# Basement Question



## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

Anyone know of a reasonable way to deal with basement walls that are plain, painted cinderblocks? Doesn't have to be quick-and-dirty but something better than black plastic but short of finishing the basement. I thought about hanging canvas or cheap sheets but you can't nail things to the walls thataway. Maybe it is time to finish the basement.

Any ideas welcome.


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## Allen H (Feb 13, 2010)

why not just paint the cinderblock?


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## Hauntiholik (May 17, 2006)

how about using scene setters?


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

What kind of ceiling finish do you have? If it's open or has ceiling tiles, you might be able to hang something without penetrating a wall.


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## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

All good, thanks...had to look up scene setters, that is new to me.

The ceiling is open, meaning 2x6 boards and heat/air ducts. Not crazy about the ducts being visible but probably can live with that. It's the cinder blocks that bug me.


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## Denhaunt (Aug 18, 2006)

One of the things I'm doing this year is to cover a good portion of the basement walls in 1/2 inch, stone carved, stryo. I'm going to create a dungeon effect complete with shackles and sconces. If I cut it right I can probably just "wedge" each section into place. It is not a cheap alternative (which is why I'm not doing the whole basement) but the effect should be really cool. Who knows - I'll probably leave it up all year.


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

There are different kinds of ground cover that may work for you also. Some look like a open weave burlap, which you could use on the walls or the ceiling. I have also seen camy netting at the army surplus stores.


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## The Archivist (May 31, 2009)

I would recommend making press fit walls out of 1x3's and using luan plywood or something similar. That way if you decide to move or something, they can be taken down. (Basically, you'd be making stage flats.)


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Denhaunt said:


> One of the things I'm doing this year is to cover a good portion of the basement walls in 1/2 inch, stone carved, stryo. I'm going to create a dungeon effect complete with shackles and sconces. If I cut it right I can probably just "wedge" each section into place. It is not a cheap alternative (which is why I'm not doing the whole basement) but the effect should be really cool. Who knows - I'll probably leave it up all year.


It might be cheaper than you think. I've bought 4x8 sheets of 1" blue foam from Lowe's that was slightly damaged for as little as a $1 a sheet. Sure it may have a damaged end or broken corner that won't work well for insulating purposes, but works great for a haunt.


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

I had a similar basemant and bought these rolls of paper that had the markings of stone on them. The walls looked like dungeon or castle walls. The paper is slightly heavy and currogated, not as thick as cardboard but much more hardy than normal paper and fairly inexpensive. You unroll it onto the walls, tape it in place and add your finishing touches. Looks great and can be rerolled and reused for years.

Its called greystone decor wrap. I got mine at fright catalog, for 25 dollars a roll. Each roll is 4 feet tall by 25 feet long, give or take.


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

I was thinking. The open ceiling can be as much a benefit as a problem. I would take that stretchy webbing you can get at the dollar store, and stetch it across the whole ceiling. Use some of the glow-in-the-dark stuff interspersed with the white. Put some black lights up above the webbing in the various nooks, add some glowing eyes behind ductwork, glow-in-the-dark bones or other items, hang some spiders and spider cocoons, and make sure any normal lighting lights below the webs to help hide the ceiling in darkness. I did that for a number of parties in my basement and it worked pretty good.

That with those dungeon walls wallpaper, makes for a really cool effect. If you have any windows make some bars out of wooden dowel, paint them black and bar up the windows, hang a few skeletons on the walls, add some rats on the floors in corners a little more webbing and there you go. Me, I tend to go over board so would have several dozen rubber rats and fist sized spiders about, with skulls, various torure impelments etc.

The advantage of the web ceiling and the stone decor wrap is it is cheap, easy to store for next yaer and easy to put up and take down.


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## nixie (Sep 17, 2008)

To do the carved foam walls event cheaper, you could use backer board. You wouldn't get as much depth, but it would still give you the same effect. You could carve and paint about anything on it. Really inexpensive fabric like muslin wold work too. You could paint, dye, shred it, maybe even layer some cheescloth over it.


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## Psyc0 Walrus (Sep 1, 2009)

woah wait i thought fright catalog went out of business last season when they sold everything on ebay for $0.01 lol (penny sale)


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

They did, I have had mine for a while now. You can still google it and find the stuff elsewhere. Lots of places sell it.


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

If they have gone out of business, how come the website is still up?


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I think we're getting just a teensy bit off topic here. Let's all return to the basement discussion now


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## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

Great ideas, thanks everybody!


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## scarymovie (Feb 14, 2010)

Scene setters are a great idea and they cover up large space there is many types of style to choose from!


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## Spartan005 (Mar 13, 2007)

This is for a haunt right? Not a party?

Anyway, IMO real walls will always look better than scene setters. They're just not my thing. Buy some green and red floodlights, and it will look cool.


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## scarymovie (Feb 14, 2010)

Floodlights are a great idea Spartan005 that will also work some scene setter are cheesy looking and some are not you have to look around for the best selection I guess!


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## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

re: haunt vs. party, it'll be a one-room thing like a large witch kitchen


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