How to build an aircraft hangar

[photofly]

I'd like to build a hangar on a rural property. Thinking of about 100' x 50'. Does anyone have any suggestions for building methods or contractors? GTA, if it makes any difference.

[digits_]

Figure out a door system first. Depending on if you choose a DIY or a professional solution, it could easily cost more than the rest of the building.

I used a pole shed structure with gravel floor and a sliding canon ball track diy solution for the doors.

Dimensions were 40 x 40 ft. That was the limit here before you needed extra support and/or ridiculously big wooden beams or metal structure to hold the door.

Do you want a completely finished heared hangar with concrete floor, or as cheap as possible cold storage/shelter?

[Flyboy757]

I'd like to build a hangar on a rural property. Thinking of about 100' x 50'. Does anyone have any suggestions for building methods or contractors? GTA, if it makes any difference.

Have you talked to Dave C, retired OPP ? He has his plane and 3 enclosed hangars he built on his strip near Napanee.

[Bede]

That’s a big size so it makes the project more difficult.

Pole barn is probably cheapest but you will need to determine the bearing capacity of the soil and therefore pad size. It could be possible that you end up needing poles 8’ OC with 4’x4’x12” pads with rebar to set the poles on. Pads under door frame posts may be even bigger.

The other option is a concrete slab with club footing but it needs to be engineered. A slab that size is a big project in and of itself.

If you have good soil bearing capacity you can use railway ties as footings and put 2x6 walls directly on top.

Key is good planning and site prep. If you build on soft material with a poorly designed building you may end up with a hangar who’s door won’t close.

If you want cheap, check out the hangars at Lubitz field. They’re as cheap as you can get but they usually have one collapse every few winters crushing the airplanes that they’re trying to protect.

[TrilliumFlt]

Unless your planning to heat it I'd have a serious look at the various "skeleton & skin" hangers. The bonus in addition is that should you ever relocate they can be disassembled and move with you.

[Heliian]

I'd like to build a hangar on a rural property. Thinking of about 100' x 50'. Does anyone have any suggestions for building methods or contractors? GTA, if it makes any difference.

What's your budget?

One of the most important features that gets forgotten is drain placement. The number of large buildings like hangars that I've seen built with no or improper drainage is shocking.

[rigpiggy]

the tube/fabric hangars may or may not be considered a permanent structure wrt property taxes. that said anything over about 80' wide clearspan costs go up significantly due to steel thickness. what are you wanting to store?

[Big Pistons Forever]

My glider club ( Vancouver Island) has a skeleton fabric hangar on a concrete base. Works well and for doors it has side by side manual garage door style doors with a central removable pillar. When both doors are open the pillar slides to one side giving a 36 foot wide opening

My hanger has an electric Schweiss bifold door. Really nice but not cheap.

[AirFrame]

If you can arrange to open on the 50' sides rather than the 100' sides, look at the engineered arch buildings. This site is one example, they even have a pricing tool online. For an S-style, 50' x 100' x 20' peak, $34K US.

[edit] Oops, forgot the link: https://www.archbuildings.com/

[Heliian]

the tube/fabric hangars may or may not be considered a permanent structure wrt property taxes. that said anything over about 80' wide clearspan costs go up significantly due to steel thickness. what are you wanting to store?

Depends on the municipality, but he's looking for a hangar to store planes in. He'll also have to check with insurance, an unsupported tarp shed might not qualify. If you want to run electricity then it becomes even more leaning towards a permanent structure. The only other problem with tarp sheds is the moisture which easily condenses and falls from the low points.

I'm a big fan of steel buildings, I beam style, but some of those corrugated ones aren't too bad either.

[digits_]

the tube/fabric hangars may or may not be considered a permanent structure wrt property taxes. that said anything over about 80' wide clearspan costs go up significantly due to steel thickness. what are you wanting to store?

Depends on the municipality, but he's looking for a hangar to store planes in. He'll also have to check with insurance, an unsupported tarp shed might not qualify. If you want to run electricity then it becomes even more leaning towards a permanent structure. The only other problem with tarp sheds is the moisture which easily condenses and falls from the low points.

I'm a big fan of steel buildings, I beam style, but some of those corrugated ones aren't too bad either.

You'll have a condensation issue in pretty much any non insulated structure if it gets cold enough. I've seen it rain indoors in pole sheds and even fancy commercial hangars under construction before the insulation was in.

[RatherBeFlying]

I replaced the strap hinges on my garage door with Cannonball tracks, quite popular with farm equipment sheds and simple to install. Our glider club has a bifold Diamond door. Erecting the frame for that door is not simple, but with the winds we have a bifold door is required.

Snow loading is serious. Hangar collapses are common and a good reason to have at least ground risk hull insurance.

[photofly]

Very helpful thoughts in this thread. Thank you.

[fish4life]

Also look into the height of something like a 206 on amphibs or something along those lines, if you are ever going to rent out part of it or end up with a taller airplane you would hate to be height limited down the road. Going higher is a relatively cheap option as the biggest expense is going to be the concrete pad. Insulate the pad when it’s poured and run lines for in floor heat, once again the cost to do it is very small during the build stage but near impossible to do 10 years down the road if you wanted to do it.

[peterdillon]

When you say 100 X 50 I presume you mean 50 wide? For airplanes the extra width is way better even though it costs more. Had a lot of different ones with all the different kinds of doors. Pole is fine. Power Lift hydraulic doors best but more expensive than slider and need 220 power. Extra height is not much more. One of ours is 80W X 60DX 20 H with an 18ft X 60 door. If your in a rural area with no restrictions the lowest I would go is 16ft if for nothing else resale. If you put a roll up door at the other end you won't have any trouble with condensation as you can equalize temps any time you want. Worst hanger I ever had was a well insulted hanger with cement floor but no heat and one door. In the early summer the plane was still dripping on to the floor. In floor heat tubes if you go concrete but your about 50K+ on that size for good thick concrete. When you think of condensation think of a hay shed or wood shed. Keep the rain off but the air flowing underneath.