Wanted: Building hangar/door ideas???

Anyone finish building your own hangar?

I will be putting up a hangar next spring and l would like to learn from others planning/mistakes to make my hanger as well planned out as possible.

Interested in gathering ideas/technique's from others who have put up a hangar that did things a "bit" different, anything that makes your hangar "Unique", things that you would do differently "Next Time" or wish I had done "????" to my hanger now that is up.

Also looking for plans/ideas for building the hangar door, planning to make a door the same style as the Hydroswing door.

Thanks, Duane

If you like the style of the Hydro swing door you might look for a set of plans for the "Aero Line" door. They used to sell the plans in Sport Aviation. It is a homebuilt one piece door. I have a friend that built one and used it for many years. He upgraded his hangar 2 yrs. ago with a concrete floor and a Hydro swing. Wasn't a cheap upgrade but I like that Hydro Swing. It doubles as a large shaded area in the summer when in the up position. Lots of choices in pre made doors.

Duane:

I just finished a 48x64 hanger. A couple ideas:

I would have gone to 50 wide if the airport zoning would have let me. I think you could get 2 planes in the corners at 50 wide.

I put a Schwiess bifold on it. Mine is posted 16'6" tall, so that leaves 14'6" clear opening when the door is up. Really impressed with the Schwiess, very nice door with great features. Spent a lot of time with the choice of doors between 1 pc swing, and bifold. Jeremy Reinke at Schwiess is a great resource for door talk. Even if you dont buy a Schwiess. His reccomendation on a wood frame bld is a bifold. I takes a lot of stiffening to hold a hydro swing on a wood bld. Not that it cant be done, there are a couple local ones that way. I think they are all good, 1 piece hydro swing was more money than the bifold.

I would reccomend putting the door on the gable end if you can. I watched a door get wrecked a few yrs ago when the snow slid off the roof and onto the opened door that was installed on the eave side. Plus the rain wont be dripping on your head.

I bit the bullet and put heat tube in the floor with the expectation I might heat it some day. Tubing is about .50 per sq ft, insulation was around a buck I think.

Make sure your slab is well above surrounding grade. The locals were asking a lot of questions why I was buying so much gravel. I wanted finished slab at least 6" higher than taxiway to keep the rain out. So far so good in a couple downpours.

Make sure to get a remote control for the door. Its great sport when you open the door and taxi in and shut the door behind yourself.

Cant think of anything else right now

Jim

I built what you are talking about. Sent you a PM

I wish I had of gone 60 feet wide with a 50 foot door.. vs 50 feet wide with a 40 foot door. Door clearance for more a/c makes and even a dinged J3 bow... and 60 wide inside would allow nosing an a/c against a wall and rolling another past it to get out.

I also love my swiss bi-fold style doors. Mine are made of 2x2x1/8 steel tubing. 40 foot on each end and 12 footers on each side (waste.. never opened!). I can go full clear opening on my 16' ceiling..but stop it early at about 14-6" (enough to get a marine container/high transport backed in) to keep more strength in the door V when opened.



Also... put your steel beam in with dual trolleys and chain falls BEFORE you finish the hangar. Gotta be a lot easier than driving a JSW excavator in on boards... lashing a 50 foot beam to the back of the bucket with chains and trying to swing it out thru one wall and back in after driving forward to place it on the other wall !

Scouter, I'm jealous. Both airplane and hangar. Good looking set up. I like the paint on both the a/c and the hangar.

Anybody here have a quonset hut style hangar, like an erectatube or similar? Looks like an efficient way to go maybe, but don't know the purchase/erection costs.

I liked what someone said about 50 feet. I have two hangers. The first was a 40x40. It held one airplane. I then added a 12x12 dog house in the back of it, and now it holds 2 planes.

My 2nd hanger is 50x50 with a 45 ft door. It holds 4 airplanes. That extra 10 feet goes a long way!

I have a Coverit 45X30 foot hangar with fabric cover and front door. I have had it for 7 years now and the fabric cover is still OK. If it ever has to be replaced I'll cover it with sheet metal roofing. The structure is strong. I've hung the Cub from it while working on the Landing gear. Shipping from N.J. was expensive but I still had less than $8,000.00 in it when finished. I have a gravel floor and an electric wench to roll up the door. Coverit advertises in Popular Science and Trade-a-plane. Also in most of the aviation magazines. They also have a web site. There is one other one that I know of in this area also holding up well. Down at one of the Navy basses in Southern California I saw about 20 of them with Jets parked inside. ...Clyde

Schweiss all the way and if you have the depth put in a overhead door to access the back. Some real handy guys have built there own around here but with the all the controls and price of steel???? Hanger is 54x45 and the door a 42. Bet freight to AK would be a bastard.

Jim, now I see why you want to take your wife shopping someplace fancy. Eye for an eye. Nice lookin hangar. Your lucky you have snow, ours is almost gone, and I'm on skis.

