# Questions about building a maze



## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

My question is how narrow is too narrow of a hallway? 48, 36, 30 inches?

Last year I put a really simple maze together for our finale' and it was really more of a cattle shoot than a maze. There were only 2 places that were dead ends, but it was a great success.

This year the maze is getting a whole new twist. It'll incorporate 5 working doors , 3 movable walls, and very little lighting. If I haven't over looked anything I could literally trap somone inside for eternity....muwhahahahaha. :xbones:


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## Frighteners Entertainment (Jan 24, 2006)

My 2 cent is go no less than 36" for your hallways.


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

That's what I'm shooting for but I may end up with a narrow section due to the room size. If it's a long straight hallway with basically no scare would 30" x 14' be to narrow if it dead end into say a 4' x 4' room/area?


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## Frighteners Entertainment (Jan 24, 2006)

Keep in mind that you may have someone show up that could be in a wheel chair or on crouches.
I had this happen myself. Luckily, most of the hallways were 42".
They had a great time. And the local haunt was set up for wheel chair access, lots of stairs.


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## DeathTouch (Sep 6, 2005)

And don't forget about the big block of cheese. So they can get to the middle.


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Frighteners Entertainment said:


> Keep in mind that you may have someone show up that could be in a wheel chair or on crouches.
> I had this happen myself. Luckily, most of the hallways were 42".
> They had a great time. And the local haunt was set up for wheel chair access, lots of stairs.


I took that into consideration last year and had 4' -5' wide hallways. There was a lot more room in there than I thought. It was amazing how dividing up that garage made it seem so much larger. I really felt like we wasted space, (read not much of a maze) and I am trying to get an additional hallway in there to add to the length.

I should have most of my panels built by this weekend. Maybe I can re-configure it a bit and still have a safe width.



> And don't forget about the big block of cheese. So they can get to the middle.


No cheese but there'll be a few other surprises along the way.


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## Gothic Nightmare (Jul 19, 2007)

I agree. I like to go between 36" to 48". There may be local codes for minimum widths for emergency egress purposes. Even if you are "low key" it's still not a bad idea to follow local fire codes when you can.


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## BoysinBoo (Dec 10, 2007)

Just a thought: If you dead end that skinny (30") of a hallway, at some point you will have two people trying to pass each other. 15" for each person is not a lot of room...especially with a costume on.


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

BoysinBoo said:


> Just a thought: If you dead end that skinny (30") of a hallway, at some point you will have two people trying to pass each other. 15" for each person is not a lot of room...especially with a costume on.


That's why it dead ends into a 4'x4' room/area. We limit the size of the groups to 4 or less, but maybe thats not enough room. I'll just have to go ahead and start putting my maze up and just see what I end up with.

I'm building the panels in a modular fashion so it will be easy to reconfigure if it don't work.


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## slightlymad (May 25, 2006)

Check local ADA code things are always changing and they are the best because they usually require the most area. Which by the way recently increased to 60" in a confined space or shower ie the chair must be able to turn freely.
Almost forgot then check with fire inspector or marshall the building inspector in my experience will sign off on whatever the aforementioned sign off on


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## Frighteners Entertainment (Jan 24, 2006)

One thing to mention, a home haunt doesn't have to abide to any codes, but is very good practice if you ever think that you might want to at some time.


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

Are you sure about that FE. Is whether you charge or not the only difference between a home haunt and a pro haunt. Anything that envolves the general public makes me nervous.


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## Empress Nightshade (Jul 25, 2004)

Yeah, it's a sticky situation BD. Personally, I would adhere to the code as much as possible. This way, you can relax and not have in the back of your mind, "What IF the police or fire department shows up?" Don't say that it can't happen because it's happened to me and I was shut down.

I know that it seems like these codes are a pain in the rump and most of them are! :jol: But, they are there for public safety and to protect you from those who would prey on the innocent.

I agree that 4' wide hallways are a lot of room, but if you really detail the area, it becomes visually smaller. I'm so thankful I adhere to the codes regardless to what was required -- we had a bus load of people in wheelchairs to show up to our haunt last season. As well as one blind couple, two deaf families, a little boy with Autism and a young man with Down Syndrome. Word must have gotten around that if you were disabled and wanted to go to a haunt, ours was the one. Perhaps it's because we're benefiting kids with Autism, I'm not sure, but my chest was puffed up beyond belief. 

Look up the website to your local fire marshall and search around on there to find their requirements for haunted houses. Following that list, you should be okay.


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