# Backyard pros/cons?



## pagan (Sep 9, 2009)

Hi everyone.

I have been mulling over using my backyard as a haunt and wondering if anyone has any thoughts/experiance to share?


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## Spartan005 (Mar 13, 2007)

Pros: 
No neeed to transport props to other locations
Relatively easy setup/take down
You can plan the layout however far in advance you'd like 

Cons: 
Weather
Safety issues
Fire dept. can be a pain

I've done a backyard haunt for two years. My biggest problem is the weather, especially since I live on a canal with absolutely no protection from the wind. If you can build a solid enough structure than you should be fine. And I'm assuming you would be raising money, as that generally prevents lawsuits god forbid something goes wrong


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## Front Yard Fright (Dec 23, 2005)

First thing to do is talk to your city. Talk to your zoning and building inspectors and let them know what you're doing. Make a detailed sketch of where your walls are going to be, where your emergency exits will be... Things that that. This will help prevent headaches down the road.

Also talk to your insurance agent. Make sure you're covered in case something happens on your property. It's better to find out before, than after!!!

THEN take into consideration what you want to do in your haunt, and how you're going to construct it. I use plywood with 2x4 frames attached for walls. It's simple, sturdy, but somewhat costly. Another route to go is OSB sheeting instead of plywood. It's about 1/2 the price of plywood, but I personally just don't like the look of it, and it is known to fall apart after a few seasons.

Another thing to consider is storage. Where are you going to put this stuff when Halloween is over? We pay over $100 a month in storage costs a month to store our haunt in the off season.

You also will want to talk to your neighbors and make sure it's okay with them. Ticking off your neighbors may cause your haunt to get shut down, so play nice, and get on everyone's good side!

Running a haunt at your house is a LOT of work, and can be quite stressful. However, it can also be very very fun and quite rewarding in the end!

Let me know if you need any help with anything, I'd love to share my knowledge with you!
:jol:.


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## Warrant2000 (Oct 8, 2008)

*Pro's:*
Large space to work with
Contained and secure
Easy access to workshop and power outlets

*Con's:*
Outside elements of wind and rain
Hard to contain the path so the rest of your haunt is not exposed
Much harder setup and take-down since there is so much more to do
Much larger area to haunt and account for
Security for remote or out-of-view parts of the haunt

My 60'x70' yard was a great place to hold it, even though I had only 1 way in/out - I managed it though. I set it up to be a clockwise loop around the perimeter of the yard with 4 encounter areas.

Here's my master plan from 2009.

Here's a thread with my front yard graveyard, zombie prep, and a few backyard shots.

The much larger setup was harder to do with so much area to cover. I underestimated the materials I needed, did not have a enclosed path, so parts of my haunt was exposed even before tot's got to it. Fortunately, the nearby scares kept their attention. A bunch of extra props here and there would have given them something to look at as they transitioned.

I was not pleased with parts of the haunt that were barren as tot's transitioned from one area to the next. For this year I'll have more walls, and some switchback turns, since I discovered the magic of pallet walls covered in cardboard.

You have a plan drawn up yet?


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## HallowEve (Apr 13, 2009)

I have a home haunt that included using my backyard for many years. We took a break for a couple of years because we became co-owners of a haunted attraction here at home and then we moved into a new home so we are now getting back into building and designing a home/yard haunt once again!

PROS: 
having lots of space to work with and you can start building, decorating when you want.
Making your haunt as long of a walk through as you want.
As far as consealing areas:
I was able to create tunnels using pvc and blackplastic, scene rooms using 2x4's and black plastic and more. You can plan where and in what direction to place the tunnels and rooms so that you are keeping scenes in your haunt hidden. And you can also make walls (out of many different things) to limit the view of your guests.


Cons:
must have LOTS of extension cords
must plan on where all your exstension cords are going to be and plan to keep them off of the path that your guests will be walking.
Weather, cold, rain, wind and even heat (if creating lots of rooms or tunnels out of pvc)
As I have learned, you need insurance to cover your event in the case someone gets hurt. I learned that your homeowners insurance (at least in our case) would not cover a yard haunt. If you are having a "party" and sending invitations then it is covered. If you are advertising to the general public even by just placing flyers up then you need haunt insurance. I would suggest a insurance company that deals with the haunted attraction industry. You can get coverage for one day to a month or more. Some companies will require you to buy the insurance for a month-thats just the way they offer it since most attractions are open at least all weekends of October.

It is definately worth having the room to create an awesome haunt and all the time you want to design and decorate it. It is a lot of work and you have to fight mother nature sometimes.


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## trentsketch (Jul 27, 2009)

I've done a backyard walkthrough of sorts once. However, I did it without putting up any walls, only a series of signs to help guide the motion. I also have the layout to start the ToTs in the frontyard, bring them down the path in the sideyard, send them around the backyard, and back to the road through the other sideyard. Yes, I'm fortunate enough to have too very clear, narrow sideyards/paths with level earth that I can take advantage of.

Pros: 

Everything can be built on site using the available landscaping for design
Don't have to abandon handing out candy to ToTs to run a haunt
For those who expand or vary a theme (rather than my crazy new theme each year system), a whole new experience can be created by rearranging the path/props/lighting/effects with minimal difficulty

Cons: 

Keeping an eye on all the props so they don't walk when your back is turned
Making sure your property isn't destroyed
Preventing incidents (accidents, fights, robbery, enraged parents)
Requires more people to oversee than just a yard haunt

I was basically on the phone all night inviting friends over to go stand out back in a costume and keep the ToTs in line. Not a fun job and no one lasted long. I eventually had to shut down the back yard long before the front, meaning all my foam carving work on my "living gardens" went to waste.

I'm tempted to do the full outdoor walkthrough again, but keep remembering all the drama and struggles. I'll probably wind up expanding my technique from last year--defining a pathway through the front yard to create a safer walkthrough--this year. I do have full scale plans, but I keep thinking of how stressed out I was over making sure nothing walked and no one was hurt.


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## Dungeon Keeper (Sep 25, 2009)

We went from front yard to the backyard on our home haunt 2 years ago and won't be going back up front again. Now ours is just a home haunt with donations benifiting a local non profit, not a full on money making endevor.
We have 48 4x6' plywood walls on 2x2 frames that are set up and made into a walkthrough area along with a 15x10' tent, a 10' round tent and a 14' octagon tent all set up with themed rooms. Then they go through the open aired graveyard and through the back porch before exiting on the opposite side of the house that they entered. 
Our big issue last year was the rain, and keeping water out of the hallway areas. We now have a huge 20x32' party tent that will cover our walled areas which will simplify the lighting and sound without having to worry about rain damaging the systems.

Pros:
1- more time to set up and break down (we strarted set up 1st week of Sept and had most of breakdown finished thanksgiving weekend)
2- No fear of vandalizing or stolen props (opposed to constant worry with leaving props out in the front yard)
3- gatekeeper can control flow of people through haunt

Cons:
1- people don't see the decor and don't know that there are big scares waiting behind the house (the 9' tall pumpkin scarecrow close to road holding sign with haunt hours gives a nice warning though)
2- Actors only interact with those going through haunt and not the TOTers going up and down street like a front yard haunt.


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## pagan (Sep 9, 2009)

Thanks everyone.. It hadn't occured to me that a backyard haunt is such a differant animal than the frontyard haunt I put together last year. I think that I will probably just work with the space I have in the front yard, and maybe use the driveway to set up my graveyard to free up space.


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