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Hangar Question - Bolt-up vs. Welded

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Well Known Member
Hey - we are early in the process of getting bids for our hangar and home at Pecan Plantation.

One question that has come up is whether we want a bolt-up or a welded hangar....... It looks like the welded hangar is a decent amount cheaper, but this is an area where I know pretty much nothing.

For those of you that have built a hangar, what are the pros and cons of a welded hangar (or metal building) vs. a bolt together one?

Thanks,
Jason
 
Not sure....

I had a Mueller metal building built @ my house. It's 30' x 40'. I too had the option of weld-up versus bolt-up. I chose bolt-up for no real reason. In my case (about 8-years ago) the price was the same from the erector.

Almost 2.5 years ago, an EF-2 tornado whipped across my back fence (my building is right at the fence) and proceeded to rip my house apart, leveled my neighbors house to the ground, uprooted 29 mature trees, etc. My building is still standing and took zero damage. I understand the physics of a tornado now- since I have studied them. I know my shop was probably not in the DIRECT path, but I have visual proof that THE direct path was about 20-yards away. There still had to be incredible wind forces put upon my building with the tornado only being a few yards away and tearing trees out of the ground. $89,000 in damage to the house, and zero damage to the building.

I know that may not directly answer your question, but in my case, the bolt-up did its job remarkably. I'm sure the welded version is just as strong (or stronger), but I wanted to vouch for my bolt-up structure doing a mighty fine job!
 
I can only comment on the bolted version as well - I watched our erectors put up the frame for our 50'x60' last year, and it only took them two days - just put the pieces together, slide in a bolt, and move on. Seemed really quick and easy!
 
You're leaving Illinois?

Gee I wonder why? Good luck wherever you go Sir. You join a million others who have fled in the last decade.
 
I didn't know welding was even an option. Every metal building I have done was bolted. It is hard for me to believe welding would be cheaper - especially if you had to have certified welders and certified welds. If you just let Bubba the welder melt things together, I would not trust the strength. Bolting has to be a better option in my opinion.
 
I would opt for bolted just for the sake of ease of dis-assembly/re-assembly. You never know what the future holds.
 
Both my hangars are bolted. Primarily because I put them up myself, with the help of a few EAA Chapter members.

First one in 1990 (40X60') and the second one in 2003 (45X50').
On the second one, my neighbor had a forklift. We built a "derrick" that fit onto the forklift thereby making a crane of sorts. The 2 of us put up all the red iron in 2 days.

I would do the same today.
 
I can only comment on the bolted version as well - I watched our erectors put up the frame for our 50'x60' last year, and it only took them two days - just put the pieces together, slide in a bolt, and move on. Seemed really quick and easy!

There are different type of "bolted" ones.

When I first started looking into hangar construction I was temped by a DIY bolted building that came with many cross girder beams at a very short spacing. The beams were light enough to handle with to people - no fork lifts required.

I spoke to a hangar owner in N. AZ who had built both and said his light weight DIY one almost shook itself apart in high winds.

A welded and bolted one only needs cross beams at a 25 ft spacing here - but slightly less if snow loads are involved.

I rate this as lightweight -

CJ%20Esh%20Hangar.jpg


vs. a "standard" welded beam, but bolted together one like Paul mentions -

78711d1348924317-erecting-aircraft-hangar-guthrie-oklahoma-24.jpg


For long life, in this case more weight is good. :)
 
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