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Best hangar doors

Maxrate

Well Known Member
So I?m getting closer to moving the project to my hangar, problem is it has yet to be built. My max is going to be a 40X40 due to numerous restrictions. When it comes time to re-sell I want to be able to have the Cessna drivers able to get their 172/182 in with a 36? wingspan. Any ideas on the best door for this tight fit would be great. To make things more interesting I?m 30 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and the whole structure has to be windstorm rated. I plan on using someone like whirlwind buildings for the hangar but they don?t deal in the doors.

Thanks
 
I live in an airpark near Fort Worth Texas and several of us have either built new hangars or replaced doors in the last few years with a HigherPower door. Everyone that I know that has one loves it.

https://www.hpdoors.com/
 
hangars and doors

We have detailed in most every hangar door on the market into our buildings.
We prefer Schweiss, the quality is unquestionable but not the cheapest.
For us, when we detail a Schweiss door into one of our buildings Schweiss's engineering and detailing layout is very complete and as a result we have have no customer service issue using their doors.

BTW, you can design and price hangars online at Rapidsetbuildings.com

I would be happy to answer any questions you might have - and it does not mean you need to use Rapidset Building - I am also an "A" commercial contractor so hopefully I can help. Just PM me.
Larry
 
Hangar door

I don?t have a higher power door but I?ve seen several of them and they are impressive. Door engineering makes a similar door that is one piece but a different concept in lifting. A big advantage of the one piece door is you get a taller opening so the building can be shorter. Where I live the height of the building has a noticeable effect on the real estate taxes. Also will probably be cheaper to heat and cool the shorter building. Tail height can be a problem with a bifold door. The downside of a one piece door is how close you can be to the door while you open the door.
 
Been very happy with my Horton stack doors. Manual to operate so no issues with power outages. Made in various sizes. Rated for high wind, but you would have to check with them to find out if it is sufficient for your application.
 
Been very happy with my Horton stack doors. Manual to operate so no issues with power outages. Made in various sizes. Rated for high wind, but you would have to check with them to find out if it is sufficient for your application.

+1 on the Horton doors...
 
We’ve got a Horton and a one-piece Schweitzer - satisfied with them both. I also like our neighbors Higher Power. I think any of the name brands have happy followings.
 
I am in conversation with [email protected] and have had a look at his doors for my current project. Looks great, good client feedback, honest business man...:cool: Merrill manufactures and installs them himself in the North West, so maybe no help for the op. He worked for Higher Power for many years now has the patented ?better mouse trap?. We?ll let you know.
http://supreme-door.com/
 
My 40x12 Schweiss bi-fold is a little slow (takes a full minute to fully open), but overall I am happy with it. It is what was on the hangar when I bought it. A couple of guys here at 45G have replaced their homemade doors with Diamond, and are very happy with them. They appear to be about half the weight, and open about twice as fast as my Schweiss.
 
I built my own out of 2" square steel tubing welded together and covered in Galvalume steel R-Panels. They're a total of 45" wide and I divided them into 4 doors with 8 hinges and 4 wheels and it all cost me about $900. Can't beat that price. Need them stronger? Don't know why but if you do just add another $15 hinge to each door and another couple of $45 2" square tubes and it'll be stronger than anything you can buy commercially.

Come visit us and I'll show you how nicely they work.
 
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Bi-fold ?barn-doors?

I built my own out of 2" square steel tubing welded together and covered in Galvalume steel R-Panels. They're a total of 45" wide and I divided them into 4 doors with 8 hinges and 4 wheels and it all cost me about $900. Can't beat that price. Need them stronger? Don't know why but if you do just add another $15 hinge to each door and another couple of $45 2" square tubes and it'll be stronger than anything you can buy commercially.

Come visit us and I'll show you how nicely they work.

I?m planning on building the doors on my new hangar basically the same way. My hangar is 40? wide. Each ?barn-door? side will be 20? wide but then each door will be divided in half and will be able to fold back on itself.... so they?ll never be more than 10? of leverage on the main hinge points at the outside corner post.

Also, there really won?t be any real ?leverage? so to speak because there will be a castoring wheel at the midpoint where each door half hinges on itself and another castoring wheel at the end of each door assembly.

So, starting from each corner post, the doors will have heavy duty main hinges, at the midpoint the doors will be hinged again so that they?ll be able to fold back on themselves and they?ll be a castoring wheel at that point, then when the doors are fully closed there will be another castoring wheel there at that corner to support the 20? leverage that the door assembly will be exerting when fully closed. I think it?ll be a simple and cost-effective solution and will be able to operate without any power.

Mark
 
I?m planning on building the doors on my new hangar basically the same way. My hangar is 40? wide. Each ?barn-door? side will be 20? wide but then each door will be divided in half and will be able to fold back on itself.... so they?ll never be more than 10? of leverage on the main hinge points at the outside corner post.

Also, there really won?t be any real ?leverage? so to speak because there will be a castoring wheel at the midpoint where each door half hinges on itself and another castoring wheel at the end of each door assembly.

So, starting from each corner post, the doors will have heavy duty main hinges, at the midpoint the doors will be hinged again so that they?ll be able to fold back on themselves and they?ll be a castoring wheel at that point, then when the doors are fully closed there will be another castoring wheel there at that corner to support the 20? leverage that the door assembly will be exerting when fully closed. I think it?ll be a simple and cost-effective solution and will be able to operate without any power.

Mark

You just described mine and they?re very easy to open and close. I also designed an inexpensive and easy way to lock the doors in place at the top and bottom because buying the $18 latches would have added $144 to the total price of each hangar and I still would have needed to modify the 4 top ones.
 
You just described mine and they?re very easy to open and close. I also designed an inexpensive and easy way to lock the doors in place at the top and bottom because buying the $18 latches would have added $144 to the total price of each hangar and I still would have needed to modify the 4 top ones.

I guess crazy minds think alike. LOL!! I too have thought about and easy/cheep locking mechanism. Basically it?ll just be one rod that goes up through the door frame and pins into the overhead header and one pin that goes down through the door frame and into the concrete. The pins will be at the mid hinge points and where everything comes together at mid-span. I?m hangar?d south of San Antonio...it might make for a fun flight up to see yours.

Mark
 
I guess crazy minds think alike. LOL!! I too have thought about and easy/cheep locking mechanism. Basically it?ll just be one rod that goes up through the door frame and pins into the overhead header and one pin that goes down through the door frame and into the concrete. The pins will be at the mid hinge points and where everything comes together at mid-span. I?m hangar?d south of San Antonio...it might make for a fun flight up to see yours.

Mark

You?re an hour away in an RV, come on over !
 
My next door neighbor just finished his hangar with a HigherPower door and he loves it and I?m extremely jealous. I inherited the multi-panel rolling door on my hangar with the house purchase and delayed any upgrade to the door in order to buy an RV-6A instead. My crappy door looks a whole lot better with a nice plane behind it.
 
I have a Schweiss and a Hi-Fold on 2 hangars of mine. The Hi-Fold is cable operated and the Schweiss is strap lift. The Schweiss is very fast, quiet, and very very nice. I love that door. The Hi-Fold is just a good door. I love the auto-latch on the Schweiss. Wish I had it on the Hi-Fold. The strap lift would be nice too, but the cable lift works ok.

I put the Schweiss up myself. It's really not all that hard.
 
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