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Suggestions on hangar size

There are some drawbacks to one piece doors. They are nice in areas where they can work.
I cold/snow country I think one has to heat the slab outside the door a bit to insure snow/ice does not block it from opening for first few feet of operation? And in snow country where the roof snow load is heavy, one has to beef up the structure to handle the one piece door. Hanging out there requires the load to be carried inside the structure.
Have never had one, but have seen the added structure to install one, far more than basic biflold type in winter country.
Benefit is they are clear opening, so not much lost space for clear height. But they do take more area to clear to open, and not great for partial opening until up high enough to walk under. Scare me a bit walking under them when open.
I have been planning a new hangar and just saw the Schweiss hyd door that is a tri leg free standing system, not attached to the main structure. Has its own footing to set the support frame on, so no stress /beef up required on the building. Good for retrofit too.
Have asked for costs, but sure looks like a nice option and good looking hinge system. Could feel better under one of those.
John

A note about the Higher Power doors... They go straight up for the first foot, thus avoiding most snow/ice issues. They are balanced, so they need no additional structure. You can retrofit a wood building. Yes, you do need some clear space inside your building for 1/2 the height of the door. They only take up their thickness in the rough opening, but you do need another foot above that for the first vertical 12" rise. (It's actually only 8" on the smaller doors I think). A 12 volt battery will operate them. I have one in Alaska (18' x 55' clear when open) and so far it has worked very well.
 
You could park a pickup in front of my one-piece Schweiss and I'd wager the door would move the truck. With southern exposure snow melts back from the door even in the cold months so not a problem for me. The vacuum created by tightly sealed 50x14 door opening in a tightly sealed hangar is impressive. Its mandatory to open a man door to allow pressure to equalize in the initial stages of opening or final stages of closing. Schweiss structural requirements eliminate any concern for snow load deflection. I've been in the door business all my life and while my Schweiss is my first go with a hangar door? I'm thoroughly impressed.

My hangar is 60x55 and I'm not cramped for space but I wouldn't want to give any of it up. Hangar square footage is like horsepower. More is better.

GoJacks allow you to move planes sideways. Very handy for doing the hangar floor jigsaw puzzle routine.

I find it interesting that the majority of hangar doors on my notoriously windy airport are one piece hydraulics. I have no worry about my door opening in any winds I'd expose the hangar interior to. I presume the popularity of one piece has to do with how they seal up to combat wind, dust, and cold weather. Mine does a very good job.

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Biggest pro of a one piece door for me is the awning/shade it provides especially in a hot climate. You lose about 4’ of that with a Higher Power door because of the cam system.
 
Actually it is 5' 4" on a 14 ft door. Still leaves me with a 8' 8" ft awning on a 14 ft door. I can live with that.

Biggest pro of a one piece door for me is the awning/shade it provides especially in a hot climate. You lose about 4’ of that with a Higher Power door because of the cam system.
 
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Ok, the sticky-outie length. I get it now.

That's an interesting system and a good idea for lots of applications. I'm pleased with mine. Two hydraulic rams and some hinges. Works great. I wonder how the two systems compare in price?
 
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I have a 12 x 40 Higher Power door. My opinion is that it is very well engineered. On my particular door however, the quality control wasn't what I would expect. It came two feet too wide, but they did pay for the modifications - no reluctance whatsoever. Main structural members (box tubing) were pieced together and not as straight as they should have been. As assembled, it didn't lie quite in a plane, but some shimming at bolted connections resolved that issue. Operationally and for relative ease of installation (I did it by myself, no help at all), I like it a lot.
 
I have a setting where I can have a wheel access airplane door on one end of the hangar, and the ability to have a seaplane/water access on the side wall of a new hangar.
Just wondered if anyone has done a ramp or tracks to park seaplane on straight floats, then winch airplane on ramp into the hangar? Plane on floats would be lined up with side hangar door when parked in water.
In the planning stage, just wondering the best option to have wheel and float access. Hangar would be deep enough to allow fitting at least two airplanes, one through wheel access door, other through water access door. Hangar would be within say 10' of water.
Any input or thoughts?
John
 
14 X 60 Hi Power is about $14,000 plus tax and shipping. You provide the skin for the door and hydraulic fluid.
Ok, the sticky-outie length. I get it now.

That's an interesting system and a good idea for lots of applications. I'm pleased with mine. Two hydraulic rams and some hinges. Works great. I wonder how the two systems compare in price?
 
