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New Hangar Build

Steve Pierce

BENEFACTOR
Graham, TX
I guess I should start with a brief history of Pierce Aero. I moved to Graham, TX in 1997 from Breckenridge, TX which is some 30 miles away where I had been working at Ezell Aviation on Warbirds. Graham needed a mechanic and made me a pretty sweet deal to move and start up shop. I was given space in the city owned FBO hangar for free for the first year and they loaned me the money to buy jacks and some other equipment I didn't already have. That went pretty good for a while but politics and different personalities came into play and after the first year everything changed and I realized I needed my own hangar to continue my business in the direction I wanted it to go. There was a 80x65 hangar by itself on the east side of the airport that had a body shop in it. The powers that be wanted the body shop out and the place cleaned up. It took quite some time to acquire financing and convince the powers that be to give me an extended lease so that I could obtain a note on the building but I started my 3rd year in business in the 80x65 hangar. My brother moved into what we called the Box that was built in the upper corner of the hangar and I converted a 20x20 brick office out front into an apartment. Over time we built an office, a paint booth and a heated and air conditioned shop inside the hangar. It was all a work in progress.

The box up top, shop being framed up. Doors to the left are to the paint booth.
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I had a friend/customer who bought a 60x45 hangar here who lived in Dallas. He kept two airplanes here and flew he third back and forth. Eventually he built on an airpark north of Dallas and I bought the 60x45 hangar from him. We called it the storage hangar because it housed mine and Cathy's airplanes when we had one and customer's airplanes either waiting for work or to be picked up. The hangar is across the runway and a good ways from my main hangar.

My big hangar is poorly insulated with blow in insulation that is continually falling off and has 4 sliding doors with huge gaps. After years of bundling up and using jet fuel powered torpedo heater in the winter I started discussions with John Mead (Flying Miss Daisy) on how to heat the hangar. On his recommendation 2 winters ago I installed two large radiant heater in the ceiling. They were a game changer and made it so much more comfortable to work. Come summer I stared wishing for an air conditioning conversion for those heaters knowing it was a joke. That started the idea of a small work hangar that would fit one airplane and be heated and air conditioned. My land lease is for a section of land 250' x 150' but is not very specific. I initially planned to build the new hangar east of my main hangar facing west where my work hangar faces south. As I started pricing what the hangar would cost I found that is doesn't cost a whole lot more to build a bigger hangar. Only problem is heating and cooling it. Conversations with John and decided that wasn't a big deal so I started thinking bigger.

One of two heaters Cathy and I hung over New Years.
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Our airport is land locked at the moment until a lot of infrastructure is put in place which with the current economic situation won't happen for a while. There are also no hangars for rent or for sale. I got approached by a new pilot to buy my storage hangar for a considerable amount of money which would allow me to build a new hangar and configure it the way I want it to meet my needs on the maintenance side of my business. So I started thinking about things and decided I could build a 45x60 hangar which will hold 3 Cubs easy and use my big hangar for storing airplanes and all of my equipment, shears, brakes, roller, welders, press brake etc. etc.

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In January some friends showed up with equipment and started moving dirt to fix some drainage issues and make a pad for the new hangar.
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I started researching, talking to people, salesmen etc trying to decide the best way to go. Finally figured out a custom building from a local manufacturer, Mueller was the best price for where I am located. It took a lot of back and forth to finally get an order in on exactly what I wanted but we got it nailed down and the deposit made in March. I talked to a lot of people about doors. I knew I wanted a door that would seal up good and after talking to lots of people with nice hangar doors I decided on a Higher Power door. 48'x12' so our 182 and an amphib Super Cub will go under it. The hangar doesn't have to support the door and everyone I talked to with one really liked it. It became apparent with everything going on that the hangar nor the door would be delivered before summer. Actually the door arrived in October.
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Found a local concrete contractor who came highly recommended and they dug out for the slab.
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My buddies Eddie and Sean helped me remove the carport from the side of the hanger with a set of forks on a skid steer, some oil field pipe extensions and some ratchet straps. It looked pretty redneck but you just gotta adapt and overcome. Once the slab was laid out we realized the storage building next to my gate off the highway needed to be moved to make better access. Eddie and Sean to the rescue. Tires, a skid steer and my airplane trailer did the job.
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After a weekend of cleaning up my accumulated junk I had a usable ramp again.
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Monday November 15th they poured concrete. My daughter told me when you pay someone to do something you are supposed to let them do it and go do something else but I wanted to help and see the process so I grabbed a shovel and threw dirt under the forms as the concrete flowed and stood up rebar stools that got knocked over. These guys worked hard from dusk till dawn. I was pretty excited.
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Tuesday November 16th the building arrived and the driver unloaded it in what he said was the order in which we would need the materials. :lol: I was keeping the slab wet cause we had some 80 plus degree days. My water bill reflected it. :roll:
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My hanger a joins some woods and we have been having a huge wild hog problem. They get under the game fence around the airport and root up the grass around my hangar and the grass areas I use as runways. So on Sunday Nov 21st I helped Eddie and Sean put up some panels they built and rig up their cell phone activated gate with game camera to try and trap some pigs. When we got done they were itching to put up some red iron so we got the vertical columns up.
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Sean works a good hour away on the states heavy equipment and on Wed. Nov 24th he brought his work truck home and we started hanging beams.
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Cool sunset from the top of the scissor lift I had rented.
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Thursday Nov 25th was thanksgiving and I snuck off for a bit to admire our work.
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Friday Nov 26th I rented another scissor lift and we got the girts up on the roof and the wires in.
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Started back Friday morning Dec 4th and started getting the sheet metal on the walls up. The all terrain scissor lift made quick work of this with 4 of us work.
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The wall between the hangars made us scratch our heads.
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But we figured out we could take the rails off the extension on the scissor lift and go between the girts.
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Sun Dec 5th was windy and we decided we didn't want to handle 31' plus sheet metal so we started the door. I had seen all kinds of pictures with two fork lifts etc. but Sean's crane made it easy.
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Before we hung the door we were worried about getting the cam boxes square since that is what this door rides in. There was nothing on the short hangar walls to really square off of. After calling some friends and putting our heads together Sean decided to install the door and square the cams off it. Worked perfect and welded in the 45 degree braces from the cams to the building structure.
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We hooked up the hydraulics and powered off Sean's welder and had the door working that afternoon.
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Friday Dec 10th was kinda windy.
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But it laid down a little in the afternoon so we got some metal on the door.
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Same thing on Saturday but afternoon it laid down a little and we got the door metal and bottom seal on.
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Sunday was a bust with 30 mph winds so I worked in the hangar on airplanes.
 

