Cheap (Inexpensive) Hangar

[sburg58]

I am in the planning stages of keeping my cub on my own property. I do not really have a strip, just an alfalfa field about 1200 ft long, a bit up hill on one end. Operations in and out should be no problem. I would like to put up something to store it in, thinking a very small, low lean-to or perhaps a larger tensioned fabric structure. I realize bigger is better and I could always use more storage, however might be easier and cheaper with just a lean to. Looking for suggestions/recommendations/pictures from some who might have done something similar. I am excited to walk out the door and go flying!

[tempdoug]

What kind of a price is cheap to you? 1 grand, 5, 10 ,15, 50?

[8GCBC]

"Cheap structures" have killed people and hurt aircraft. What kind of weather can we expect in your location?

[courierguy]

Post and beam tin shed, best bang for the buck. Probably lots of builders in your area could throw one up gor less then 10K. Mono pitch roof. No door. Just 3 walls and a roof. Point it N so no sun gets in. No fancy man cave just protection for the bird. Keep it small as possible and build yourself for about5 K. I scrounged used material for.my first 30 years ago (5 bucks a pole old utility poles, homemade trusses using free wood from a building I tore down, and new tin. Less then 2 K and it's still standing. Or you can spend 50 K or more really easy! Look at your local farm and ranch builders, call it a tractor shed. Your biggest difference is the 40' opening required. I used a steel ibeam salvaged from a torn down building. If you arn't a builder then you just have to get the yellow pages and your checkbook out, much more satisfying to do it yourself!

[aktango58]

RUBB

Fabric structures, 25+ year warranty, steel frame.

Where and what climate? Tornado, hurricane, stampede, hail or deep wet snow. It all makes a difference.

[courierguy]

On second thought, if you have to ask others on how to proceed, you probably don't have the contruction skills background to take on the project yourself? No offense meant! If so, my way of doing things is not going to work is my point.

So, if that is the case, but you want to do it as inexpensive as possible, your first move is to identify a good local builder and then once you establish a relationship with him (by that I mean make it clear from the first you are on a strict budget, and you want to line up and buy all the materials yourself, get the permits, and help physically/be the go for for him if possible) and that he can be assured that this will be a quick easy job and you will pay (offer cash if possible, that always worked for me) the day it's done, and it shouldn't take over a week.

Then take him and go to your local truss building business, sit down with their engineer and lay out what you need, they can do some amazing things nowadays with trusses. I set plenty as a crane operator, and a small simple hangar is a piece of cake. You will be able to go pressure treated wood posts and tin for cheaper then fabric, pretty sure of that, and have more of a building when finished. Make it to fit your Cub and no bigger. You get the right builder, not some rummy or somone who wants to build a piano and a post and beamer can be knocked out in no time using local help and local materials, unlike the fabric buildings. One went up down the road from me (shop) by a crew who does it all the time, 3 days. 4 days the door and windows hung and everything tinned. You will love having your bird at home, nothing like it!

[aktango58]

fabric buildings can be erected by local help... forklift and a couple of guys. that is it.

Also, fabric RUBB buildings are used in the arctic, antarctic and other high wind high snow load places. I have seen more than one cheap pole barn/home built building flat, Including houses, from snow. And roofs departing the scene from wind.

So depending where you live, you need to think about what you are building. If you are not in the high snow, tornado, hurricane belt then maybe a simple pole barn/pole roof is the way to go. If no snow, you don't even need truss, just a pitch from front to back to shed rain by putting a beam in front and blocking the roof above it.

The front span is the big deal. From there, you can actually have posts on either side of the tail to support the middle beam, and all along the back. Think shear from side winds, so have some wing walls for front shear if you go cheap...

[barbwire]

Agree with those above on the scrounged poles, girts & purlins (2 by 4) on four foot centers will work and metal skin. Wait for the metal to go on sale at the local HD, Lowes, etc. Visit your local salvage yard and look for I beam. Some 16" beams will span 40ft but you can find sites on the internet that will help you with the sizing once you find one.
Trusses from the Hutterites, Amish, etc. Be sure to tie the truss over the beam to the beam and then tie that truss back to the other trusses. In the event that, in the future you want to add a door. Point the opening away from the prevailing winds or the normal storm direction. If you want to cover in the winter you can buy heavy mill plastic used to cover bale piles. Staple it to the top plates then screw a 2 by 4 over that. on the bottom use 2 by 6's for weight, staple to one then screw the other to it. Lay it flat on the ground and lay a few concrete blocks to hold it down. If you have big winds put verticals on 8ft centers, screw at the top to the end truss or top plate and to the double 2 by 6's at the bottom to give the plastic support against a big wind.
It takes a few minutes to take down the vertical supports and you will need help to roll it up but I lived thru two South Dakota winters utilizing this type of door. Flew on skis both winters. Good luck with your project!

[8GCBC]

Please don't forget water DRAINAGE too. Many people, it's an after thought. The declination of the Sun and prevailing wind help choose door/window position.

The strongest winds in a low are from the NW quadrant (N. Hemisphere).

[courierguy]

As luck would have it, today I was craning a roof on a new credit union and the truss assembly was exactly what I believe to be the most cost effective way to build a hangar. Note, not "cheap" but simple, quick and cost effective. The entire roof, using engineered trusses appropiate for your area's snow and wind load, can easily be assembled on the ground. The multi-ply girder truss provides the clear span opening needed, while at the same time providing the height needed to achieve the desired roof pitch. Free spans of 60' can easily be done this way. A crane, and it could be a medium sized boom truck, 15 ton or so, is called and the entire assembly is lifted, the charge for that would be minimal as it would be onsite for less then an hour. Started at 8 AM, set on the already contructed post and beam struture, I'd have that roof sheeted (7/16" OSB) and the tin on easily by lunch, working by myself, back in the day anyway, I'd have to take a nap before starting the tin now!

