Creep Acres Build Thread 2010

[Pumpkin King]

Hey guys! We're gearing up for our fourth year of home haunting! Building will start sometime within the next week or so and I'll try to post lots of progress pics!



This is our plan for the year. Ignore the colors, I was testing out some lighting ideas...

Each square on the plan indicates a square foot. Out front will be the facade, a 10 foot tall redneck mansion type structure. If I have the time I want to build a giant pumpkin creature to mount on top of it. Once the guests reach the front of the line, they'll be greeted and sent into the haunt, and down a long hallway to a strobe lit room (1). There will be a prop scrunched up sitting on the table looking towards the exit, causing a great distraction. As guests exit the room, they'll trigger an air cannon in the doorway before entering the gardener's shack (2). I'm planning on having a small table in here and lattice walls to the right, with terra cotta pots and fake ivy all around. Outside (3) will be vegetation to the right and a mineshaft on the left (4). The mine is only six feet tall and gets extremely claustrophobic towards the end. I'm going to make a realistic miner prop with a lantern in the first section of the mine. Once out of the main mine shaft the cielings will go back up to seven feet (5). This area will house a prop that will be a great distraction for an actor around the corner. Guests will exit the mine into a redneck town (6) with different facades and fences. One section is left blank (7), and we will put something in there after our trip to MO this fall for the Halloween Productions haunts as well as Beast and Edge of Hell. If we don't get inspiration, it should be simple enough to send guests past it through to the other half of the redneck street (8). Guests will then enter the strobe lit meat shop (9), coplete with a bloody table and a waist high barrier to the left. After passing the other side of it, they wind up in a small room with a bloody corpse (10). Then, they go outside a redneck trailor (11). Inside the trailor is a long hallway (12) with a figure with its arms held over the doorway. A strobe is flashng in the guest's eyes and a strobe is flashing on the figure. Just as they near it, the lead person triggers an air cannon aimed at them and one aimed about two people back. Then, as the middle of the group passes the figure, it comes alive. The last two scenes (13 and 14) are still unclear to me what I want to put in them. I want to have clowns somewhere in the haunt, and frankly I don't care if they don't fit the theme. If I dont have them there then I'll put them in scene 5. Any ideas would be appriciated!

I may contact a pallet or fence removal company about getting some free supplies for a maze or something else on the driveway, but first I want to worry about finishing the garage. Has anyone had any experiance getting in touch with these guys? How can I find them?

In other news our new website is up! I will buy creepacres.com in the next week or so but I want to work out the kinks before I get a private address. For now it can be viewed at http://creepacres.yolasite.com/

I haven't built much of anything yet this year. The pics below are from a sign I started last year. The part you see will say "Creep" in drippy, sunflower yellow spray paint, and "Acres" will be written in white on a black background and attached at an angle below the main sign.





That's all for now! What do you guys think of the plan? Any ideas for the last two rooms? Thanks! What are you guys up to? I'm looking forward to seeing what my fellow home haunters come up with this year! Happy Haunting!

[DrDoom71]

Looks like a pretty ambitious plan you got there! Is this a garage haunt? Tell me more about the air cannon deal. Sounds interesting.How does that work exactly? This will be my 5th year of garage haunting. Not much time left...is there!

[Pumpkin King]

Air Cannon

For the air cannon we take $20 kits for tweens that they solder together and makes a burguar alarm- when you pass between the two consoles, one of them makes a buzzing noise. We replaced the buzzar with a relay, letting current from a larger battery flow to a solenoid valve, that, when triggered, released air. So, whenever there's anything between the consoles, the air hoses flow. We aim them at the back of guest's necks, ankles, and from above their heads. It really works well to scare people!

[Pumpkin King]

Looks like a pretty ambitious plan you got there! Is this a garage haunt?...Not much time left...is there!

This is in a three car garage with the facade extended onto the driveway...and yes, I'll have to work hard to get this done.:roll::roll::roll::roll:

[scarygoat]

Sounds like you have a great plan working there! Now, I think if I am reading your scale correctly then some of your halls are only 2 ft wide, correct me if I am wrong, but if I am not, then you might want to think about making them a bit bigger. 2ft wide might not be big enough for a group to efficiently pass through. How do you plan on building all of your walls? Do you use a modular wall system?

[Scareside]

Sounds like you have a great plan working there! Now, I think if I am reading your scale correctly then some of your halls are only 2 ft wide, correct me if I am wrong, but if I am not, then you might want to think about making them a bit bigger. 2ft wide might not be big enough for a group to efficiently pass through. How do you plan on building all of your walls? Do you use a modular wall system?