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Now I am working on LED lighting so I can get the electrical started. Gotta pour a lab for this monster John Mead got me to heat and cool this thing. After the electrical is in I will get the building foamed, interior sheet metal up and start hanging the duct sock.
John ordered a Bearhawk kit which got delivered from Austin, TX and instead of deadheading back from New Hampshire the driver who use to own Performance Propeller brought the units and all the ducting John made me up custom back to Texas.
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Some of us go flying and tease Steve about working too much. I would've dropped in afterward, but was afraid of being put to work.

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Some of us go flying and tease Steve about working too much. I would've dropped in afterward, but was afraid of being put to work.View attachment 58775
Yea and then sends you a 30 minute video of the cool new places he explored. I was thinking it would be an awesome day to fly with the cool temps, high pressure and light winds early but I am on a mission to get this thing built. ;)
 
If you’re standing around for a minute you’ll be working on the hangar.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yea, we even had JB helping. My brother Chris made it look like he was working wearing my gloves. :)
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Great posts, Steve! Now, how about the story about how you cleaned out your storage hangar to sell it? 8)

sj
 
Good planning & excellent progress on the new hangar, Steve-
and an interesting story behind it.
Thanks for posting.
 
Great posts, Steve! Now, how about the story about how you cleaned out your storage hangar to sell it? 8)

sj

That hasn't happened yet. 8) When are you and Laura coming down next?

I am either gonna have to truck all these empty P-STOL flaps crates to Airframes or build a man cave out of them and all the other crates I seem to have collected.
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Steve,

You could bring that crew to Bozeman, MT and make some serious money building here! There are hangars at our airport that have been under construction for nearly a year. You guys are rocking!

MTV
 
Steve,

You could bring that crew to Bozeman, MT and make some serious money building here! There are hangars at our airport that have been under construction for nearly a year. You guys are rocking!

MTV
8) I'll stick with airplanes. My elbow is killing me from shooting all those screws. Feels like it did years ago when I drilled apart a set of Hawker Tempest wings to reskin.
 
Steve, that green airplane in your hangar looks like it might be this one?

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Steve, that green airplane in your hangar looks like it might be this one?

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That is it. Been maintaining it for the last 8 years or so.

Reported winds at 40 mph yesterday. I should have checked my sheet metal. The metal for the face of the hangar around the door went flying. Luckily it wrapped itself around the gate and didn't make it to the highway or the neighbors house. :roll:
 
Winds and schedules aligned the Sunday afternoon before Christmas and we got half the roof on before it got real dark. Nice view as we were working.
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Nice to see the progress in the morning light.
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Put my first airplane in yesterday. Skid steer with forks and the end of a sucker rod on the end makes a good tug for a float plane. The hangar keeps getting smaller and smaller. ;)
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It won't take long to realize you should have built it twice as wide and twice as deep with a larger door and taller ceiling. 8)

Wayne
 
Most hangars look big until you start lining the walls with tool boxes, lawn mowers, tugs, storage cabinets, etc., etc.
 
How are you going to insulate it? With this type of building around here the insulation is placed between the structure and the sheet metal covering with the sheet metal holding the insulation in place.
 
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