Hangar Dimensions

[N59ST]

Wife and I are in early preparations and designs to build a hangar home in central Texas. We are planing a single story 2/2 home, but may entertain extra bedrooms and "bonus room" upstairs due to cheaper to go up than out. Part of home will be inside of the hangar foot print. Cant wait to have room for the RV10 future construction.

We are trying to decide on the best height for the hangar portion, for build economy. Building over 12' price goes up exponentially.
We are thinking of building a 50'x70' and inside one end (50'x20') will be atleast 16' inside clear for RV parking. Trying to decide what ceiling height is good for the remaining "hangar" 13', 14', 15', 18'.

So, what is the "best ceiling height" for a hangar? I am planning a 40' x 12' door, and I imagine 13' inside ceiling height unless taller is necessary or desired.
My research puts most of the GA planes at less than 40' wingspan and less than 12' tall.

So we are looking for input and thoughts of others with experience. There may be design elements we are not thinking of?

Thanks, Spencer.

 

[titanhank]

I have a 50x40 hangar. Walls are 16ft at sides. This is necessary for the schweiss 40x12 bifold opening door. The door is 14’ tall with a 2’ wedge that opens 12’ high. The structure to support it required the extra 2’ height in side walls. I have a 40’ wide door, I would HIGHLY suggest going at least 42’ wide. I can get a c172 in the hangar, but there is not much room for error due to the door looking mechanism.

 

[Mike S]

Check out the Higher Power door, much less obstruction to the door opening than the bi-fold style doors.

 

[N59ST]

Mike,
Being a fabricator, I plan on building my door, and patterning my door after the Higher power system. I like the fact that the design is "free standing" and has a greater vertical opening along with creating an "awning" when open. Shade can be a premium here in Texas during the summers!

Now to decide on hangar height!......

 

[Mike S]

Mike,
Being a fabricator, I plan on building my door, and patterning my door after the Higher power system. I like the fact that the design is "free standing" and has a greater vertical opening along with creating an "awning" when open. Shade can be a premium here in Texas during the summers!

Now to decide on hangar height!......

Are you going to have a loft/second story?? If so, what ceiling height do you want upstairs?

I have a hangar with 16' high walls, 8' ceiling downstairs, and slightly over 7' upstairs ceiling height. The difference of interior height is the second floor structure-----9 or 10" TJI floor joists.

So, if you are OK with a reduced ceiling height you can make it work with 16' walls, otherwise you need to go higher.

Simply put-----first floor ceiling height+second floor ceiling height+second floor structure= wall height.

 

[Mel]

My south hangar is 14' walls and 12' "Hi-Fold" door fits fine. That's 12' clear opening. No "extra" at the top but it does fit.

 

[Jpm757]

My south hangar is 14' walls and 12' "Hi-Fold" door fits fine. That's 12' clear opening. No "extra" at the top but it does fit.

I am also using a Hi-Fold door on my 50x50 hangar. The door is 44'x12' and like Mel says, almost all of the 12' opening is useable Very happy with the quality and price of the Hi-Fold, easy installation if you have a fork lift, door comes all rigged and ready to go.

 

[Pilot135pd]

I just finished designing my new hangar/home here at Vaca Moo in East Texas (60x60 for the main hangar plus 8x60 porch on one side and 20x60 carport on the other side for the motorhome and vehicles, golf cart, etc., and sent it out for quotes. My walls are 14' high for a 56'x12' high clear span door, and even though I built the doors on the other 4 hangars here, I'm going with something lighter. I also don't want them to be powered even though we hardly ever lose power here. The pitch is 3/12 so I'll have plenty of room for a 2nd floor if needed, BUT not enough to get charged for it. Remember that in Texas if you have more than 7.5' of space up there, the appraisal district can still charge you as a 2 story building even if you don't build the 2nd floor. I just had a meeting with them last month, so verify with your local appraisal district. Texas says they're lowering property tax percentages but they change the appraisal formulas and the government still gets more money. It's all political lies and scams.

I drove to Kansas to see the Horton factory doors https://www.stackdoor.com/ and liked them very much. Very easy to open with one hand and they stack up and you don't lose any height and in a 60' opening I get 53' clear opening when they're stacked open. They're weight is on the floor so no load onto the building, only wind load like all doors. They're made out of 2x2 steel square tubing.

Then I saw the FoldTite Systems stack doors https://cool-airinc.com/ and liked them a little bit more. They hang on hangar track and I have one of my hangars with the same track and it's survived very strong storms, and I didn't even install them correctly They're also made of aluminum so they're lighter (yet cheaper) but just as strong as the steel Horton doors.

I liked these a little more because their bottom rollers are floating in a slot in the concrete so no resistance but they're also deeper in the concrete so no worries of the doors moving off the bottom track like I'm worried on the Horton door which runs on top of a 1/2" rail. This door is also made out of aluminum so it weighs less and is cheaper than the Horton, and waaaay cheaper than all the other bi-fold and tilting doors out there, PLUS they give me a wider clear opening when they're stacked open.

 

[Canadian_JOY]

My current hangar is 44 wide, 40 deep and features 14'6" interior walls. A Diamond Doors bifold door is on the 44 wide front side of the hangar.

I'm currently trying to stuff three airplanes in this building and, in retrospect, going to 16' wall height would make accommodation of vertically stacked airplanes easier and would allow better ceiling height in the mezzanine which will be installed in the one corner.

BTW the Diamond Doors bi-fold door yields 12'6" in clear height, more than enough to accommodate our aircraft on amphibs or on straight floats and a beaching trailer.