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Has anyone every built a hangar?

dmat

Well Known Member
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Starting to do research on metal hangars and wanted to know if anyone has some experience? Which are good/bad quality?

Thanks,
D
 
I've built 2. First one was from Tyler Building Systems in Tyler Texas (1990).
2nd was from Red Dot Building Systems in Athens Texas (2003).
Both were very good products and everything fit as it was supposed to.
All steel buildings with insulation.
 
The reason I asked is that he won't get useful info without responders knowing whether he wants a kit that he'll assemble, a turn-key building for which he writes a check, something in-between, or even a source for the materials.

Most of the hangars on my home airpark were erected by a company that built 'chicken houses'. Might sound less than ideal, but they were much less expensive than typical metal building companies charged at the time, and a metal building is trusses, purlins, and skin.

And if he's into DIY, he could really save money. I added a 30x50 'lean-to' on my hangar using 4x4 supports, 30' metal purlins, decking, and regular metal roofing, doing all the work myself.

Charlie
 
Built 50x40 whirlwind steel building in april 2017 with 50x40 ramp, schweiss 40x12 bifold door, fully insulated, turnkey and ready to put the plane in for $75000. The lot, which i own, and the fuel farm pushed it to $90000 total as it sits today after wiring, lights, overhead fans and plumbing.

Figure $40/ft will give you a real good completed cost minus the land.

lFg55Q4.jpg
 
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I saved 35% off of a kit price and just ordered the materials from Mueller's in Texas and built my hanger/shop/living quarters myself. I copied a friends basic design and made modifications to suit my needs. Mueller's salesman helped me with engineering. It was a sizeable task but easier than building an airplane!

2m4ax3l.jpg
 
Ya know, in our part of the country (same as yours basically) the Amish are famous for building pretty darn good pole barns for very reasonable prices. Corrugated metal roof metal sides same as an all metal building. Neighbor on our 7MD1 property had them put up a 40x40 with concrete floor (I cant rem but 3k psi comes to mine, maybe 3.5....) and I rem him saying it cost him 25k. He did the hangar door himself, a hanging slider. I'll do the same when the time comes. Just a thought.
 
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Design a hangar online (free)

Unless you live in a very remote location, a large part of the issue of building a hangar is the building department.
We have built a system where you can design a building online, get a price online and print out plans online. It is free to use. Take the quote you did which has all the important loads and code down to the building department and have them confirm what is needed. Then you can quote buildings apples for apples.
Where ever you purchase a hangar confirm the loads and codes! We see it all the time where the loads or code changes and it is a huge hassle. We have buildings in 49 states and they all want something different.
If you have questions about hangar please feel free to contact me.
Also we have booths at Oshkosh in hangar "D" and this month I will be at the booth at Alaska Airmen show. For many years we have worked the booth at shows with Schweiss door. It works very well to comment "would you like a hangar with that door". And we have some help videos online.
Thanks, Larry
 
Unless you live in a very remote location, a large part of the issue of building a hangar is the building department.
We have built a system where you can design a building online, get a price online and print out plans online. It is free to use. Take the quote you did which has all the important loads and code down to the building department and have them confirm what is needed. Then you can quote buildings apples for apples.
Where ever you purchase a hangar confirm the loads and codes! We see it all the time where the loads or code changes and it is a huge hassle. We have buildings in 49 states and they all want something different.
If you have questions about hangar please feel free to contact me.
Also we have booths at Oshkosh in hangar "D" and this month I will be at the booth at Alaska Airmen show. For many years we have worked the booth at shows with Schweiss door. It works very well to comment "would you like a hangar with that door". And we have some help videos online.
Thanks, Larry
Great website and your engineering, estimating, and plans software are very nice. This will give anyone wanting to use an engineered metal building a huge leg up for the DIY'er
 
In addition to the Building Dept., check with the airport owner/operator. They could have either covenants or a design review process that is separate from the Building Dept. Where I am at the ground lease needs approval from 2 committees and then City council, all after the City attorney draws up the lease.
 
