Figure out what size you need...then double it...it will still be too small. A guy has a way of accumulating 'stuff' that just seems to be stored into one's hangar.

Only other tidbit I would suggest, paint lines on the floor to show where things are parked/ manuvered into place. It makes repeated removal and replacemnt much easier if one can just follow the lines.

Our maintenance hanger is 50 X 50... We have had 5 airplanes in it when it was empty... Right now I could probably get three in there but it will be tight... Small storage hanger is 30 X 40... Really a one airplane only building with a couple cars parked on either side under the wing... Big storage hanger is 70 X 90... With a 52 foot diameter revolving carocell floor centered in the forward 70 X 70 section... Currently have Pa-18, Pa-22/20, Grumman Traveler, Cessna 182 and RV6 on the floor. Pa-22 and Pa-28 off the floor in the back section, 1974 Ford F-250 4X4 by the rear garage door, 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente in the front corner, 2 garden tractors, one quad, 4 bikes, a set of Taylorcraft wings, a couple of PA-18 fuselage sections, a PA-22 frame in the rafters, part of another PA-22 frame behind the truck and stuff stored against the walls... And lots of room for more junk if I want to put it in there.... Nothing like having space....

Brian

I will be talking to the township people again on Monday, to see what my options are. When I bought the airport, The property was zoned Rural Residential. I had to get a commercial varience to allow for my Auto and Aircraft Custom paint shop. I took the existing 56X56 Pole building hangar and used it for my business. I put in a new spraybooth and paint mixing room and can still get 2 planes inside to work on. My shop is usually full of customer vehicles. Right now I have a 1969 Camaro Z28, 1970 Mustang Mach1, 66 Chevy II, 2010 Dodge challenger, and a full size Ford van. Work benchs, cherry picker, Metal brake, jacks, jack stands, 3 hydrolic car lifts, etc...... Shit everywhere. I understand that a hangar fills up very quickly, I have one that is full. The new hangar will be for storage of airplanes and mowing equipment only. I want to put a leanto roof off one side to put my old backhoe and giant 1962 Gallion roller under. I have heard from neighbors that the leanto can be added later without a permit if it is for equipment. I will find out on Monday.

WWhunter wrote:.........Only other tidbit I would suggest, paint lines on the floor to show where things are parked/ manuvered into place. It makes repeated removal and replacemnt much easier if one can just follow the lines.

Paint is (semi) permanent, I would suggest using some sort of tape instead. Storage configuration requirements can change, sometimes pretty often.

It was a little over a year ago that I was completing the construction of my backyard hangar. After my thoughts had travelled in complete circles for countless number of times, I ended up building a 46 X 45 all steel building with 14 foot side walls and putting a 42 X 12 bi-fold door in the wide end. At the time I had one small high wing to put in there but a short time later I acquired a nice straight tail 182 to add to the new digs. They fit in just fine with the down side of having to juggle them around all the time since the one I want to fly is always in the back.

Some have stated this already, but my advice is to build as large as you can afford. I had put this construction off for way too many years and looking back I could have built it for way less than half if I had just done it when I built the runway. The rule of thumb is, the building can simply NOT be too large, other than breaking the bank.

I am pretty sure I can't get a third plane in mine, so plan B is a rented hangar 30 miles north

I built as small as I could, having better things to do with my money then pay extra property tax! 28' by 40', that's plenty roomy for the S-7S, with a 36' door (29' span). Not being at a real airport, and not too concerned about the possibility of getting bigger or more airplanes, it made sense for me to just keep it as big as needed. I spent the money saved by not going bigger on making it real well insulated, with a radiant floor heat system rather then a much larger big tin box that's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Kind of a quality over quantity thing. For you guys agonizing over how big to go.....you can always quite possibly lay out the building so that if needed later, you can add on. That may even be easier as far as getting permits etc., first a modest sized building, a few years a small addition. Just something to keep in mind when sketching out floor plans, it can even be done and look architecturally correct, not to mention maybe make the difference between borrowing money for a larger or paying out of pocket for a smaller. Mine was built not using borrowed money, dinky as it is!


The property tax thing.....they charge by the footprint of the building, going a bit higher and then rigging one of the already figured out plane elevators (it'd be a fun project to build one, bet I could do it for 1 K, using "pre-owned" steel and with the help of www.surpluscenter.com) up against one wall, maybe combined with a rotating center floor (more fun) just for the hell of it, and you could really keep a hangar much smaller and still have numerous planes in there. The tax thing goes on forever, the extra cost of being tricky about how the planes fit is a one time thing. It goes without saying that any of these schemes have to be quick and easy to use, and once in play, safe also. http://armaerospace.com/ http://www.aircraft-carousel.com/carous ... usel-disc/ If a person was buying one of these systems retail and then paying someone to install it, simply going bigger may be the way to go, but for us handy and cheap types, it'd be a fun project combining these two (elevator/rotater)

We had a 180 and a cub in our 40X42. The engine was off the cub. The extra 6 feet in length would have made it work no problem.

We are now in the process of figuring out the drill to get the wings on the S20 while still leaving parking room for the S7 at night. Point being: if you're working in there with benches, tool boxes, etc. it's a different story. But for storage only, piece of cake.

Been a member for a while but have never posted a picture….so we'll see what happens. This is what I fit into my 45 x 45 hangar. My IA said it couldn't be done. Well, he was almost right, but in the end I got them to fit…but only in this order. Put the shortest plane in the rear corner to buy space front to back. Everyone who says build bigger is spot on. I never expected to have more than one plane when I built. And, while they fit, it's not fun to fly the plane in the back corner!