I concur with scarygoat. 2 ft wide is just to narrow, I did that one year and people had problems finding there way around corners and other areas. Now I recommend a 3ft min for hallway width. It still gives a small space but it more to work with than using 4x8 plywood standards. Personally I use 4x8 plywood walls along side 3x8 plywood walls. Trust us when we say that 2ft wide is smaller than it seems on the drawing board, and 3ft is just right.

[scarygoat]

I concur with scarygoat. 2 ft wide is just to narrow, I did that one year and people had problems finding there way around corners and other areas. Now I recommend a 3ft min for hallway width. It still gives a small space but it more to work with than using 4x8 plywood standards. Personally I use 4x8 plywood walls along side 3x8 plywood walls. Trust us when we say that 2ft wide is smaller than it seems on the drawing board, and 3ft is just right.

Exactly, everything will seem bigger on paper. 3ft min, we actually use 4ft because it makes design easier for me, but 3ft min should be fine.

[Pumpkin King]

2' Wide Hallways

I concur with scarygoat. 2 ft wide is just to narrow, I did that one year and people had problems finding there way around corners and other areas. Now I recommend a 3ft min for hallway width. It still gives a small space but it more to work with than using 4x8 plywood standards. Personally I use 4x8 plywood walls along side 3x8 plywood walls. Trust us when we say that 2ft wide is smaller than it seems on the drawing board, and 3ft is just right.

Scarygoat- We do use a modular system of 1, 2, 3, and 4 foot by 7' walls. The seven feet height is because of the height of the garage door when opened, and it's easiest to use that throughout the whole garage.

About the 2' wide sections- Scareside and Scarygoat- were people actually getting stuck in your 2' wide sections or just disoriented? I used a few 2' wide sections in the haunt last year and it didn't seem like much of a problem. Personally I think it makes it more real, and hell, if they get stuck, it adds to the fun and scare factor wihout putting them in any serious danger- right? Looking at a tape measure it seems plenty wide and from my experiences works pretty well so long as the whole haunt isn't 2' wide hallways. Plus, if I wanted wider hallways, I'd pretty much have to redo the entire layout.

Thanks a ton for your input guys, it really means a lot!

[scarygoat]

I have not personally used 2' halls because it isn't really safe. It is way to narrow, some people, specially in a group would not be able to fit through it. I would suggest making your halls and rooms a bit bigger by just cutting some of them out. I see one of your bigger rooms is only 6' by 7' which is really small, you won't be able to fit much in there. If you want, take some tape and mark out part of your haunt in your garage w/ actually dimensions you will realize how small each room and hall is. Just change your design a bit.

[Pumpkin King]

6' By 7' Room

I see one of your bigger rooms is only 6' by 7' which is really small, you won't be able to fit much in there.

Which room is that? I can't figure out which number you're referring to. Thanks for the input and again I really appriciate it!

[scarygoat]

#8, it actually might be a couple feet bigger, but still, it and all the other rooms would be too small to actually create a 'scene' in.

[Pumpkin King]

Scene Eight

#8, it actually might be a couple feet bigger, but still, it and all the other rooms would be too small to actually create a 'scene' in.

That's actually in a redneck street, joined with scene six and separated by a see through barrier. It should be large enough with the two joined together. Plus it doesn't need a lot of props. It should be creepy enough by itself.

[scarygoat]

If you are not having any props in your scenes, then maybe they will be big enough.... but you gotta trust us on the hallway thing. They really should be wider than 2ft.

[Pumpkin King]

And so it begins...

Yesterday I started working on the table for the first room. It will be painted black and eventually have a prop mounted on it.


I couldn't really get much else done because of wasps infesting my storage area-


Last night I went out back and used up an entire can of Raid. Finally I pulled away the tarp and JACKPOT!!!!!


Today I'm going to sort out the two by threes and try to build a few 4' by 7' pannells! I'll post tonight with progress pics! Happy Haunting!

[Pumpkin King]

First Few Pannels

Yesterday I got up and spent the day working on the haunt. First I had to sort out the two by threes based on what pannels they were used in last year. This year I'm converting all but one room to the standard 4' by 8' pannels, so I had to find the one room that I couldn't cut up and make pannels out of.

I Made pannels leaning them against the deck. It was actually pretty easy.

I moved the frames to their current storage spot and then screwed on the OSB. When we're ready to move them into the garage, it'll be a two man job.


In the end I got three 4' by 7' pannels complete and two more are just a few minutes away from completion. In addition I finished two 1' by 7' pannels and I have one 3' by 7' panell almost done. I propbably won't post more pics until we actually start putting pannels up and begin detailing. Happy Haunting!