Once the girder and roof trusses are sheeted, the shear strength is tremendous, even more once the tin is screwed on. ANY building type can fail if improperly designed, I saw a 100' span by 300' long professionally built fabric building fail last year. Very near the Pocatello national weather station and the KPIH control tower, the max gust that day was 64 MPH. Several of the metal trusses deformed and the fabric was ripped. They tore the whole thing down and reconstructed what looks like the same thing about a 1/4 mile away. A fluke, so far so good the second time around.I see the major advantage of a fabric building being the property tax issue, I guess they qualify as a temporary structure and somehow get around that? I have been looking at them in case I lose my present place I keep my crane, where I now have a post and beamer shed for it. The fabric structure idea would be perfect for a rented piece of ground, my own property I'd go permanent if for no other reason then an initial cost savings plus long term savings.

[sburg58]

I have been gone for a couple of days, thanks for all the suggestions. Still trying to decide on large or small building. I am going to look at the tensioned fabric structures a bit more. The planning commission treats them as temporary buildings and apparently do not tax them.

[OVEREASYGUY]

I'm trying to figure out a cheap way to store a couple of boats. I have a call in to the code officer in my town to see if they would consider concrete blocks stacked up - with boards and a blue tarp over head a perminate structure. If they say it's not- then i'm thinking I might dig down a couple feet - pour a footer- then stack loose blocks and build my boat storage unit. The blocks would be double stacked and interwoven I guess you might call it? I bet using this technique you could build a cheap T-hanger. Might need one 40 foot steel beam. It would not be a cool looking hanger but you said cheap!

My other idea is to build a cheap chicken coop by stacking up hay bails in a U shape and cover the top with wood and blue tarp.

However my hunch is you aint going to build much of anything these days cheap!
cliff dow in Maine

[aktango58]

Cliff,

Eco blocks. Call the local ready mix place for them. The have the notches on top and bottom for stacking.

Again, flat roof, taller beam in front than back. easier than truss, cheaper also.

[swoeric]

ive seen a few around here that use old shipping containers for the walls and fashion roof on from there or just stack more containers to span it

[swoeric]

Thinkingg here on cheap coverage for aircraft at an airport....has anyone seen covering like the car lots use...tent like almost...wondering for an option that would be cheaper than a T hangar to make

[mvivion]

Nothing cheap about thoe fabric covered buildings. Also, consider lifespan. Property tax may seem cheap when you look at the long term.

MTV

[NunavutPA-12]

My experience, just as a matter of interest since my location is extreme (67.5N, 115W):

Fabric building, 40 x 30 feet, engineered trusses - $12,000
Freight on building - $6,000
Gravel pad and piling installation - $15,000
Contractor's fee for assembly/construction - $10,000
Cheap 2 x 4 and plywood floor (painted) - $2,000

Total $45,000 (no door). Has been up for seven years and withstood winds of about 80 mph with only some very minor damage. Land lease is a bargain at $126 per year, no property tax (so far!).

Milk is $6.00/qt here!

Larry

[courierguy]

Aktango: Maybe if building in Florida. Flat or near flat is not an option for any kind of snow country. Even in Florida, what you going to span 24' with ( assuming 24' is deep enough for a Cub, min. lets call it)? 2 x 4's?
Only thing to free span that would be BCI's (usually used for floor joists). Trussing it is more stru turally efficient AND cheaper. FWIW I was got my journeyman union card in 1979, and also was a self employed builder for decades after I got out of the union. Your building background?? Just trying to give some good advice on something I know a lot about!

[sburg58]

I talked with a guy who used three 40 foot shipping containers placed in a U then used a tensioned fabric roof. He likes it and has the added benefit of dry storage on three sides. Planning on checking around Seattle to see where I might be able to purchase three. I think I could come up with a roof system that may be cheaper than tensioned fabric. A roof of made of containers sounds interesting, wonder if I could talk my wife into living in the "upstairs"?

[skywagon8a]

.... then used a tensioned fabric roof.

Did he allow a slope for rain runoff? Tensioned fabric will belly in the middle, collecting water. The weight of the water will further belly the fabric as it rains until the fabric fails. I can imagine what a Super Cub will look like after a few hundred gallons of water suddenly falls on it.

[tempdoug]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAyLX2hY7E0 Actually some of these storage sheds that guys are putting up for machinery with fabric look alot better than some of the steel ones going up. Im putting up a hangar out at my place right now and building real similar to the one in post #10. In the top picture, the front double header cost me $990 delivered here from 75 miles away(Minot). I went with a little different tail design but wished i would have went like that, with the pre made trusses attached to the headers. the rest is posts and 2x4s, 2x6s. Im going 42 wide and 26 deep. So maybe get a quote to see what that would cost to make at your local trust manufacturer, that would probably be the cheapest, not neccisarily the most efficient. Im so far going to go with pole barn tin on the top and house siding, because its sitting next to the house, so i have to sheet it and extra posts to hold the siding straight. Im thinking the door is going to cost as much as the building. Thinking of going with a 1 panel hydraulic cylinder lift.