Request Comments on my hangar build design

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groundflyer

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groundflyer
Looking for input from experience since this is my first hangar build.

Want to build a METAL hangar with the look of a wooden New England barn with high pitched roof, but want hangar with clear span inside, so going with metal building. Thinking a 50x60 to allow 2-3 planes to tuck in as needed, with clearance for 40 ft span. Gable end with door faces west toward runway, south side would have decent pitch for solar panel install and 1 or two clear 10x10 garage doors. Also a walk through door.

Don't want the sides too high, and need to look at this from my house to the south across the field so trying to make it the least ugly.. but affordable.

The center is high enough to frame a second floor along east/rear gable end if needed for storage space.

Thoughts and comments welcome.

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Think hard about that 50' span if you want a fully wooden structure like a barn. Wooden trusses go up in price exponentially for anything over 30'. Wind and snow loads will be a concern too if you are going with wood on that big of an open span. It may be cheaper to go with a metal beam structure and wooden siding to get the same look outside at a lower cost. If you haven't already you should be talking with an architect or at least a contractor to see what is possible or what adjustments should be made to keep things as standard and cost effective as possible. Things like that 11' opening for the hanger door may need to be adjusted up or down depending on what type of door you put in and how much overhead space it needs. There doesn't look to be any space between the top of the opening and the bottom of where your trusses would be. Door placement on the right may be a concern as well. Having two large openings right next to each other is going to drive the need for a pretty beefy and pricy beam along that 60' span to compensate for the openings. The side walls take all the weight of the roof and need to be able to support it across those three openings. If you want second floor storage make sure you specify that when talking about trusses. The trusses need to be able to not only keep the roof from wanting to spread out sideways but if you are planning on putting a floor and storing things on the bottom of the truss you will likely need a different type of truss sometime called an attic truss. If you haven't ever seen the site garagejournal.com it is a great resource for ideas and questions for buildings like this. It has an extremely active forum.

Keith
 
Thanks for the reply Keith, sorry for confusion, I edited the original post. Looking to build a METAL building to get the clear span, but retain the wood shape/look to some point..
 
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FBUK8877.JPG Our hangar with a non-hangar look, the wall facing you is the bifold door, need to put some trim on the end of the door.
 
skippers said:
View attachment 95114 Our hangar with a non-hangar look, the wall facing you is the bifold door, need to put some trim on the end of the door.
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Thanks for posting. Like that look. Can you share more info about your hangar size, design? Who built it? What steel company? Is it real wood or hardie, etc?
 
It depends what you intend to use for a door. Vertical opening doors (either bifold or swinging) often cut into the opening height a bit (where as horizontal opening doors narrow the width).

The gable ends usually don't provide too much support, so with a little structural work you can make the door opening taller than the side wall height if you want.
 
I have a similar hangar. I have a garage door and a people door at the rear. I works well when I park a trailer or other vehicle in the hangar. I can drive straight through with out backing up. Also I can pull in and park a car in the hangar without moving a plane. This works well in Michigan winters.
The type of door is very important if you live where it snows.
 
Design depends a lot on how you see using the hangar.

1) You mentioned storing 2-3 airplanes. With a 40 ft main door on the gable end you will likely only get 2 airplanes maximum in there, one behind the other, and always have to take the front airplane out to get the other one out. With a 60 foot width and a 50 ft door on the long wall you can angle in two typical single engine airplanes (tails angled towards the back corners) and can move either in/out without moving the other. You can also push them right to the back and get a third in the center, up front if you need to.

2) What kind of door do you plan to use and what full open height do you need. If you need 11 ft open clearance you will need a larger rough opening if using a bifold door as it's not advisable to open them fully so the two halves are pancaked together; especially if you live in an area with frequent wind. My hangar has a 16 foot rough opening and the bifold is set to open to a maximum 12 foot clearance.

3) For a bifold door you will need clearance above for either a precambered beam or a girder truss to support the weight of the door. There are single piece hydraulic doors that avoid that, and transfer all the door weight to columnar loads on either side, requiring only a footing or pile (depending on your soil conditions) on either side of the opening.

4) I would reconsider the location of your two proposed vehicle doors. If you park a vehicle in the forward slot you might not be able to put even one airplane up front in the hangar. I'd push them to the rear end of the hangar, and probably only put in one, unless this is really a dual purpose building - hangar for one airplane + double garage for several vehicles?
 
groundflyer said:
Thanks for posting. Like that look. Can you share more info about your hangar size, design? Who built it? What steel company? Is it real wood or hardie, etc?
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Real wood, cedar board and batten, Diamond Door, 40 wide and 40 deep, custom build, all insulated, heated as we are in Montana
 
Lots of good insight thus far. I'll just add; If possible, make the door span one complete side of the hangar.
 
Thanks all for the feedback. I’m building in area where we need insulation and heat too.

yea maybe just one garage door is enough. Thought was to maybe store a RV in one and a car pull in to work on in the other garage door, but could probably just get the rv in far enough to allow car or truck in to work on.