Tim

Jim,
Looking at your paint scheme I need to know the truth. Do you farm potatoes or have something going with Purina feeds? I love the hanger by the way. Custom guys have custom sheds with custom toys. Happy New Year Scout brother

My regret is in not making it wider - I did 30 X 40 wide - the door opening ended up being 36 feet - which gives me about 6 inches on each wing end. I have no power at my hanger - so I just leave the doors open - if I could do it over - I think i'd make it ten feet deeper also - then in the winter time - not so much snow would get on the airplane.
you will likely live with your hanger for along time - so do it once and do it right - that's my attitude.
Make the door tall enough also -so if one day you want a super cub on amphibian floats -you have that option.
well that's my 2 cents for the day.
cliff in Maine

Thanks for the compliments guys, The hanger came out nice.

Tim: Its amazing what some granite countertops in your wifes kitchen will get you. We have our share of snow this Dec, around 30 inches so far in Dec and its supposed to snow more tomorrow. I ran the bushwheels as long as I dared, now have the skis on. Lake ice is really crappy, not much at all yet, plus a lot of slush earlier. The best ski flying is in March anyway.


Eric: Dont have any stock in Purina, just Pepsico who owns Frito-Lay who buys all my potatoes. I was bringing a Citabria home from FL a few yrs ago and stopped at Cape May, or Wildwood NJ cant remember, for fuel. It was an old WWII pilot training field, and the old hangers used to be painted red/white checkerboard. I thought it must have looked cool in the day. I want to make my P51 feel at home when I put it away at night. 8)
I keep the Scout here on the farm until mud season, this hanger is at Dexter Maine airport. Plenty of room if anyone needs an overnight hanger spot.

Jim

[ I have a gravel floor and an electric wench to roll up the door.]

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Wherever did you find such a woman? And is she battery or plug-in? And does she live in the hanger? Mine does. Sort of.

It is always fun to see who woke up real early and couldn't get back to sleep. Good morning! ...She is going to get a kick out of this one when she reads it. ...Clyde

P.S. Steve J. is going to have to get us a context sensitive spelling checker. ...cgd

Hi, a question for irishfield. What size is the I-beam in your hanger? I hope to put up a 44 x 40 with a 43 foot door in the spring, need to be able to lift a 185 from the beam. Would be a 44 ft beam, may put up a 54 x 44 which would be large enough for two planes. that would require a 54 ft beam. Any one else feel free to comment also. Thanks, Tim

My beams 12" x 6" x 1/2" (50 feet long) and only because that was what would fit above the side doors to sit on the side posts. We seriously did drive a JSW into the hangar to place it. If hindsight was 20/20 and I'd built it in originally I would have gone with a 16" deep beam. I'm not sure what it will hold for sure... I've had 1800 lbs or so on it with no sag. As an Electo-Mechanical Engineer you'd think I wouldn't be so lazy and just do the load calcs for the beam. I have side load holders on it in two places on span..boards nailed to the rafters and hooked into each side of the flange so it can't wobble side to side to roll over.

If you look really hard you can see them in this shot.. between the lights..picking up 4 trusses on each side of the beam

Have a look at horizontal bi-folds, no power required.
Here's an outfit that makes one.
http://cool-airinc.com/index.htm

Lost a wood frame 30 x 120 hanger ( three airplanes ) in a wind storm in 2002. Replaced it with a 70 x 90 all metal hanger. Am building a version of the side stack door for the 12 x 50 foot door opening. Should have in the neighborhood of 46 foot clear opening when done. Am getting lazier in my older years and did not want to push two or three airplanes out of the way to get at the one in the back, so I built a 52 foot diameter carousel revolving floor in the front 70 x 70 that I park four airplanes on. Just flip the switch and watch the plane I want swing around to the door. Floor makes one revolution in three minutes. Cost of the floor materials was about $6000. about $3000 more than to fill the space with concrete. Took me all my week-ends from end of Oct. 2006 thru April 2007 to design and build it. Neat thing after all that hassle is it actually works. I will have to get Brian to post a picture or two.

Steve

Steve, how did you drive it?

Thanks to everyone for the great conversations about the hangars and the different ideas about the construction of such. It is hard to find any forums that are just about ideas for the building hangars.

The hangar that I’m putting up next spring is Miracle Truss, 51’ wide x 40’ deep with a 22-25’ lean-to off one end. It will have a 42’x 14’ door that will be on the 51’ gable end.

