This is a great thread. A lot of tuition paid to the school of hard knocks, and a lot of money to be saved if you havent spent any yet. I got by the airport yesterday and took some pix of my project rental hangars





I tried to build these rentals as inexpensive as I could, but still meet bld codes for rentals. The front girder truss is 7 ft tall, 4 ply. The rafters sit on the girder, and the door hinges bolt to the girder truss as well. Im not a big fan of the shed style, but it wont work to do multiple units with the door on the gable either. Here in Maine having a door on the eave side is no good as well. The roof pitch is 4 which is barely adequate, 5in much better for snow sliding. Dimensions are 44 x 33, with 12 ft opening. 12 ft should accomodate an amphib tailheight, and 33 deep will fit a light twin. One slight mistake on my part was not putting heat tube in the floor, I was trying to save money, now a mechanic wants to heat one unit, oh well. I have 5 on long term rent now, and can grin when I tell the wife unit I told you so. I dont grin for long though.

JIm

Jim, it looks like a VERY sensible design.
I wish I had a LOT more info (smarts) back when I built....
Hopefully this discussion will help future builders.

lc

Gonna build our own now. Just getting plans on hangar. Think it will be similar to the cool-air design. Should save half the cost of a factory door. If it works right!

my first hangar door i built myself. it was a hydro swing type.

this year because of health i bought one from aerodoor down here in the south. they did me a deal on a hydraulic door and a roll up door for the side.

good reading all these posts about people making their own.

hydraulic door and rollup door http://www.aero-door.com

A friend of mine is just in the process of putting a door on his existing hangar. He ended up buying a set of plans & hardware for an "Ultimate Door", I think he said it cost $800. Seems very similar to the doors on a wood-framed hangar at my airport-- a swing-up affair with ceiling-mounted tracks & multiple cables pulling up along the length of the door.
I helped him a little yesterday with framing it up, probably help him hang it today. After hanging, it will be sheeted with dark transluscent corrugated plastic (lke a deck roof) which should help with solar heating the hangar on sunny days.

I was based at an airport that had this door on one of these hangers. Worked good and was cheap


http://ultimatedoor.homestead.com/ultimate.html

I hate to bring an old thread back from the dead, but does anyone have any experience with the door in the previous post...aka the Ultimate door? I'm to the point now of considering my door options, and that seems to be one of the least expensive options. I'd love to have a bifold or hydroswing, but just can't justify an expense like that right now. I've considered the Cool-Aire doors, and like what they offer. I'm in southern middle TN so ice and snow isn't a concern to me...if its snowing or cold, it's staying in the hangar anyway. Regarding the Cool-Aire, I like the horizontal bifold. Most concerns with that one seemed to be snow/ice, so that concern doesn't bother me. The hangar is 48x50, and I plan to build in on the front 4 feet to set another post to run a 40' bar joist across...but I really need to make a decision on a door before putting that in. I plan on pouring the floor in the next week or so. What say you?

I purchased the plans for the Ultimate door, however have not yet built it, building not complete. If I build it I will purchase the kit. There is one at the Coulee Dam Airport skinned with metal, which they do not recommend because of weight. I was told it had been in use for several years and worked very well, it does have several cables visible from the outside but not really unsightly. I was told it is powered by an electric winch, originally hand cranked. I have not seen it operate.
The hangar next to it has a home made bifold door with a counter weight connected by cable to the rear wall like the Ultimate door. It is cranked up with a hand winch which is quite easy to do with the counter weight

Im saving my pennies for one of these. It is a freestanding hydraulic door that requires no superstucture attached or built into your building. It's all self contained so a retrofit is easy.

http://www.hpdoors.com/





I saw one at Capitain Emslies place this winter. Sweet deal.

A guy I know who lives at an airpark has a pretty neat door system. Instead of a big-ass 40' wide door, he has three (I think) roll-up doors like you'd put on your garage. In between the doors there are vertical H-section tracks that snap into catches at the floor and at the overhead. He can roll up just one door if he wants, or roll up all three and snap out the tracks to take the airplane in or out. Looks nice, and given the low cost of non-aviation stuff probably a lot cheaper than a bi-fold or hydro-swing type arrangement. I know my mother had a new roll-up door installed on her garage about 10 years ago & it was surprisingly cheap.