Built 50x40 whirlwind steel building in april 2017 with 50x40 ramp, schweiss 40x12 bifold door, fully insulated, turnkey and ready to put the plane in for $75000. The lot, which i own, and the fuel farm pushed it to $90000 total as it sits today after wiring, lights, overhead fans and plumbing.

Figure $40/ft will give you a real good completed cost minus the land.

lFg55Q4.jpg

Beautiful hangar.

I have a question:

Why are hangars so high? I've seen this a lot - not just yours.

Is it that the kits are general purpose buildings and they just come that high?

Or are they made higher than what's needed for an RV because perhaps a larger plane will be stored?

Is there some benefit to the height that I am not seeing?

Thanks!
 
Beautiful hangar.

I have a question:

Why are hangars so high? I've seen this a lot - not just yours.

Is it that the kits are general purpose buildings and they just come that high?

Or are they made higher than what's needed for an RV because perhaps a larger plane will be stored?

Is there some benefit to the height that I am not seeing?

Thanks!

Yes, resale for bigger airplanes, a motor home and a second story room office storage. Not much more money to build higher from what I am finding for my future project, soon I hope...
All that said if codes and HOA allowed...
 
Yes, resale for bigger airplanes, a motor home and a second story room office storage. Not much more money to build higher from what I am finding for my future project, soon I hope...
All that said if codes and HOA allowed...

Yep...a good reason that I did not see.

Thanks!
 
Beautiful hangar.

I have a question:

Why are hangars so high? I've seen this a lot - not just yours.

The top of the rudder on my 10 was just under 9' high, and the C172 is a bit higher I suspect.

The bi-fold door in the photo is eating up about 3' or the opening ------typical for a bi-fold as they need to keep a certain "V" angle for structural needs.

Then add the depth of a header above the opening-------
 
Beautiful hangar.

I have a question:

Why are hangars so high? I've seen this a lot - not just yours.

Is it that the kits are general purpose buildings and they just come that high?

Or are they made higher than what's needed for an RV because perhaps a larger plane will be stored?

Is there some benefit to the height that I am not seeing?

Thanks!

Pick any plane from the list...:)

https://www.bifold.com/airplane-size-chart.php

You probably would want to design for the plane that you think would help resale in the future. One neighbor planned for his Cessna Caravan on amphibious floats and ended up with a really high door. :)

Building codes and your respect for neighbors views also come into play.



Also, if you are interviewing local metal building suppliers there is a good test to see if they know about hangars.

Ask them about a Horton Stackdoor, even if you don't plan on using one. You might find local builders are not familiar with a design that has one side clear of structure (where the door goes :) ). It's probably best to pick one that can handle the likes of a hangar.
 
Mine (roughly 48' x 50') has 12' high eaves; I wish they were at least 14'. I'm a bit of a pack rat, but even without that affliction, the extra storage space would really be nice. With a decent roof pitch, you can have a nice office space and/or work area for electronic and other light assembly work. If the roof is built to handle it, you can suspend a mezzanine & keep the hangar floor clear.

Charlie
 
Also, if you are interviewing local metal building suppliers there is a good test to see if they know about hangars.

Ask them about a Horton Stackdoor, even if you don't plan on using one. You might find local builders are not familiar with a design that has one side clear of structure (where the door goes :) ). It's probably best to pick one that can handle the likes of a hangar.

I agree with Gil
Make sure you deal with someone that knows something about designing for structural loads specific to a hangar.
Not only is it a building with one entire wall free spanned (usually), most local codes require it to be designed for wind loads with the door opened. This makes it act like a big parachute which can require some structural differences when compared to a building with fixed walls on all sides.
 