I have a setting where I can have a wheel access airplane door on one end of the hangar, and the ability to have a seaplane/water access on the side wall of a new hangar.
Just wondered if anyone has done a ramp or tracks to park seaplane on straight floats, then winch airplane on ramp into the hangar? Plane on floats would be lined up with side hangar door when parked in water.
In the planning stage, just wondering the best option to have wheel and float access. Hangar would be deep enough to allow fitting at least two airplanes, one through wheel access door, other through water access door. Hangar would be within say 10' of water.
Any input or thoughts?
John

First off your idea makes me envious.
I flew off of Cambell lake in south Anchorage for about ten years. There were a few rail units as I recall to pull your plane from the water and up on the grass; but there was this one hangar that appeared to be built out over the lake as the 185 floated inside of the building. If you are only ten feet away perhaps you can create a channel / ditch to float inside and then use a lift to raise it out of the water if needed. It could double as an indoor swimming pool as well. :)
It would be super cool to open the door and float right out to the lake.

i was at a friends house in Northern Alberta many years ago that used a track system to get his cub into the water from the hangar and it worked well. He was a good hundred feet back from the shore though.

Good luck with your plans.
 
I have a setting where I can have a wheel access airplane door on one end of the hangar, and the ability to have a seaplane/water access on the side wall of a new hangar.
Just wondered if anyone has done a ramp or tracks to park seaplane on straight floats, then winch airplane on ramp into the hangar? Plane on floats would be lined up with side hangar door when parked in water.
In the planning stage, just wondering the best option to have wheel and float access. Hangar would be deep enough to allow fitting at least two airplanes, one through wheel access door, other through water access door. Hangar would be within say 10' of water.
Any input or thoughts?
John

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I have a setting where I can have a wheel access airplane door on one end of the hangar, and the ability to have a seaplane/water access on the side wall of a new hangar.
Just wondered if anyone has done a ramp or tracks to park seaplane on straight floats, then winch airplane on ramp into the hangar? Plane on floats would be lined up with side hangar door when parked in water.
In the planning stage, just wondering the best option to have wheel and float access. Hangar would be deep enough to allow fitting at least two airplanes, one through wheel access door, other through water access door. Hangar would be within say 10' of water.
Any input or thoughts?
John
John, This is not quite what you were asking, but there was a hangar built into the dam at the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts. It has a set of tracks going from the hangar into the water. There is room enough to taxi an amphib up the ramp next to the tracks. https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2017/09/29/fall 2011.pdf
"A seaplane hangar facing the water beneath the roadway in front o fthe main entrance to the building was also part of the original plan, as it was expected that the reservoir would be patrolled by amphibious aircraft. While that idea never came to fruition, the hanger remains and now serves as an ideal boat storage and maintenance facility." The last picture here shows the hangar.
More here: https://www.rinkerpipe.com/files/Ri...lInformation/CaseStudies/QuabbinReservoir.pdf

2Q==
The hangar is under the pavement below that iron fence.

Years ago I flew the director of the department which controls the reservoir there with the Twin Bee and we taxied up that ramp. At the time they were considering buying an airplane. What a coincidence when we discovered that he and my Dad were boyhood friends. As a result I was given permission to land there whenever I wanted. I doubt that I could do it today without getting in trouble though I did take advantage of the privilege a few times. I've even forgotten his name.

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42.280579, -72.347977
 
I've also seen somewhere in Maine a single plane hangar built like a float in boathouse. The plane was floated tailed in, the tails of the floats were set up on a plank with some sort of a lifting device under the bows, the plane was then lifted out of the water inside the hangar.
 
First off your idea makes me envious.
I flew off of Cambell lake in south Anchorage for about ten years. There were a few rail units as I recall to pull your plane from the water and up on the grass; but there was this one hangar that appeared to be built out over the lake as the 185 floated inside of the building. If you are only ten feet away perhaps you can create a channel / ditch to float inside and then use a lift to raise it out of the water if needed. It could double as an indoor swimming pool as well. :)
It would be super cool to open the door and float right out to the lake.

i was at a friends house in Northern Alberta many years ago that used a track system to get his cub into the water from the hangar and it worked well. He was a good hundred feet back from the shore though.

Good luck with your plans.

