My hangar is a slight downhill from the outside pavement and it gets wet inside when it rains. I’m wondering if there’s a way to just divert the majority of it away from the doors or something. The surface is extremely coarse asphalt. I was thinking a line of spray foam or something inside or? I live in a desert so it dries quickly but figure it’s better to prevent ingress in the first place too.
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Hangar moisture prevention
- Thread starter Oroyo
- Start date
What do the tracks for your doors look like? Assuming they slide side to side like a lot of hangars? You'll want to build some kind of berm or dyke across the front of the hangar to encourage the water to divert to the sides. Do you have asphalt all the way across, or do you have a gravel or grass section between your "driveway" and the next hangar? If you have some landscaping in between, you'll have somewhere to send the water when you divert it. If you're just asphalt all the way, diverting it will just send it to the next hangar on either side... Which may not be popular with your neighbours.
You cant change water flowing downhill. You can divert it with trenches and pipes but it has to go downhill. If it is a huge issue, you can direct it to a sump hole or catch basin and then pump it away. Photos could help with a possible solution.
MacCool
Well Known Member
Been there. My problem wasn't rain, but melting snow. On a sunny day in winters, the snow on the roof would melt, drip onto the plane through holes the roof and freeze...frozen water droplets all over the wing which had to be removed before flight until I started covering the wings. Additionally, as it dripped off the roof in front of the hangar, it would create a large puddle in the hangar, which would freeze, as well as in the low spot where the door closed, and freeze the hangar door shut. It's a 70 year-old T-hangar that was originally dirt floor and taxiways, then asphalted over and over again (poorly) through the decades with resultant increasingly poor drainage. It's a block of 20 T-hangars and the airport didn't (still doesn't) want to undertake the huge project of fixing it. Good news...I ultimately decided to bite the bullet and just upgraded to the newest hangar block, and all of those problems were solved. Bad news...the new hangar cost me about $25/month more in rent.
I used an angle grinder with asphalt wheel and cut a narrow channel from partway in to a few feet out from the corner where water tended to come in. Depending on your slope and other factors you might be able to do something like this. Narrow channel(s) can be driven over even with small wheels.
Another (more expensive) option would be to hire someone with an asphalt grinder and take down the outside surface to just below the level of the hangar floor.
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That’s a good idea. Might handle a little bit of water which might be enough.
Yeah I like that the hangar is cheap, and it’s true this was melting snow this time. Rain might not be as bad for roof leaks.
MacCool
Well Known Member
For me, the water dripping onto the airplane from the roof was annoying because the drops would freeze and stick, meaning that they had to be removed before flight. As to the hangar flooding, the airport management was annoyed by the big sign I that put on the entry door warning entrants of the risk of falling on the sheet of ice just inside the door. They did occasionally throw down some kind of airplane-safe ice melter, but it's apparently quite expensive and they were pretty stingy about it. The biggest problem for them was the need for them to bring a bobcat with forks to get the hangar door open every time I wanted to fly.
Pilot135pd
Well Known Member
jeffreyuh60
Active Member
I have two 56” ceiling fans that I run constantly in a 60x 60 hangar. Seems to work very well. I only had water on the floor once when it was new. I think that was from latent concrete curing and changing seasons. We have pretty good temperature swings in NW Wisconsin. No moisture, no corrosion on anything, including tools.
Pilot135pd
Well Known Member
Is your hangar sealed or does it have openings for wind to flow through? I'm building a sealed a/c & insulated hangar. Wow, 56" fans, then it might be an overkill for me to have two 100" or 120" fans for the same size 60x60? I just saw you live up north while here we get 104 summer temps so maybe I might need more to move that air around?
