head screws that have a phillips slot, this all becomes very strong pretty quickly.
Bend the sheet metal scraps 90 degrees and you have your corner pieces inside or outside or even both of the corners (in and out)
You can do a real tight bend over a workbench edge just clamp the metal to the bench by clamping a solid straight-edged board or piece of angle iron to hold it down, if you don't have access to a sheet metal brake.
A 2 pound hammer makes pounding it easy, lift the hammer, left it fall a few times, you're done.
With larger scraps you can even make walls that snake around some, not exactly straight, MORE FUN!