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SIP Floor Panels, Stack-able Hanger Doors, and Sliding Door Installation

This Monday the Pole Barn Guru answers reader questions about installing a SIP floor instead of concrete, stack-able hanger doors for addition, and rough cuts on some sliding door lateral braces.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I am considering installing SIP floor in my pole barn instead of a concrete floor (the barn will be a studio, i.e., no machines or such being parked in it.) Do you know if a SIP floor is a good idea? …and how far off the ground they would need to be or can I lay plastic and lay the SIPS on the ground? RYAN in LAKEWOOD

DEAR RYAN: I have no experience personally with using SIPs for any purpose. As to whether it is a good idea or not, you should reach out to one or more SIP manufacturers to get their spin on your application, as well as pricing. You may find them to be cost prohibitive. Applications I have seen, all show SIPs panels to be elevated above grade and supported by beams at all edges.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Good morning! Can you contact me to discuss your stackable doors for my hangar. It is at the end of my house and I plan to extend the space by adding on to the end and will have the benefit of new headers and concrete floor pours.

The building is 42 feet wide side to side with a 9 foot height of the header. I hope to make the opening 42 less 8 inches on each side for reinforced block solid poured and a beefed up header to sustain the wind loading.
I am attaching a photo so you can see the current door situation.

Hope to hear from you soon. RICHARD in SARASOTA
DEAR RICHARD: Thank you very much for your interest. We do not manufacture hangar doors. I would recommend you contact either Fold-Tite Systems (http://cool-airinc.com/home/products/foldtite-stacker/) or Stack Door (https://www.stackdoor.com/). We have had clients who have used each of these doors, with no word back negatively. You should also involve services of a Registered Florida Engineer to ensure structural adequacy of your extension.

Figure 27-3

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: We recently built 2 large aluminum frame doors 11’4” H. We had to trim the aluminum to fit the frame. The center-line door jam openings, are still sharp-even though we filed most of the burrs off. I can’t find anything in white to protect the edges so no one gets hooked or cut. We temporarily used electrical tape until we can find a solution.

Can you assist …O’ Great Guru!? …lol

Thanks~ ELAINA in LODI

DEAR ELAINA: Having participated in a few sliding door builds, I am at a loss as to how you ended up in this situation. Sliding door horizontals can be cut off, as their ends slide into vertical rails, leaving no unprotected ends. Verticals can be trimmed, leaving any cuts either at ground level, or far above our heads at top.

With this said, you might try using a grinding wheel powered by a drill motor to radius off cut ends.

This entry was posted in Sliding Doors, Pole Barn Questions, Pole Barn Design, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Barn Structure, Concrete and tagged hangar doors, SIP, SIP floor, SIP panels, fold-tite, stackable doors on September 7, 2020 by admin.

Hydroswing Hydraulic Doors

I thought it to be very timely to be sitting down to write articles about hangar doors and to have the Construction Magazine Network email me with an advertisement for Hydroswing® Hydraulic Doors.

Having never dealt with Hydroswing®, I began my research by checking out their website (https://hydroswing-hydraulic-doors.com/). I have to admit, I am a sucker for a nicely done website and Hydroswing’s certainly gives what they taught us in architecture school, “Presentation is everything”.

I might also read too much between the lines. A couple of statements on the Hydroswing® website gave me pause to wonder.

“Hydroswing® outgrew its original location for manufacture in Cottonwood, MN. As fuel prices, steel prices and distance to emerging markets around the world opened up, the value from this remote location could not be delivered effectively as volume increased, Since a major reorganization and redevelopment of the product in 2010, the fabrication model, design and marketing of the Hydroswing® door has found its way to effective worldwide delivery and cost efficiency.”

And,

“After a difficult period of reorganization, Hydroswing® has continued outside of the USA to develop and define the product.”

Time for further research…..