I just got back from the township office, looks like it won't be too much hassle to put up a 50' X50' hangar. I will have to put a french drain around the building, about 1000.00 dollars worth of stone, for water run off control? I will need to do some grading and other landscaping. I got a fair price for a 50'X50' pole building kit from a local company. I think we can put it up mostly by ourselves. We have several flying buddies that are builders that will give us advice and a hand if we need it. We plan to break ground this spring and have it finished before next fall. Thanks for the advice and if you live nearby you're welcome to come over and help.

I decided on a 50' wide by 56' deep hangar. The excavating is done along with a few other drainage issues resolved. Gave a down payment to an Amish builder near Lancaster PA. They will start construction in late May. Hopefully I will have a home for the planes, mowers, and other equipment sometime in June. We picked up another project so we decided to go with a few extra square feet. The mowing equipment is in a temporary tent until the hangar is finished. I also bought a bunch of 64' trusses today for a future building project I have in mind.

cliff wrote:I decided on a 50' wide by 56' deep hangar. ...Gave a down payment to an Amish builder near Lancaster PA. They will start construction in late May. ....

This made me think of the barn-raising scene from the 1985 movie "Witness" with Harrison Ford.
All the men crawling around on the barn framing, augering holes with a brace-and-bit drill, and beating in wooden pins.

I envy you the hangar you're gonna have. I recently was considering buying a 180 project, one of the things keeping me from doing so is the lack of hangar space. I have a single t-hangar in a 10-unit building, but I'd love to own a 50x50 box with room for an airplane, an airplane project, a car or two, etc. plus a little office. Sweet!

Hey guys, just a few suggestions ....

For fitting as many airplanes in a small space get a pair of Go-Jack's. These are swivel wheel dolly's that are super easy to use. These Go-Jack's allow you to push the airplane in all different directions, work slick! These are great for moving cars in a garage/shop sideways. I got mine from Northern Tool Supply.

With Go-Jack's we were able to fit 2 Stearman's and a Grumman Widgeon in a 50x50! Ya, WOW! It was tight but we did it! We would have never been able to do this without the Go-Jack's.

Oh ya, one more thing, insulate the building if you can. Even if you don't plan to heat or air condition it, insulation takes the edge off to the temp swings.

As far as those airplane lifts go, many people are using them in Anchorage at Merrill Field. My buddy's have them and they are real happy with them. If you are pouring a floor it might be a good idea to pour an area of deeper/thicker concrete where you may install a lift in the future. Small cost for a contingency in the future.

Kurt

The folks that are talking about insulating the hangar are correct. I being a cheap guy wouldn't have insulated, but the hangar/home I bought was already insulated. As Kurt said, it really takes the edge off of temperature swings. My living quarters are built in the back of the hangar and is also insulated. For a 48~86 outside temp daily swing the living quarters holds between 65~75 with no use of heating or cooling.

As to building small and enlarging at a later date, that is what the previous owners had done. The hangar started life as the typical 40'X40' and at a later date another 20' was added on the hangar door side. You can see the offset beams for this extension.

I am supposed to be able to go to the township office tomorrow to FINALLY get my building permit for the 50'X56' hangar. It has been several weeks in the making, but we should have it tomorrow.

I hope it is finished in time for our fly in.

cliff wrote:I am supposed to be able to go to the township office tomorrow to FINALLY get my building permit for the 50'X56' hangar. It has been several weeks in the making, but we should have it tomorrow.

I hope it is finished in time for our fly in.

I admire your persistence. Hang in there, that hangar will be well worth all the hassles and cost when you are using it.

I worked airplane's without hangars for decades in Alaska....summer, fall, winter and spring. When we finally built a hangar I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. And I slept better on stormy nights.

MTV

I have the building permit in my hand, now the builder can't get here until after the 4th of July. I will eventually have a home on my airport for my airplanes. I currently have my 180 tied down here, the Champ is at Bermudian Valley in a hangar and the Kolb is in my shop getting ready to paint. I also picked up a Cessna 150 that is tied down here. I still have a T hangar full of junk at Lazy B airport. My lawn mowing equipment is in a large army tent. I can't wait to have all my stuff on my property under one steel roof.

cliff wrote:I am supposed to be able to go to the township office tomorrow to FINALLY get my building permit for the 50'X56' hangar. It has been several weeks in the making, but we should have it tomorrow.

I hope it is finished in time for our fly in.

Cliff,

You will be very glad for the additional 480 sq ft over your previous size consideration. Speaking from the perspective of living in the least expensive airpark in the country, size really does matter. My hangar is considered small in this airpark at 60' X 40', my northeast neighbor has a 100' X 50' and my northwest neighbor has a 80' X 80' and I really like that one, doors on the east and west (our prevailing winds come from the west) and a double garage size door north.

It is my opinion that empty nest retirees, whether they are pilots or not, would have a better suited home that is downsized while the garage/shop or hangar is larger. Makes good sense, as those years are the times to enjoy life and the hangar can protect all the toys such as boats, RVs, classic cars, etc. I wonder when a developer gets the idea, and starts building these type of communities for us baby boomers? In my airpark there are a couple of car guys, no a/c, but plenty of room for the shop, paint booth and floor space for the cars.

The hangar is erected. The Amish guys built it in 4 days. Their work is top notch. Now we are waiting for the concrete floor to be poured. Watching the young Amish men work made me realize that I was a fool, in the beginning, to think I could build it myself.

I have plans to build a big pavilion with the 64' trusses I bought a couple of months ago and I will be calling Levi to build it for me. They can probably build it in 2 days.

We are very close to having all our junk on one property, I can't wait.

Pictures please, we need pictures


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Wow! That sounds great, wish we had some Amish out here in the far west.

We really need some photos of this Taj Mahal