Hangar Doors

[dirtstrip]

My previous hangar at 3V5 before it was closed had a bi-fold. Although it worked fairly well, a cable came undone once and nearly cost me my airplane. If I were to build my own hangar, I'd probably opt for an overhead bifold, but I'd sure want a door that was reliable and had some sort of safety mechanism to keep it from dropping if something broke. I think that would eliminate any home-made door.Cary

Here are my safetys for a bifold/hi fold style. Homemade and Handy and safer than most.
In this photo notice there are four independent supporting cables that lift the door. If one breaks the others will keep it from falling. Many older doors rely on just one or maybe two cables that thread through pulleys to multiple pull points. If one broke the whole door came down, or with two cables one end dropped, twisting the door.
Four independent cables provide saftey and notice they are anchored at the top of the door frame itself making the tension of pull transfer only to the door frame, and not to the building header. The hinges of the door then spread only the lift weight to the header, not to cable pull points attached to the header. The cable anchor points at the top of the frame then also move outward as it opens eliminating the back and inward pull of cables that comes with anchoring to the header. Also notice the cables at the hinge point, they go over kickouts. As the cables tighten it kicks the hinge point outward starting the fold. This door cannot fall if one cable or hinge breaks. The motor and limit switch box along side allows setting the upper stop point and the lower stop point for automatic operation. I wired mine so on one push it fully opens but wired the close button so I have to stand there and hold the button the whole time. I can't make that last second dash to move something in the way while the door continues to close. I made this nearly idiot proof with the change below.



Second photo shows the safety lock/unlock I made. The over center lock lever handle has a plate welded to it. The plate covers the open button when in the down/locked position preventing anyone from pressing the open button when the levers are locked. You have to lift and unlock the lever first. Easy solution and preferable to the fate of hitting the opener button when the door is still locked down. Many bifolds have met their early demise by this screwup.

[steve]

Cowdog,
It sounds like you have ruled out the sliding doors and in cold country I think that is a good decision. I have an aluminum 40 ft Wilson bi-fold (made in WI) back in Illinois that worked well with a 36 ft wingspan, but I painted a stripe down the floor to keep the plane centered when going in and out. As was mentioned, the Skywagon with Wing X extensions is over 40 ft and will not go in, that turned out to be something I had not considered. The next hangar I built (here in Canada), has two 46 ft steel frame bi-fold doors, one on each end, has worked fine in these snow conditions to date. I am currently in the slow process of building a float plane hangar/boat house and have a 48 ft Schweiss hydrolic door waiting to be installed in it, I think I will really like that door, but time will tell. As a side note, don't worry about contacting Hydroswing, they went belly up last spring, along with my 100% deposit on a new 48 ft door.

[Littlecub]

....100% deposit on a new 48 ft door.

OUCH!
......And I was unhappy about the "tuition" that I paid (school of hard knocks)

My bad.
lc

[skywagon guy]

Hope everyone that is building faces the door south. Our old hangers at 20V faced east and west with steel roller doors, a complete pain in the winter. When we built our new hangar in 2003 we had a Schweiss bifold Strap, not cable, door installed, hangar faces south. Even in our cold, snowy area the south facing door melts out when still below zero. No more trying to open frozen doors. We cosidered building the metal building ourselves, but figured we would be better off to hire it out. I was the general contractor and did all the leg work with the FAA, airport consultants, and county to save $$$. I bought a Sentinel Metal building, Schweiss door thru Sentinel, engineered to fit their building, and their insulation kit. Hired a metal building contractor, he has been a flying friend for years, and they did a great job. Stubed in water and sewer. Water and sewer taps and lines cost was so high we need to hit the lottery to pay for it. Talk about doors, we sure like the Schweiss strap door after 9 years.
Ron

[Maverick]

The hangar is on our ranch and is not close enough to run power so we're most likely going solar for lights and engine heater. I like the manual bi-fold for power loads but mainly$$$. I'm considering building like ak... suggests but time is a concern. More info into your design would be appreciated. I was hoping the contractor would install a factory door while he was at it too. Our door will face east, away from prevailing winds. There's nothing around to stop the dust, snow, rain, ect. from blowing through even the smallest openings. We are also changing the size of building to accommodate a wider door at the urging of a wise man (42x12). To many decisions.

[courierguy]

The hangar is on our ranch and is not close enough to run power so we're most likely going solar for lights and engine heater. I like the manual bi-fold for power loads but mainly$$$. I'm considering building like ak... suggests but time is a concern. More info into your design would be appreciated. I was hoping the contractor would install a factory door while he was at it too. Our door will face east, away from prevailing winds. There's nothing around to stop the dust, snow, rain, ect. from blowing through even the smallest openings. We are also changing the size of building to accommodate a wider door at the urging of a wise man (42x12). To many decisions.

If going solar, I wouldn't worry about the electrical load of a powered door of any type. It would be used little in comparasion to the time spent re charging. Lots of power, but for short periods of time isn't the problem, it's the 24/7 small loads that can tax a solar system. The required inverter and battery bank will be required anyway for your pre heater and lighting. If a Hydro type door, you could use one of the 12 VDC hydraulic pump units like on a snowplow rig, it would take a bit longer but be super simple.

I love my two HydroSwings, (shop and hangar) a bad deal they went under, I got great service from them 5 years ago.

[cross arrow]

I read that Hydroswing's assets were taken over by Icon doors, we were really lucky and got our hydroswing just before people started to get burned.

[Bighorn]

http://www.powerliftdoors.com

Try this site, they make good doors.

