Sealing a Hangar

Direct C51

Direct C51

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Direct C51
I am looking to get some ideas on how to seal the bottom of a T-Hangar. It is a privately owned T-Hangar that sits atop the ramp which is slightly uneven and somewhat deteriorating asphalt. It doesn't rain much here in California, but when it does, the water seeps under the T-Hangar walls and saturates about 50% of the asphalt inside the hangar. I believe some of the problem is that there is about 4 inches of dirt, dust, rocks, trash, and dead weeds in the 1 foot gap between the T-Hangars. This seems to be keeping the water from flowing down the ramp and makes it pool around the hangars.

The other problem is that there are gaps between the hangar walls and the asphalt, in some places as much as 1 inch. I can solve the first problem by shoveling out the dirt which I hope allows the water to flow and not pool. The second problem I am looking for help on. What is conventionally done to solve this issue? Do most people just accept the water in their hangar? Is something generally used to seal between the hangar and the asphalt? I can buy a bunch of silicone sealer or caulk at Home Depot and try to fill the gaps, but I'm not sure if that would really work. Any suggestions?
 
Can you nail a treated 1x4 (or similar deck board) along the bottom? You may have to dig a small groove along the perimeter for the 1x4 to go into.

Pic? You might also be able to install flashing or drip edge in this space.

So the water is coming in through this gap and not under the door right?
 
Can you (either by yourself or with help from a few of the neighbors) spend a couple of hours and load a pickup with all of the junk from the drains and haul it ot the dump?
 
This would be a good thread to include pictures.


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I will get some pictures when I am at my hangar tomorrow morning. To clarify a bit, I have started to remove the dirt and debris from around the hangars. I suspect this will help some with the standing water, but not completely solve the problem.

The gap I am talking about is around the bottom of the hangar. The hangar itself does not have a floor. It is simply a metal building set on top of asphalt. The asphalt is not completely flat, so there are some gaps where the bottom of the hangar meets the asphalt. The water is able to flow down the ramp and in to the hangar.
 
Great idea with the spray foam. I hadn't thought of that. Do you think it will adhere to the asphalt?
 
Direct C51 said:
Great idea with the spray foam. I hadn't thought of that. Do you think it will adhere to the asphalt?
Click to expand...

Yep, good enough for a while anyway especially if you get it clean with some hydrocarbon solvent first. Wind may end up tearing it loose, but it still provides an effective dam.
 
Maybe dig down around the foundation and add some drain tile? Hard to say without seeing it, but if you get rain infrequently, providing place to gather the water and let it drain in (presumably) dry soil should help.
 
Grated-Driveway-Drain.jpg


I would install something like this.
 
They make a seal that's a linear brush. I've been thinking about using it on the sliders on my CJR hangar.
 
We have a similar problem in our hangar. We've been considering just building up the asphalt on the outside or inside into a berm that will make the water flow around the hangar vs through it. You can get asphalt / roofing tar / similar materials and try a few.

We didn't get to it before it got cold and snowy so we probably won't get around to doing it until springtime.
 
denverpilot said:
We have a similar problem in our hangar. We've been considering just building up the asphalt on the outside or inside into a berm that will make the water flow around the hangar vs through it. You can get asphalt / roofing tar / similar materials and try a few.

We didn't get to it before it got cold and snowy so we probably won't get around to doing it until springtime.
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Gonna suck to get the plane in and out
 
denverpilot said:
We have a similar problem in our hangar. We've been considering just building up the asphalt on the outside or inside into a berm that will make the water flow around the hangar vs through it. You can get asphalt / roofing tar / similar materials and try a few.

We didn't get to it before it got cold and snowy so we probably won't get around to doing it until springtime.
Click to expand...

The problem doing that always seems to be regardless which side you build the berm on, it causes the building to rot out and eventually leak again.
 
I certainly like the idea of building up a bit of an asphalt berm. It seems like a more solid solution than spray foam. However, I think the FBO would not appreciate me pouring asphalt on their ramp. I suppose I can always go talk to them. I'm not even sure where I would go to get asphalt, and the price delta between an asphalt berm and spray foaming the gaps.