I saw that setup in a picture online somewhere, and I think that'd be the best for me..the three roll up doors. I was away when my poles were being set and trusses put on the top, and he built it about a foot shorter than I wanted. If I went with the three garage style doors, the center one could be taller, and the other two could be around 10'. Does anyone else have any insight on this type of door setup?

[quote="jmd4j" Does anyone else have any insight on this type of door setup?[/quote]

Yeah, they suck. Every time you want to enter or leave it's a process. Here at Seeley Lake there are 6 bi-folds that use no electric motors, they use counterweights instead and are manual. All are about 40 feet wide and 12-15 feet high. Easy operation.

The electricity requirement can be an issue. I love my HydroSwing, but if a wildfire ever comes up the mountain the first thing to go will be the power, and my plane will be trapped in my hangar. It needs 240VAC so my little Honda single phase genset won't help (or maybe it would??? can I run a 240 motor off 120, using just one of the hot leads? It'd be slower but better then nothing). The other option is a hydraulic quick link to a tractor, in my case the Kubota. So far, 7 years now, I just don't think about it

I could replace the 240 VAC motor with a DC 24 VDC perm mag one, it'd take a little research to find the right one but they are out there. Then a couple deep cycle 12 V batteries wired in series, kept at their float voltage by a battery maintainer working off grid power (or a small solar panel, 90 watts would do it). That way in an emergency, there wouldn't be any screwing around, just hit the button like normal. For those contemplating their hangar doors, that'd be something to think about, I doubt I'll change mine, until after the fire anyway

That hpdoor looks pretty slick, if it seals as tightly as a HydroSwing type (which really requires a very solid building to brace against, I found that out almost the hard way) that'd be at the top of the list if I was shopping.

courierguy wrote:
That hpdoor looks pretty slick, if it seals as tightly as a HydroSwing type (which really requires a very solid building to brace against, I found that out almost the hard way) that'd be at the top of the list if I was shopping.

I literally just got off the phone with them. My opening is 44x10. Price- $9,995.00. That includes everything to install minus the sheeting and insulation. I asked about footers for the two posts. He said the door will weigh about 3600 lbs=1600 lbs per side.

I'd highly recommend the HP style door over the hydroswing... I have a 40' hydroswing on mine and I am not impressed with the engineering. To the point I don't even like walking under it when it's fully open. It has worked flawlessly and never given me any trouble, but IMO it's too much weight hanging out there!

My two Hydro's, a 14'x 17' for the shop, and the 10 by 36 for the hangar were expensive also, but every single time I use either one I get a little more payback! Other lesser doors, homebuilt ones, were cheaper by far but their quirks got old after a while.

I work with hydraulics every day, I have full confidence in my Hydros. As long as the installation is proper they are way down on the list of things I worry about! I'm not sure what you don't like about yours, as you go on to say they work perfect? It is a bit of a leap of faith, granted, but so are a lot of cool things.

Spray urethane insulation on both of mine, with man doors and windows, big real glass windows, where I wanted them, is one reason I like the single piece doors.

Last fall I was ordering an HP door and they were behind production 6 months. Bummed me out as I didn't want to wait, so called Schweiss and the shipped my bi-fold right out. I like it just fine, but still sort of wish I had the HP, even though it was more money. Got the bi-fold with the lift straps and motor mounted on the bottom of the lower half. It is a really nice smooth operating door and I smile every time I push the remote and it raises up. 42 x 12 and plent of room for what I needed with the hangar being 46 wide so wings are not tight once inside.

Schweiss has an optional self supporting system available for their hydraulic door. I did not know about it until after I had already installed mine. It would probably be cheaper in the long run to buy the self supporting system, rather than paying the extra cost of beefing up your building to support the door.

Steve