[lov2fly]

I have Cool Air doors on my hangar in Idaho (manual horizontal bi-fold). I do not regret ordering them. However, they use about 12" of the opening. The overall opening of my hangar is 42'X11, so I have a 41' opening with the doors open. Glad I planned for the 42' width. Wish you luck on the door search.

[Cowdog]

lov2fly; Those are the doors my kid, Maverick, chose. Glad to hear they work good. Do they seal up well?

I guess Ken in Alaska and Russ (Maverick) are going to talk about building some similar doors.

I guess Littlecub had a bad time with Cleary. Has anyone else had any experience with 'em?

[Bighorn]

Cowdog
I have a Cool Air roll around, It has a design flaw to it. Called the guy but it was kind of "tuff luck guy I already have your money." (Had to give it all up front before it shipped). I spent another $2,000 on it to make it function correctly. I like it now but just be aware of that paticular design has issues that they need to address. I was disappointed that they wouldn't stand behind it, but who does now days. I took lots of pictures and documentation and can show you how to fix it if you want. Also I don't think I'll ever pay for anything 100% before I get it ever again....another lesson in the school of hard knocks. Trust but Verify

[Maverick]

We have a good solar man helping us with that part, thank goodness. The reason I was interested in the horizontal bi-fold is there are no bottom tracks or guides to be fouled by snow or other debrit, the door latches into place with pins on bottom. Top hung seems the way to go if not overhead.
Kid??? O.k. Grandpa.

[Nosedragger]

Cleary is always about to have a price increase, that's the one consistancy with them, their sales. The quality of the building is contingent on your local codes and the contractor doing the construction. I'm in an area where farmers can build anything they want under the ag exemption and they get a shabby building for the advertised price. If you're subject to stricter codes, the building is better built but more expensive. If you live near a town full of dumb college kids, that's your construction crew. Live near a reservation...... The business plan is pay the cheapest contractor piecework and sell a lot of sheds.

[Maverick]

There is a local guy around here that has built a shop and barn for us and did a good job. We are checking with him ASAP, it may come down to availability. He has a good reputation so hopefully..... Cleary is on hold for now but there isn't much locally.

[gbflyer]

We built a hydraulic swing door, not hard to build. Surplus Center has cylinders and pumps. Probably have $1500 in parts, our labor ain't worth much. Copied a hydroswing.

The hangar is 42 wide. It's OK, but 48 or 50 would be better.

[marcusofcotton]

The wingspan of the Bear is 36' ...

Bearhawk wingspan is 33'. Mine will be behind the 37.5' door on my 40' hangar.

Mark J

[hicountry]

I have two 30X40 Morton buildings, niether a hangar (damn) on my place. Morton is a little more expensive than Cleary or some others I looked at other than all steel. I've been very satisfied with the Morton buildings. One is 15 years old, the other is 7 years old.

[Cowdog]

Good point Mark. I measured our Bear's wingspan at 33' 3" including the lights. Our present hangar door is 41'.

We've decided to spend the money we save on doors on a bigger building. Cleary has gone sideways because their bigger building won't handle the local wind load requirements. The guy who's built for us in the past is in demand (quality sells) and is reluctant, because everyone wants their building in the Spring and he feels over committed.

This isn't going to be easy.

[Littlecub]

Another problem/suggestion.
Lake forming inside hanger at the man door. (Size of lake varied and was usually a 'dry' lake ......)

I recommend the man door to swing out, and/or place the threshold UNDER the door sloping out.
My man door swings into the hangar, and the bottom closes against (butts against) the threshold. Rain joins up into sheets on the roof and comes off the ~14 foot eaves, hits the tarmac, then splashes against the man door and runs down the exterior of the door, sneaking its way inside of the (snug) butted threshold and into the hangar. (We are 'high desert' here, but it rains hard, and/or melts copious amounts of snow on occasion.) I hung a large awning over the door to solve the problem..... as did the other local Cleary hanger builders.

Worth considering.
lc

PS. I will add a BIG +1 to facing your hangar doors south if you are in snow/ice country. Also, if you put some clear panels at the top of your south facing doors your hangar will be a LOT warmer when the sun is shinning in the winter. Also, as mentioned, ice/snow issues are minimized.

[courierguy]

We built a hydraulic swing door, not hard to build. Surplus Center has cylinders and pumps. Probably have $1500 in parts, our labor ain't worth much. Copied a hydroswing.

The hangar is 42 wide. It's OK, but 48 or 50 would be better.

Yeah, a much simpler mechanical design to homebrew. Surplus Center is great, been a customer for years! http://www.surpluscenter.com They are also a great source for large DC motors for off grid use, big enough to open a bi-fold, so no inverter required. The stick on heating pads can also be ordered in DC, so an electric door and pre heat, along with some LED 12V lights, all without an inverter. that saves you the cost of the inverter and ups the efficency 10% (assuming the inverter is 90% efficient at best). Off grid hangars are EASY.

I have a 3' man door right above the bottom truss of my HydroSwing, opening in. Then several small windows as the view I have of the valley and mountain is just too good to cover up. Then I had a buddy with a spray urathane foam business insulate the entire inside 2" thick. It faces west (no choice) so in the summer I cover the windows inside with some 90% shade cloth http://www.farmtek.com, one of my other favorite suppliers.

My shop door upstairs faces true south, so I have 2 5x5 fixed pane windows for lots of winter sun, with a canopy that shades them in the summer. Yes it's melt off good, facing south, but all our strong wind here comes right out of the south, so a good sealing door is critical unless you like snowdrifts inside the hangar.