Henning is correct. This is a port-a-port T-Hangar placed on an FBO's ramp. I don't even own the hangar, I lease it. With that in mind, I am trying to stray from permanent and costly solutions. I am looking for the cheapest and least intrusive method that will be effective.
 
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Direct C51 said:
I certainly like the idea of building up a bit of an asphalt berm. It seems like a more solid solution than spray foam. However, I think the FBO would not appreciate me pouring asphalt on their ramp. I suppose I can always go talk to them. I'm not even sure where I would go to get asphalt, and the price delta between an asphalt berm and spray foaming the gaps.

Henning is correct. This is a port-a-port T-Hangar placed on an FBO's ramp. I don't even own the hangar, I lease it. With that in mind, I am trying to stray from permanent and costly solutions. I am looking for the cheapest and least intrusive method that will be effective.
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3 cans of ( Great Stuff) spray foam will cost you 20 bucks or so... Buy the big cans.... Spray around the inside of the hangar.. If any oozes out, just take serrated bread knife and cut it off.... Problem cured and no one will know... IMHO..
 
What about the asphalt patch stuff in a bag made for filling holes, build up a berm around the inside or outside of the hangar with that? I think I paid $10 for a 50 lb. bag last year. And if someone has a problem with it you can scoop it back up with a shovel.
 
So the Great Stuff expanding foam did not work at all. I had a good bead all around the inside of the hangar. I even made sure to spray a lot under the beams where there was a gap. It seemed to adhere to the asphalt pretty well. I think the deteriorating asphalt is just too porous for the expanding foam. It rained here yesterday and there was water in every place there was before I put down the foam.

I am thinking the next course of action is the asphalt patch stuff. I am thinking about building it up right next to the siding making a bit of a berm and maybe sealing the gap a bit. Has anyone worked with the stuff they sell at Home Depot or Lowes? Is it water tight? Will it adhere to old asphalt and tin siding? I understand asphalt is poured at something like 400 degrees in order for the tar to really stick. I cant imagine this stuff will be that good.
 
Maybe perform some experiments with the sacked asphalt.

Get a bucket, poke some holes in the bottom. Put a couple inches of asphalt in bucket and compact it as spec'd. Pour water on top of the asphalt and wait. If the water runs out of the bucket then you have an answer.

If it leaks, add a couple more inches and run the water test again.

My bet is that it'll always pass water...but 6 or 8 inches might slow the water down a bit.

And then if water is passing through the deteriorated asphalt then nothing done locally on top of that base is going to stop the leaking.
 
It seems the asphalt patch stuff would be very cost prohibitive. It is $15 for 50 lbs, and I would need at least 500 lbs to seal the entire exterior of the hangar. There already seems to be a bit of a berm along the outside, but it has cracked away from the siding. I am now leaning toward trying something like this:

http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay...10051&cmRelshp=rel&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1#img

Maybe this can seal the existing asphalt?
 
Did you ever find something that worked? I'm having the exact same problem...
 
There is no seal that you can put on a hangar door that will keep water from flowing downhill through it. Water flows downhill right under the door. Only thing that will really stop it is an outside drain channel covered with a grill and it will have to be drained somewhere. You may have to just live with this one.
 
coloradobluesky said:
There is no seal that you can put on a hangar door that will keep water from flowing downhill through it. Water flows downhill right under the door. Only thing that will really stop it is an outside drain channel covered with a grill and it will have to be drained somewhere. You may have to just live with this one.
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Actually the front of my hangar is fine, it's the sides and rear where the water flows under quite a bit...
 
I had a similar problem with water coming in below the door on my hangar, some of it getting blown in by the wind at the top of the door and running down the inside of the door to pool on the hangar floor.

I bought a 50 foot rubber hose, cut off the ends and "glued" it to the concrete just inside the door with silicone caulk. I'm not sure it's cost effective to do that along 4 walls of a hangar, but it does make a good dam that keeps water from oozing it, and the hose is flexible enough for the airplane's wheels to roll over it easily.
 
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