Built out of red iron but no I-beams. It will all be square steel. All the money is in steel and concrete, I think I'm only going to be out about $900 to have someone oversee the concrete pouring and finishing.

Here is a link to a quick video of one of ours...

https://www.facebook.com/stevesaircraft/videos/10154079235695216/

Brian.

Brian-StevesAircraft wrote:Here is a link to a quick video of one of ours...

https://www.facebook.com/stevesaircraft/videos/10154079235695216/

Brian.

Those are the doors my neighbor said we could build pretty inexpensively. I'd love to get more info on how you did them.

But that's not the show stopper, it's your lazy-susan wood floor that's SUPER COOL and it gave me the idea to lower my cost even more !! I don't need concrete floor especially when I have a turf runway. I didn't want a grass hangar floor because if I drop a screw or something like that I'll lose it. Now a WOOD FLOOR would be perfect and a lot less expensive than concrete. Worst case I build a concrete 10x10 pad where the airplane sits and the rest of the hangar I can use a wood flooring. Thanks for the great idea !

We have a couple, this one is a little ways off grid, 42' solar powered bi-fold on a 50' x 60' barn. It goes up, it goes down, and it cost about a couple grand and a couple weekends worth of welding. I am continuously amazed by the amount of people that will tackle building an airplane but will shy away from a simple door... Listen to the nay sayers, and you'll talk yourself right out of it... Sorry for the poor cell phone pics




Take care, Rob

With sliders you can drill holes in the concrete and use drop in steel pins...maybe 3/4" in diameter. Use about three pins. One in the middle of the opening and one in the middle of each door. Shop vac out the holes in the floor every few years. Latch the doors to the walls at the ends and to each other in middle. Use a heavy rubber strip at the bottom to seal the door against the floor to try to keep out rodents. If you're not in snow country, sliders really aren't that bad.

Call me a naysayer...a 40 ft wide building accommodates most single engine airplanes. A 36 ft width eliminates half of them or more. Maybe this is your plan to keep your brother-in-law from using your hangar for his 172.

A 36 x 36 hanger would have very poor resale value. My hanger going up is 48 x 64. I am contemplating either a 42 or 44 ft bifold. Trusses alone, at cost from the manufacturer in Edmonton was almost $14000. Truss price goes up substantially at any size over 48 ft Father inlaw is a house builder. A hangar for $3K? maybe if your cutting your own wood out of the bush and have that fancy chainsaw sawmill like on Mountain men....Used tin? As someone already stated definatley read hangar door disasters, also look at the 170 pic of Rob that had the hanger collapse under snow load. Is a $3K special all your plane is worth?

I went with a 50 x 50 ft wood truss structure and the 14 ft high coolairinc accordion doors - see avatar. There was enough room to keep a twin comanche and bearhawk in there! The doors take a couple minutes to get into and out of, however, I've not been stuck from ice or power failures, and not had a door fall on an airplane or 10 yo boy, which happened at the nearby GA airport with a bifold.

When I built our hangar on my grass strip. I had planed for 3 rollers, Poured the tin ledge off set and a 22' x 2' beam to the side for the door beam. I had planned on rolling all three to the same side. I also have a hangar at another airport near by and had roller door problems that pissed me off. I shopped and ordered a Hi-Lift door. It slowed construction. I wasted some money on the slab mods. But a electric Insulated door that faces west. I am happy with my choice. I installed central Heat/Air this summer. No way a roller would have done its job as well.

John

EastTexasPilot wrote:The problem is that most of the doors cost as much as the hangar !! I'm kind of in that spot too but I have an neighbor engineer who says we can build some doors like an accordion that are easy to fold away, don't weigh a ton, don't take up lots of space, and are way cheaper than what's out there. She's away on business for now but when she gets back I'll ask her. We're planning on having both our hangars up next month.

I have accordion doors on my hangar in Mexico and love them. Our door is 55' wide an 25' tall, but the doors are easy to manage. Someone posted a link to a vendor that does door that slide around the corner. I will never have that again. I had that for a while and the doors were constantly coming off the tracks and required more jockeying than the according ones.

My favorite is the giant hydraulic door that lifts as one piece and provides lounge space when elevated. But that's also the most expensive, so according is my favorite if price has to be factored in.

This is my all time favorite door. Wingspan on the Maule is 33', so the door is 70 or 75' I guess. Giant, overbuilt, loud, old. Pretty much perfect.

Gener wrote:.....Call me a naysayer...a 40 ft wide building accommodates most single engine airplanes. A 36 ft width eliminates half of them or more. Maybe this is your plan to keep your brother-in-law from using your hangar for his 172.

I agree, build it a little bigger.
Not even figuring resale, maybe one day you'll want a 180/185 or even just a 172, and that 36' hangar won't work.
A guy at my airport built an undersized hangar for his little homebuilt, he sold the homebuilt but it's replacement wouldn't fit.
He bought a bigger hangar, but had trouble selling the little one because of the aircraft size limitatons.
It finally ended up belonging to the local Aero Museum to keep their lawn mowers & such in.

