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Hangar manufacturer recommendation?

tedwaltman1

FOUNDER
Delta, CO
I’m building a new hangar in Western Colorado KAJZ. Delta, Colorado.

I know there are many threads on hangars here. But, times change and building manufacturers have their own (new) issues, change personnel, etc…

If I should contact one building manf over another, or simply avoid another (!!), I’d appreciate input.

Given the supply chain issues with seemingly every vendor of seemingly unrelated products, I already realize steel is up 300% from a year ago, everyone has a months long backlog, concrete is stupid expensive…sigh…

Thank you in advance for hangar building manufacturer recommendations.
 
I came close to building one last year, but at the last minute found one to buy. I'm not an expert based on this experience, but at least I went through what you are going through. I felt like the biggest decision is the door maker. I was going to go with Schweiss for quality and resale value. After that, it's dealing with a maddening tendency of all the kit manufacturers to tell you absolutely nothing about what things will actually cost. For assembly, find a local metal building contractor who has actually built hangars - they all say they can do it - and look at the quality of what he has actually built. Assembly of a metal building is not rocket science, but attention to the detail is important. Are there screws missing on the cladding? Are the doors and windows framed in well? Is the door lock cheap? Are there water stains on the floor?That kind of stuff tells you a lot about the contractor.

You might be looking at building the Taj Mahal, but your lifestyle dollars might better be spent on something other than a building you will spend less than a fraction of 1 percent of your life in. Keep it utilitarian.

Pay a lot of attention to local snow burden when choosing the roof pitch. Go with a 6 inch cement floor even if people are saying it's not necessary. Make sure someone with a high IQ is worrying about drainage around the hangar. A wet hangar is a POS hangar. The concrete pour is the most important part of the whole deal. Even if you don't plan to heat the hangar, insulation is a really good idea to prevent condensation and dripping from the roof.

Pay a lot of attention to the apron in front of the hangar door.

And finally, what everyone who has a hangar will tell you - build it much bigger than you think that you will need.
 
Mueller was hands down cheaper than anyone here in Texas. I checked with every steel metal building/hangar manufacturer I could find. Nobody else even came close. There are some high pressure types out there. Don't know how they sell anything because it is an immediate turn off for me.
 
Go local, keep your money local. A good builder will be busy as hell, and with a golden rep, that's the guy you want.. O ther than the door, there is nothing challenging about a hangar for a good all around contractor, easy/peasy. Scary lumber costs right now though, unreal!
 
There's a number of R&M Steel hangars at my airport, I own hangars in two of them.
IMHO some of their design details are poor:
Not enough roof pitch.
Running the ridge across the width of a (long!) building, instead of along the length.
Butting the low part of a building up against the high part,
without leaving a way to properly flash and/or otherwise properly weather proof it.
 
You can get any pitch and overhang you want with most companies if you order custom and don't just buy their package deal. Takes a little longer but I figure I am only doing this once
 
Ted, have you considered post-beam construction with laminated beams? I know lumber is expensive now, but so is steel. And after watching stuff like this guy in Illinois I wonder if that might be the way to go. I've looked into the door manufacturers (like Schweiss) and those big doors can still be hung on engineered lumber beams - doesn't have to be steel.

Something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRjtilm_bYA
 
When I built (2019) stick built was economical…..I chose to do all of the work myself, from site work, to concrete, wiring, door building, all of it. I had some friends and family help along the way, but it was a rather daunting commitment. I tried to keep on track building my cub at the same time. I saved a considerable amount of money, but I did little else during the construction. If prices were then what they are now, I’m not sure I’d have done this (at least it would have been delayed) I priced out several steel building options, but they required skills/equipment I did not possess. It Sounds like Pierce has done the homework and can offer you some great insight….once his building starts going up I’m sure there will be updates. I now have the inside of mine almost finished….insulated, sheeted, etc. once OSB comes down in price maybe I’ll buy the last 6 sheets I need. Lol. They say build it bigger and all that, but in some cases you just build what you can afford and enjoy what you have. Some airports require steel buildings but you would likely know that upfront when working with airport officials in the planning phase. Good Luck and enjoy.
 
looks like there is one single plane hangar currently for sale at the Delta airport.
 
Yes, there is a hangar for sale at Delta. But it is part of a 4-plex, wrapped up in its own funky HOA. A real rats nest of additional legal BS on top of the typical city stuff.
 
When I had my hangar built I took plans to an old builder friend of my fathers in my home town 4 hours away. A lot of the big volume builders here have shallow roof pitches. 10 or 11 degrees. He said if you get it above 20 for those autumn months where you get condensation the water will run down between the hangar roof and sisalation into the gutter. In a shallow roof it will pool and eventually cause the sisalation to sag and drip. I went for 25 degrees I think to match my house and it never drips on a frosty morning.

Also the planned trusses were 2" squared and something like 2.5 mm thick. He said it will cost very little to beef them up to 2x3" and 3.5mm steel. The strength goes up considerably for a few hundred dollars more.

Best of luck.
 
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