Need to wait before flying...

jmaynard

Cleared for Takeoff
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
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1,487
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Fairmont, Minnesota
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Display name:
Jay Maynard
When I saw this, I decided the airplane needed to wait a bit before I took it flying today...
 

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Is that from a hangar door dripping with supercooled avgas in the tank? (Well, not 'supercooled' but you know what I mean.)
 
watch that roof, we had an ice storm abt 5yrs ago and built 2" ice on the hangar roof. Things were creaking sagging and groaning so I got outta there and did some math..any ideas what the weight is of such a thickness of ice, on a 50x50 hangar?
 
watch that roof, we had an ice storm abt 5yrs ago and built 2" ice on the hangar roof. Things were creaking sagging and groaning so I got outta there and did some math..any ideas what the weight is of such a thickness of ice, on a 50x50 hangar?
Minnesota roofs can support a lot of weight, they do get a bit of snow up there.
 
watch that roof, we had an ice storm abt 5yrs ago and built 2" ice on the hangar roof. Things were creaking sagging and groaning so I got outta there and did some math..any ideas what the weight is of such a thickness of ice, on a 50x50 hangar?

23,958 lb.

I really need to get a life. Or at least a job.
 
watch that roof, we had an ice storm abt 5yrs ago and built 2" ice on the hangar roof. Things were creaking sagging and groaning so I got outta there and did some math..any ideas what the weight is of such a thickness of ice, on a 50x50 hangar?

The size of the hangar is fairly irrelevant since the supporting structure should be proportionately larger on a larger hangar. 2" of ice would be about 10 lbs per square foot, something any roof in Minnesota should handle easily. BTW, ice (unlike snow or water) is somewhat self supporting in that it will place a significant portion of the load on the areas that are the strongest if the thickness is reasonably consistent.
 
Meh. I will have bird droppings there and the tail gets drenched due to the leaky roof in my "rickety" wooden community hangar.

Being that it's been standing through some 50+ years of midwest storms, including snow, hail, ice and tornadoes, I think it'll hold up fine.
 
What annoys me is that birds get into the hangar that they keep my plane in.

So, my plane is kept in the hangar, and it still gets bird crap on it. WTF?
 
What annoys me is that birds get into the hangar that they keep my plane in.

So, my plane is kept in the hangar, and it still gets bird crap on it. WTF?
Hangars attract birds - a fact of life. One way to keep them out is to string netting below the rafters (over the whole hangar) - a lot of work and isn't cheap. One old guy I knew took care of 'em with his 22 rifle - using birdshot rounds.

Dave
 
My hangar has a big plastic owl that has a weathervane attached to it so it can turn in the wind, mounted on the peak of the roof by the door.

The birdies don't like Mr. Owl at all. Must freak them out that it actually moves.
 
Being that it's been standing through some 50+ years of midwest storms, including snow, hail, ice and tornadoes, I think it'll hold up fine.

Until it doesn't....This is from a guy that has been in a hangar when mother nature removed the roof and airplane. Wind made me nervous for many years thereafter.
 
Yes but it is only 9.6 pounds per square foot, more than likely, much less than the building was designed for. :)


Here in Steamboat, I had to design my roof for a 100lb/sqft snow load!
 
Hangars attract birds - a fact of life. One way to keep them out is to string netting below the rafters (over the whole hangar) - a lot of work and isn't cheap. One old guy I knew took care of 'em with his 22 rifle - using birdshot rounds.

Dave

My hangar has a big plastic owl that has a weathervane attached to it so it can turn in the wind, mounted on the peak of the roof by the door.

The birdies don't like Mr. Owl at all. Must freak them out that it actually moves.

Yeah. I put in a few owls including one that moves and howls that mostly P.O.'d my neighbors. Hanging the rainbow tape ones worked pretty well.

I knocked down two cross members that the starlings were using as nest supports. I used to see mama watch me from the nest.

I found a nest with eggs in it on my metal storage cabinet. :eek:

I bought a tarp to run across the rafters but never got a round tuit to climb up 15-20 feet to hang it.
 
Here in Steamboat, I had to design my roof for a 100lb/sqft snow load!

I know what you are talking about, that's what I do for a living, structural engineering. Our hangers in town are designed for a snow load of 115 psf. Many structures near by are higher in elevation with more snow, Kirkwood and Donner summit have roof snow loads near 300 psf. YIKES!
 
Minnesota roofs can support a lot of weight, they do get a bit of snow up there.

Eh don't rely on it. That bridge in the Twin cities should have supported more weight and that ended ins abigger tradgedy than a collapsed hanger roof.
 
Eh don't rely on it. That bridge in the Twin cities should have supported more weight and that ended ins abigger tradgedy than a collapsed hanger roof.
That bridge was under-engineered by the standards of the day...and it still took an unusual set of circumstances to bring it down.
 
That bridge was under-engineered by the standards of the day...and it still took an unusual set of circumstances to bring it down.

If you have ever done any work on old houses, it's amazing what will still be standing. My current house had four layers of shingles on the roof. And I found most of the floor joists under an addition had about 1/8 to 1/4 inch of wood around the outside and nothing but carpenter ant dust on the inside. I almost put a piano in that room. :yikes:
 
I've seen a lot of things that don't logically make sense to still be standing/functional/etc.

That said, that's part of why I always want my stuff to be overbuilt. When it degrades and nobody notices for whatever reason, there's less of a chance of it failing.
 
If you have ever done any work on old houses, it's amazing what will still be standing. My current house had four layers of shingles on the roof. .... :yikes:
My first house was built as a fishing shack about 1917. The roof rafters were 2x4s (that measured an honest 2" x 4") and it, too, had four layers of asphalt shingles on top. The only thing it had going for it was the 2x4s were walnut - tough wood!

The roofing nails protruded down through the roof decking and into a layer of closed cell foam insulation. When the wind was blowing the movement of the roof made an itching sound as the nails dragged back and forth in the foam. One night we had about 8" of heavy snow and then it began to rain. When the itching stopped - despite the high wind - I knew the roof was so heavy nothing was moving anymore :eek:. I slept in a different section of the house that night....

-Skip
 
You need houses built the way my great grandfather liked them. If one 2x4 would do, use two. :D
 
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