I gave up on the idea of building a hangar quite some time ago, but before I did, I did some research and made several tentative decisions--even talked to a couple of building manufacturers. As time went by, though, I realized that I'd never justify the cost of an owned hangar by the time I would have to quit flying, so I've relegated myself to a rental hangar. But here are the thoughts I have had, if I were to build one, based on the annoyances I've put up with as a renter:

1. Don't skimp on door size. A stock 172/182/180/185/206 has a 36' wingspan; a 210 has a 36'9" wingspan. Any kind of wingtip modification is likely to increase the wingspan. A Wing-X modification or a Flint aux tank extension will add 3' to a stock wing (2'2" to a 210), meaning that it would be close to impossible to put a Cessna with either modification through a 40' door, with only at best 6" of clearance on each side. For instance, my airplane's droopy tips add only about a foot to the wingspan, but putting the airplane into a 40' door is still an exercise in real care, to keep from scraping a tip, even with track lines painted on the floor.

2. Don't skimp on hangar size. Being able to walk around the airplane without interference is pretty handy at times. Minimum for a single box hangar should be at least 48' x 40'. Adding a few feet is relatively inexpensive. Having to pull the airplane out of the door partway to get at the tail is annoying.

3. Don't use a sliding door of any kind. But if it must be a sliding door, then have it a hanging door, without any lower track to collect ice and snow. Having to spend half an hour just clearing the ice out of a lower track makes getting ready to fly is extremely frustrating.

4. After looking at several doors, Schweiss seems to make the best bi-fold door--pricey, but real quality, quiet, strong, and reliable using straps instead of cables.

5. Insulate it, even if it's not going to be heated. That keeps it from getting too hot in the summer and allows it to be heated if necessary.

6. Make the roof waterproof, regardless of materials--it's annoying to have a leaky roof!

7. Have some windows and a man door to avoid the cave effect when the door is closed.

8. Over build the structure, whether it's wood or steel. Having a hangar collapse on an airplane would be horrible!

Since I've not built a hangar, I don't know how valid all those ideas are, but I spent a lot of time and energy researching them.

Cary

Mark Y. wrote:A 36 x 36 hanger would have very poor resale value. My hanger going up is 48 x 64. I am contemplating either a 42 or 44 ft bifold. Trusses alone, at cost from the manufacturer in Edmonton was almost $14000. Truss price goes up substantially at any size over 48 ft Father inlaw is a house builder. A hangar for $3K? maybe if your cutting your own wood out of the bush and have that fancy chainsaw sawmill like on Mountain men....Used tin? As someone already stated definatley read hangar door disasters, also look at the 170 pic of Rob that had the hanger collapse under snow load. Is a $3K special all your plane is worth?

I'm starting to love the prices around here even more!!! We're going to build our own scissor trusses but even if I purchased them from the local professional construction company they're still less than $1500 for ALL of them. What kind of wood are they using up there? I can't imagine wood being so expensive unless it's from some special monastery on the other side of the world and needs to be flown in to make the trusses. Here's a quick Google search for my area regarding trusses : http://www.timberlaketrussworks.com/pri ... tep-guide/

Regarding the metal sides and roof, no used tin, we're using brand new galvalume. Snow? What snow? Thank God we don't have to deal with that here. When I was looking for a metal hangar kit I saw that prices from a Toronto vendor for the same size were more than twice the price as from a Pittsburg vendor so that might be why you think it's impossible to build a hangar for $3k.

BTW yes we actually have a small portable saw mill, LMAO, I even think she bought it in Canada, but that wood isn't going to be used to for the hangar. My neighbor is a strong "mother earth advocate" and didn't want me to burn the trees I knocked down for clearance to extend my runway so she bought one for us to re-purpose the trees. Can't say I liked the idea of more work but we've made some cool things with that wood that would have ended up just being smoke and ashes.

On snow load when there's no snow: My son is a structural engineer. He was asked to evaluate a situation in which a home was being built out west of Laramie, and ultimately had to testify in court as an expert witness. The County doesn't have the same code standards as the City, so there are many structures that have been built which don't meet City code requirements, regarding everything from electrical to plumbing to roof loads. But as the result of some expensive lawsuits, most builders that build in the County are now following the City codes, as the standard of reasonableness.

Because the Code didn't apply, the property owner had directed the builder to reduce the structural cost by spreading the roof trusses from 16" centers to 24" centers. His idea was that because the roof design was for a pretty steep roof, any snow load would be effectively reduced because less snow would stay on the roof. So the builder did that, reluctantly, but didn't protect himself by having some sort of waiver signed by the owner.

So the house was closed in, but one day the wind for which Laramie is famous blew like the Big Bad Wolf, and the roof was blown off, because (according to my kid's testimony), there was insufficient structural integrity caused by having fewer trusses. The point was that not only do the normally 16" spaced trusses add to the snow load capacity, but they also add substantially to minimize the effect of lift on the roof--the Bernoulli principle that all of us aviators know about also affects the strength of a roof and the need for more trusses.