These are the things that I will put in the hangar (any other ideas would greatly be appreciated!)...
1. Steel 50’ and I-beam and trolley/winch for changing floats and lifting “valuables” (would like to get ideas of size/thickness of beam needed to span 50’ with out deflecting when lifting 3,000# of gold or maybe a C-185).
2. Infloor heat, providing an extra loop off the manifold to allow heating in the lean-to when the time comes to enclose the lean-to.
3. 3” insulated around foundation.
4. Conduit running under the slab to allow runs for the wiring.
5. 42’ x 14’ Hanger door, of the home made type! Bifold or Hydroswing style, yet to be determined???
6. Sprayed insulation! Any thoughts of poly or soy type???
7. Adding extra anchor bolts for things like the supports for the post holding up the lifting I-beam.
8. Floor drain 12’ from the hangar door, sloping floors to drain in front half of hangar, having level floors in the back half of the hangar. Installing drains and piping for sink, shower, toilet (future project).
9. Solar tubes/skylights, install 5 (for daylight) in the ridgeline of the hanger.
10. T-5 florescent lighting.
11. Garage door, 10’ wide x 12’ high in the back of the hanger.
12. Man door 2-36” x 80”.
13. Frame in a 10’ x 10’ opening from main hangar to the lean-to area, for future garage door to the enclosed 22’ x 40’ section.
14. Electrical Transfer switch for power failures (allow connection of standby generator to hangar).

These are a few of the things that I will put into the hanger... keep the ideas flying! Thanks, Duane

Duane,
I have a 40X48' hangar at Girdwood . It's been 25 years and it's still not quite "finished"! It's a wood frame and has a steel bi fold door I built. It's only 10 foot high. It works for my Luscombe and the 2+2 i'm building, but I would make the next one at least 50' wide by 12' high or more, depending on your plane of course. If you're ever up Anchorage way give me a call (783-2263) and I could show you what worked (and what didn't).
Also, the hangars on either side of me, just hung new Shwiess doors that they got good prices on at the Airmens Trade Show last spring. The shipping was also a deal , as they were able to bring up 5 doors on the truck.
Laz

The floor is driven with a 212 foot long continues 3/8 cable wrapped around the outside edge in inverted channel. The cable comes off the floor over to a 40 to one gear reduction unit rigged like a Cub trim system with tension springs keeping it taught. The electric motor is a reversible 1750 rpm 5 hrsp unit. The only change I would make is to use a three phase motor with a phase inverter that you can control like a reostat for a slow start system. The single phase that I have is on right now, and starts the floor with a slight jerk. I just used what I had laying around the shop.

Steve

Hanger

Steve, I have to see pictures of your turn table. My wife has one on the table called a Lazy Susan, Guess we could call yours a Lazy Steve. Send the pictures.
I have a 50 X 80 hanger with a full blown apt. in one end. and a 40' wide door. I would have a wider door and taller so you can get a plane in on Amphibs. I have a smaller side door roll up type thats used allot, great adder.
One thing not mentioned. I would put Infra-red heaters in. Everything you touch will be warm and heats right back up after closing the big door. Ask CubCrafters in Yakima. They have them in all there buildings.
Add a small boiler for floor heat in the hanger as well. You will love it.

Bill

Here is a picture our recently completed hangar at Aero Estates Airpark (TX27) near Frankston, TX. The hangar is all metal construction with R11 "bag and sag" vinyl backed insulation, full concrete floor, 2 man doors and a 45x14 Hydroswing door. Outside dimensions are 50x50x14. I wanted the 14 ft door clearance for possible use by anphibs since the airpark adjoins a 26,000 acre lake in the piney woods of East Texas.






Mark

We are now renting an unheated hangar at Willow, Alaska with a Hydroswing door. Big problems last year when frost heaved the monoslab at the door opening and trapped the door shut. If you are heating the hangar, you may not have a problem, but with our silty frost susceptible soils, this can be a real pain. The Owner had to cut off the bottom 4" of the door this summer.
Also had several times last winter when the snow partially melted along the door and iced up to freeze the door shut. Snow melt released the door, but caused other problems.

akbhm said:

We are now renting an unheated hangar at Willow, Alaska with a Hydroswing door. Big problems last year when frost heaved the monoslab at the door opening and trapped the door shut. If you are heating the hangar, you may not have a problem, but with our silty frost susceptible soils, this can be a real pain. The Owner had to cut off the bottom 4" of the door this summer.
Also had several times last winter when the snow partially melted along the door and iced up to freeze the door shut. Snow melt released the door, but caused other problems.

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Wow, that must have been one hell of a heave. My Hydro door has 2-3" clearance at the bottom. The rubber boot seals out the weather. So far my door has performed excellent and does a great job of sealing out the weather. Photos of my hangar build are on my web site.

Are there any new ideas or info to freshen up this topic?

I went as cheap as possible. 40x40 with no door, Wooden poles and trusses, old conveyor belt on gravel for my floor. The cost of tin and trusses came to about $5,000. I already had the poles and lumber for perlings so I don't know the cost of those but under $5,000. It's not my dream hangar but it sort of keeps the rain, snow, sun, and wind off of it. I bought a billboard tarp for a door but haven't installed it yet. One day I'll build a nice one but first I have to find a treasure or marry rich. If doing it again, I'd go wider so I don't have to concentrate as hard at lining up the center.