Mine (roughly 48' x 50') has 12' high eaves; I wish they were at least 14'. I'm a bit of a pack rat, but even without that affliction, the extra storage space would really be nice. With a decent roof pitch, you can have a nice office space and/or work area for electronic and other light assembly work. If the roof is built to handle it, you can suspend a mezzanine & keep the hangar floor clear.

Charlie

I made mine 14 ft at the eaves and wish it was 16 ft.

14 will give you storage, but not real stand-up space if you have a standard 8 ft high room under it.

Also consider a small storage room with a door in one corner that can be stacked with shelves to get small junk, err useful parts, out of sight.
 
My friend has a hangar with an insulated drop ceiling
for his mooney height and I rented a hangar similar with full height inulated ceiling, I can tell you it was far harder to heat the volume I had than his so this might be a good way to keep heating costs down and still have the ability to have high ceilings should someone else buy it down the rd. Just a consideration for people.

It also makes his hangar much brighter inside.
 
Beautiful hangar.

I have a question:

Why are hangars so high? I've seen this a lot - not just yours.

Is it that the kits are general purpose buildings and they just come that high?

Or are they made higher than what's needed for an RV because perhaps a larger plane will be stored?

Is there some benefit to the height that I am not seeing?

Thanks!

My hangar is 16ft at the sidewalls in order to accommodate the 14ft tall door. The door opens 12ft with the remaining 2ft being the wedge at the top. A hangar needs to have at least a 12ft tall opening. A cessna 172 tail is about 10?8? depending on the nose strut inflation.
 
My friend has a hangar with an insulated drop ceiling
for his mooney height and I rented a hangar similar with full height inulated ceiling, I can tell you it was far harder to heat the volume I had than his so this might be a good way to keep heating costs down and still have the ability to have high ceilings should someone else buy it down the rd. Just a consideration for people.

It also makes his hangar much brighter inside.

This is important and in places like the frozen North, reduced heating costs can pay for the added cost of an insulated ceiling in no time.
 
a couple more thoughts on hangars

At https://www.rapidsetbuildings.com/download.php?code=spring_2012 is a good article on the designing hangars. Part of what it talks about is noting the tail height then you back the plane in on a ramp that has a small slope and how that jacks the tail much higher then you would think if your plane has tricycle wheels. Good to do the math.

Also I get asked all the time about a mezzanine with clear floor space. We have done them but the bottom line is the price is not worth it. When you run the math in the loads the members are huge even if you point load the main rafters above to hang from. Build in the corners or off set the hangar door and have build space or living quarters on the side of the aircraft area.

Design, price and print plans for hangars here https://rapidset.designbuildsystems.com/
Thanks, Larry
 
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At https://www.rapidsetbuildings.com/download.php?code=spring_2012

Also I get asked all the time about a mezzanine with clear floor space. We have done them but the bottom line is the price is not worth it. When you run the math in the loads the members are huge even if you point load the main rafters above to hang from. Build in the corners or off set the hangar door and have build space or living quarters on the side of the aircraft area.

One cost effective way to put a mezzanine, of sorts, into your pre-engineered building is to use a pre-engineered free standing system. You can pick up used industrial pallet racking systems pretty cheap. The racks shown here are rated for 15k lbs each assembly. Each rack beam is rated at 5k lbs. Floor joists are 2 x 10's with 2 x 4 T&G floor. I use a rolling ladder I picked up for $200 to get up there and safety chains between stations form a safety rail. Measures 12' x 16'. I have four rows of light duty metal racks, back to back, on top of this now to store all of my spare aircraft and project parts. That is a lot of storage.
You can also add shelves below and configure in a variety of ways.
Not as clean as an engineered system and the stanchions take up more space than posts, hanging, or cantilevered, so it isn't ideal, but anybody can assemble this and build a deck on top of it.
It is free standing and does not connect to the building, and shouldn't .
This pic was taken right before completion, but you get the idea. Under $2k for the entire set up. Very stable, solid, and way more capacity than I will ever need.
zx3jr.jpg
 
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