I like the steeper pitch roof as it looks more wooden/ New England feel. Was thinking I could frame out a second story loft down part of the center hence why I thought garage doors on the side but agree that would cut into plane storage.

I would build the hangar higher eave height but if I went to 16 ft it just looks too industrial and I have to look at it from my house every day. Maybe if I added a lower porch overhand along the south 60 foot side it would break up the vertical wall..

Was thinking a hydraulic door framed in front of the metal beam would allow the high opening with low eave as mentioned.

I’ll modify the drawing some and repost.
 
groundflyer said:
Thanks all for the feedback. I’m building in area where we need insulation and heat too.

yea maybe just one garage door is enough. Thought was to maybe store a RV in one and a car pull in to work on in the other garage door, but could probably just get the rv in far enough to allow car or truck in to work on.

I like the steeper pitch roof as it looks more wooden/ New England feel. Was thinking I could frame out a second story loft down part of the center hence why I thought garage doors on the side but agree that would cut into plane storage.

I would build the hangar higher eave height but if I went to 16 ft it just looks too industrial and I have to look at it from my house every day. Maybe if I added a lower porch overhand along the south 60 foot side it would break up the vertical wall..

Was thinking a hydraulic door framed in front of the metal beam would allow the high opening with low eave as mentioned.

I’ll modify the drawing some and repost.
Click to expand...

Agree the taller building looks more industrial. But the main driver for height will be the tallest airplane tail height you want to plan for. A 172 is about 9 feet, a Piper Seneca about 10 ft and my Aztec is almost 11 feet with the beacon. Raising the noise of the plane to get the tail under the door is a complete PITA, especially if you live in an area where there's snow/ice on the apron in winter.

You said your home is to the south of the hangar and that you plan to use solar panels on the roof. Unfortunately, that will give a very industrial look on the visible portion as well.

One technique to make the building look lower is to extend the soffit depth. On a steeply pitched roof (12/12 or 10/12 pitch) bringing the soffits out further will drop the fascia height noticeably and hide the upper part of the taller walls when viewed from a distance. That might be important from your house view.

Another option is to build a gambrel roof so the building looks more like a traditional agricultural barn (although that may not fit into the traditional style of buildings in whatever region you live in!). I used a gambrel roof on my shop at the ranch because it fit into the ag theme and also gave me a much larger internal volume inside the roof space for my loft (I have a large full height loft hidden above the shop in the roof volume with windows on the gable ends for light and ventilation).

Finally, you can break the large expanse of a conventional steeply pitched roof by adding a strip dormer. This also has the advantage of allowing more headroom in the loft and brings in light on the long side of the building.

Good luck with your planning. I love building these kind of projects, and think doing so in an aesthetically pleasing manner is an interesting challenge. Most buildings of this type will stand for decades so imho it's worthwhile taking time to think through how they will work for their intended purpose, how they will look, finishes, etc.
 
OK hangar selected. However its close to runway.. How close is too close? Hangar 100 ft from centerline too close to land safely?
 
If the runway has an instrument approach the FAA will have setback requirements.
 
Don’t have any comments on the design itself, but however many outlets and interior lights you have planned, double them.
 
No instrument approaches. Just visual. At air venture the FAA workshop on building your own runway said 12:1 ratio from top of building to runway.. I’ll have about 5:1 with 20 ft hangar ridge to centerline runway
 
I like the idea. Are you by chance in New England? Asking because that roof is going to shed a lot of water. If it's a slab foundation that's probably not a big deal, but it's maybe going to make the ground on two sides pretty wet part of the time. I don't think I've ever seen gutters on a metal roof. They do have triangle shaped things over the doors, though, sometimes to steer water and snow away from doorways that open under the roof slope. Just something to think about. My house has the eves extended quite a bit past the walls, which reduces the water coming against the foundation a lot. It would never pass code for high wind areas, but it's fine here.
 
When I was designing my hangar I found it helpful to make cut outs of airplanes to scale and see how they fit in the size I was thinking about. The first thing to decide is what door you are going to use. The hangar is designed around that. If you would ever consider adding a mezzanine consider that in deciding on sidewall height.
 
You're never going to regret building it bigger. A 40' door will limit what kinds of airplanes will fit in there, and potentially future buyers. A 50' door gives you a lot more flexibility.
 
bradg33 said:
You're never going to regret building it bigger.
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This always good advice. When I built my deck, I figured it was more than big enough. One 12'x12' section and one 10'x10'. During the build, it looked huge. Once I got it finished and everything on it (tables, chairs, BBW), nope, too small.

When I built my garage/shop. 36'x30'. PLenty of room. Looked huge when built. Nope, too small.

Build it as big as you can afford, and then stretch and make is bigger. :D
 
Really need to take a look at what your anticipated aircraft configuration will be. The placement of those 10' garage doors may be awful if you actually have two aircraft in there, as it might block access to even pull into the hangar. I would probably try and turn the design 90-degrees and use the 60' side for the hangar door, with a single garage door and a walk-thru at the back corner. This way you could pull your car in if the aircraft weren't pushed back all the way to the back. I'd also make sure to plumb in some water and a bathroom if able.
 
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