Cost of doing that in a hangar that would be heated in winter would be pretty much not possible. Freezing conditions, with water in/against foundation would make that not practical at all I believe. One would be building a heated pool in winter!! Then one does not have the use of the hangar floor area where floatplane would park at all.
Sounds cool, but not practical.
Thanks,
John
 
There was a hangar built on a small lake in Kodiak (Island Lake) with the hangar built out from shore. The bifold door went down to water surface. Door opened with a remote. There was a wood ramp inside and side platforms. When the owner landed his Super Cub, he opened the door of the hangar with the remote, then drove the plane into the hangar, sticking it on the ramp. He could then exit, turn the plane around and heel it up on the ramp, ready for departure.

inside, he had a hoist overhead, so when cold weather arrived, he could lift the plane out of the water to prevent freeze in. When (if) the ice got thick enough, he’d remove the floats and install gear, and run on skis, till water got soft again.

This was a really well thought out and functional place. Norm Sutliff was the owner and builder. His home was right next to the hangar. Worked fine in Kodiak. Obviously not heated. I was always envious of that setup.

Have you seen Kenmores setup for getting planes in and out of water? It’s a ramp where you stick the plane, tie it to the ramp, then the ramp is electrically winched up a set of rails to level. They then use a forklift to pick the plane, but you could do something similar to bring the plane into Hangar. If the ramp was on tires instead of rails, you could then store the ramp outside during cold when floatplane on wheels.

MTV
 
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High Power question. How do they seal the top? With a fixed hinge edge its pretty simple. And effective. How do you seal an articulating door?

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Sent from my iPhone using SuperCub.Org mobile app
 

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Mine is 54x45. I could get 3 planes in it if the perimeter didn't have items stored. 44 foot bifold door and overhead centered at rear. Allow some feet either side big door for wind load strength. I went bigger for universal storage, it's cheaper than building another garage.
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High Power question. How do they seal the top? With a fixed hinge edge its pretty simple. And effective. How do you seal an articulating door?


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The gap between the top of the door and header is pretty tight. Tighter than most standard garage doors. I still haven’t gotten around to installing the top weather strip on mine. There’s just not much of a gap.
 

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Did the weatherstripping on mine IAW the instructions and materials that came with the door. Works well.
 
High Power question. How do they seal the top? With a fixed hinge edge its pretty simple. And effective. How do you seal an articulating door?

The other thing is, the door is inside the building so there is a natural overhang of the wall thickness to shield against water ingress, and the door closes up against the inside header surface. The bad news is, since the door is inside, you do lose the thickness of the door from your inside square footage. We replaced a homebuilt bifold with a Higher Power and no regrets it works perfect, though the nose of the last plane in does have to be 6" further back than before.. Our building was not engineered for the "single-panel-top-hinge" type door so that was never a consideration.


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The gap between the top of the door and header is pretty tight. Tighter than most standard garage doors. I still haven’t gotten around to installing the top weather strip on mine. There’s just not much of a gap.
 
I started building my new hangar....I took a week off to form and pour concrete....something I’m inexperienced at, but thought I’d give it a go. I’m building a 50’x50’ stick built building on an engineered slab....estimates for the concrete were $15k to $18k so I decided to pour it myself and hire an experienced finisher that I know to trowel it after....I poured half today...I’ll pour the other half in a few days.

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I bought an Ultimate Door Kit for the door and it will be stick built 24” center with walls and roof fully sheeted then metal over that. I used Gator Bar fiber rebar ....about a quarter the weight of steel bar and is supposed be stronger.
 

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Dan, Im curious, how much do you figure you saved on your concrete work by doing it yourself?

Kurt
 
Ok, I've decided on a 60x60 with a 52x14 door. Next decision construction type: stick frame, steel prefab or foam panel. It will be insulated one way or the other. Opinions?
 
Ok, I've decided on a 60x60 with a 52x14 door. Next decision construction type: stick frame, steel prefab or foam panel. It will be insulated one way or the other. Opinions?

Ok, I will jump in with a few thoughts. I would probably go stick built but would go 16 on center instead of 24 on center. I would stack 4 or more trusses together about 16 feet back from the door so you have a strong point to hoist from. You may find yourself some day wanting to lift your airplane for some reason and doing this during the building stage is not very expensive. Tubes in the floor for heat, even if you don't heat now they will be there for the future. Build it strong, don't go cheap / chintzy, it will cost you more in the long run. Those are just a few random thoughts.

Kurt
 
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