So there has to be some concern even in areas with no snow, that the roof will still be strong enough to resist lateral wind loads that have a lifting effect due to the Bernoulli principle. I don't know about east Texas, but my minimal experience with west Texas is that wind is an issue!

Cary

I completely agree about the wind and that's why the local company that builds the trusses works with both wind loads and snow loads but snow loads don't affect the size or configuration here as it would up north. It's all a location thing. For example I learned all about ice on the wings when I started to fly decades ago but it was never actually as important as density altitude due to heat and humidity where I was flying. I'm sure you guys worry about it way more than me. Fast forward to about 11 years ago and I take a job in the middle of winter in Emporia, Kansas. My first encounter with ice was when I stepped out the next morning to pre-flight the helicopter and slipped on a completely iced up hospital helipad. Good thing the ER was just steps away...

So yes we worry about wind loads in East Texas and also, but not so much, snow loads.

sburg58 wrote:Check this site, I have seen a couple of these that were built several years ago and still work well. They are an overhead powered home built door. Kits were available not sure if they still are. http://ultimatedoor.homestead.com/ultimate.html

I have one of these. I believe the owner of the hangar did buy the kit. I have no complaints. Mine uses just a Harbor Freight type hand cranked boat launch winch. It takes no effort at all. I might be concerned if the wind was straight into the door or hard at right angles. Mine is facing away from the prevailing wind and boy I have winds (Casper WY) but no issues so far.

EastTexasPilot wrote:

Mark Y. wrote:A 36 x 36 hanger would have very poor resale value. My hanger going up is 48 x 64. I am contemplating either a 42 or 44 ft bifold. Trusses alone, at cost from the manufacturer in Edmonton was almost $14000. Truss price goes up substantially at any size over 48 ft Father inlaw is a house builder. A hangar for $3K? maybe if your cutting your own wood out of the bush and have that fancy chainsaw sawmill like on Mountain men....Used tin? As someone already stated definatley read hangar door disasters, also look at the 170 pic of Rob that had the hanger collapse under snow load. Is a $3K special all your plane is worth?

I'm starting to love the prices around here even more!!! We're going to build our own scissor trusses but even if I purchased them from the local professional construction company they're still less than $1500 for ALL of them. What kind of wood are they using up there? I can't imagine wood being so expensive unless it's from some special monastery on the other side of the world and needs to be flown in to make the trusses. Here's a quick Google search for my area regarding trusses : http://www.timberlaketrussworks.com/pri ... tep-guide/

Regarding the metal sides and roof, no used tin, we're using brand new galvalume. Snow? What snow? Thank God we don't have to deal with that here. When I was looking for a metal hangar kit I saw that prices from a Toronto vendor for the same size were more than twice the price as from a Pittsburg vendor so that might be why you think it's impossible to build a hangar for $3k.

BTW yes we actually have a small portable saw mill, LMAO, I even think she bought it in Canada, but that wood isn't going to be used to for the hangar. My neighbor is a strong "mother earth advocate" and didn't want me to burn the trees I knocked down for clearance to extend my runway so she bought one for us to re-purpose the trees. Can't say I liked the idea of more work but we've made some cool things with that wood that would have ended up just being smoke and ashes.

Don't get me started on why wood is so expensive up here, I'd hate to get this kicked to hot air.
But I do agree with the others, 36x36 is not big enough. One of my customers built a small hangar, them put droopy tips on and is constantly knocking off nav lights. Just too tight.

Although I benefitted from someone's hangar being too small, I'd also highly recommend at least 40'. My plane has a 38' wingspan, so when life changed for the previous owner and he moved it was too big for the hangar and he had to change planes.

WYflyer wrote:I have one of these. I believe the owner of the hangar did buy the kit. I have no complaints. Mine uses just a Harbor Freight type hand cranked boat launch winch. It takes no effort at all. I might be concerned if the wind was straight into the door or hard at right angles. Mine is facing away from the prevailing wind and boy I have winds (Casper WY) but no issues so far.

Good news about the winds. I emailed them for more info and to see if they have any installed in my area to go see them.

The wing on my Maule is 29'8" and a long wing 7 is about 33'. A Bearhawk is also 33'. That about sums up my needs, I won't be owning a cub or a 180 and resale is a non factor as it is on my families property.

I appreciate the advice, but like I said your neeew are not mine and I don't have to worry about what the next guy wants.

Doors will be hanging doors with rollers on the bottom as a guide. I am looking forward to having the airplane here instead of having to make a second drive to the airport!

Just my $0.02, I have lived and had hangars in many different states and locations. I absolutely HATE hanging doors with rollers! Even when stationed in southern AZ, an area with nearly non-existent snow, those danged doors get jammed up with dirt and other crap. winds can moved them out of their tracks when things getting older and wearing out. If a guy keeps everything clean and debris free they can work great but I don't want the extra worry. I have no love for sliding doors and would never consider one for a hangar door no matter how much money I save.

I use to rent a hangar up here in MN for my seaplane. This particular hangar had a hanging type door and once the snow started falling you could just about count and never getting into the hangar again until spring. The snow would melt from the sun and settle at the bottom freezing everything solid.