And the first thing I found made my skin crawl, read for yourself in this article by Eric Posz in the Redwood Falls Gazette: https://www.redwoodfallsgazette.com/article/20110412/NEWS/304129974

Next up was written by Deb Gau in the Marshall Independent: https://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/527100/Deadline-soon-in-Hydroswing-bankruptcy-petition.html?nav=5015

Online forums such as AgTalk, became a venting forum for consumers who had some challenges with Hydroswing®: https://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=198626&DisplayType=nested

A December 2013 article in General Aviation News (https://generalaviationnews.com/2013/12/18/hydroswing-back-in-business/) reports “Hydroswing back in business”.

Certainly there are many companies which go through bankruptcy leaving a sour taste in the mouths of the creditors who were not paid and/or customers who did not receive product paid for, but received no or only portions of the product ordered, yet emerge making (in some cases obscene) profits post-bankruptcy (think General Motors).

In the case of Hyrdoswing®, I feel the best I can offer is to report what I have found, and let the informed consumer make their own best determination as to if a Hydroswing® Hydraulic Door will meet their personal needs and willingness to perhaps take a risk.

This entry was posted in Pole Building Doors and tagged hangar doors, hydraulic doors on June 10, 2014 by admin.

Horton Stack Doors

Last October I was bemoaning sliding doors as a design solution for airplane hangars. At the end of the article (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2013/10/sliding-hangar-doors/) I threatened my loyal readers with some other alternatives.

This past week, one of our clients asked us about putting a 38’4” wide by 12’ tall Horton Stack Door on a Hansen Pole Building, which will be used as a hangar. This, of course, puts the pressure on me to actually have to get back on topic after an eight month hiatus. For those who have waited patiently, thank you.

Now I have no personal experience with the Horton Stack Door, although they have been used after market on several of our hangars.

The first Horton Stack Door was built in 1955. After searching the market for a hangar door to fit all of his needs, Frank Horton sat down with his brother and they designed what has become to be known as the Horton Stack Door.

Pilots are innovative type people, many are looking for the “better mouse trap”, or in the case of hangars, “a better hangar door”. Frank’s door received a lot of attention from fellow pilots with the ease of operation and trouble free working mechanism. In 1967 the Stack Door went into production. Within ten years demand for the Stack Door had skyrocketed and Stack Door merged with STOL-Craft to provide additional production facilities.

The Stack Door installs on virtually any type of building and they have been specified for aircraft hangars, tee hangars, industrial and agricultural buildings.

Unlike most types of hangar doors, the Stack Door is NOT installed within the framed door opening. It mounts on the outside of the building. The Upper Guide Channel ad Mounting Brackets attach to the flat header, as do the end hinges on the flat jamb sides. Unlike vertical lift doors which store overhead, the framed opening height for the Stack Door is also the clear opening height. Horton Stack Door reports most installations can be completed in a single day.

Horton Stack Doors require no motors to open. All one needs to do is turn the handles located on every other panel, pull and the Stack Door glides on its bottom track to stack out of the way. The stacking design allows for a complete or partial opening. This may eliminate the need for a side entry door, however I would recommend verification of this with the appropriate Building Official, prior to not including an entry door.

The Horton Stack Door is designed and tested for a twenty-five pound wind load, which may or may not be adequate for all situations. Horton Stack Doors do not appear to have an ICC-ESR report, so it may behoove Registered Design Professionals to design buildings using “partially enclosed” as a wind design parameter. The Stack Door must be closed during high wind conditions, and the manufacturer claims to have never had a door blow in while closed.

The Stack Door is not affected by adverse winter weather conditions. The patented design puts the working mechanism inside, away from ice and snow. The bottom track sits ¼” inside the framed opening. Neoprene Seals also protect the track assembly from snow and ice.

The Horton Stack Door opens to the left and right of the framed opening. When in the stacked position, the door panels extend 90 degrees from the face of the building, requiring only five inches of space for every two panels.

And there you have it…and I am hoping to personally get to see one in operation in the near future. When I do – you can be sure you will

This entry was posted in Pole Building Doors and tagged sliding doors, hangar doors, Horton Stack Doors on June 6, 2014 by admin.