R

rwarre

Well Known Member
So I got a really good deal on a 40' x 60' hangar which is in very good shape. The only problem is that the previous owner didn't build very good doors and they are heavy and a real pain to open. The door manufacturers are quoting around $8,000 for a new door with hydraulic opening, but my pocket book doesn't extend to that range right now. I am thinking about building a wood door consisting of six panels on rollers that would fold inward. I am not a welder but can do wood. Anyone out there who has built a hangar door with wood please respond with pros and cons. Thanks
 
I have a Horton stack door on my hangar. My door is 50'. I think it's the best deal for the money. Like gasman said, there's no load on the building, but it's also reliable, no electric or hydraulics. You can open just one panel if you want, without having to open the entire door.
I've had mine 15 years now, and had no problems with it at all.
IIRC it was about $5500.00 15 years ago.

Marshall Alexander
 
Check this website for the "Ultimate Door". Our neighbor, Bob Ladd, designed and kitted this door originally. He passed away some years ago, but his son is producing the kits. The door harware is in the kit and you buy the wood and panels locally. It uses a boat trailer winch to raise and lower, or they can be electrically driven. Many of our neighbors on Air Troy Estates have had them for years.

Roberta

http://ultimatedoor.homestead.com/ultimate.html
 
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My first door (42x12) was a vertical folding door, mounted on an external horizontal track, looked good, cost was around $3000. Totally mechanical open and close, just raise the locking pins from holes in the concrete floor and push it from center to each side. The problem was 5 knots of wind made the task very dicey. On a couple of occasions the entire half sections nearly got wrapped around the side of the building before the locking pins found the external locking holes. When it was fully open or closed the wind did not matter so much, but in between I found myself being dragged across the ramp trying to control it. You'd be amazed how much force a little wind has on a big door surface. The process of open and close was a royal pain in the butt in anything but calm conditions.

After 5 years of wrestling with this thing, I bit the bullet last summer and went for a one piece overhead hydraulic door. I figured if ever this place ever goes on the market, that cheap vertical bi-fold door will have to go, why not do it now and enjoy the benefits of a decent door.

What a difference, just push the button and up goes the door.

You get what you pay for in hangars doors.
 
hangar doors

These homemade doors are GREAT! Make them from 2" square steel tubing and door track that you can get at any decent farm store.

Study the pics and text. All the info I have is in there.

They are perfect if you don't really need a $10,000 door as much as you need good, solid protection.
 
robertahegy said:
Check this website for the "Ultimate Door". Our neighbor, Bob Ladd, designed and kitted this door originally. He passed away some years ago, but his son is producing the kits. The door harware is in the kit and you buy the wood and panels locally. It uses a boat trailer winch to raise and lower, or they can be electrically driven. Many of our neighbors on Air Troy Estates have had them for years.

Roberta

http://ultimatedoor.homestead.com/ultimate.html
Click to expand...

One of my neighbors built a very similar door from an old set of plans he got somewhere (which I have a copy of.) The lift mechanism is made from sections of garage door tracks welded together, rollers, some cables and a winch. The materials were around $850 to build the whole thing. One of my other neighbors made the a bifold door out of wood, a lawnmower transmission, a bunch of pulleys. It is the most Rube Goldberg thing I've ever seen, and its held up well for over 15 years.
 
I'll put a vote in for the Horton StackDoor - no power needed.

Easy to use, but make sure you use the recessed lower track option.

It's also nice to be able enter by only opening the central panels when you are not moving a plane in or out.

I did the installation myself and it took much less than a day - the hardest work was installing the upper track. The door sectionc came in pairs stacked in the correct order, just lift into place with a helper.
 
rwarre:

I noticed that you are in Wray, CO. A bunch of our local hangars have doors manufactured by an outfit calling themselves Doors For Large Openings (DFLO). About 7 years ago, I had a quote drawn up for a big hangar and checked prices on a DFLO door and a Schweiss (sp?) door. The DFLO door was 1/2 the price of the Schweiss.

I wasn't able to find the contact info on my hard drive, but a quick Google search turned up the following:

DFLO
1314 Bowwood Court
Loveland, CO
(970)669-6414

These are the traditional bi-fold motor-driven doors that hang from the header of a hangar.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks, Rod!

I'd wondered who to call in the event I had a hangar door issue at Longmont.

So far, no issues, but it was a worry anyway.

Dave
 
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