Well a lot of work has happened since the last post; but not on the plane. A hangar at Gawler became available. Bigger than I needed but the price was very good so I snapped it up. There were a couple if issues that needed resolving but I was sure I could fix those. My father-in-law, Graham offered to help as he has a small tractor and is retired. How hard could it be?
The previous owner had significant health issues and the hangar was very neglected. It was one of the mass produced hangars that were built to replace the ones that were in the wrong place when the highway was built. That is to say they were built down to a price and quality wasn’t a consideration. If the buildings are looked after then they are quite serviceable but some have deteriorated thru neglect. To make matters worse this one had a concrete slab added at the back of the hangar for a water tank. The slab was hard up against the outside; higher than the inside floor and sloped towards the hangar. To make things even worserer (a new word for the English language) the overflow on the tank went straight onto the concrete so it pooled against the wall and came in through the gaps!
I thought that the concrete slab was the only problem so the plan was to get rid of it. There is mains water right up to the hangar so there is no need for water storage. There were waist high weeds and grass that hid the level of the dirt around the hangar making it an unwelcome surprise. That wasn’t discovered till I’d sprayed the weeds, left them a few weeks to die then mowed and slashed them down.
Very unkempt weeds.
The tank stand removal required the hiring of a concrete saw. I dug round the edges to determine how thick it was and hired the appropriate size saw. Tricked me. The slab was made like a saucer; about 3″ around the edge and 4-6″ in the middle and reinforced with metal bars. You could have used it as a space shuttle launch pad. Serious overkill for a 1000l water tank. So after cutting the slab into manhandle-able size pieces they then had to be broken further with metal wedges and a sledgehammer. Except for those pieces where the bar was out of reach of the 4″ saw blade. They just required some lifting, smashing, bending till the saw could reach the bar. Then all the pieces were hauled away to be dumped. I guessed 1 days work before starting but as an omen of things to come it took 4 times that.
Approximate size of slab – or so it felt.
With the concrete removed the extent of the damage it had caused the metal sheeting was revealed. There was significant rust where the cladding had been covered by concrete. Since the weeds had been removed we then took a look at where the dirt was up against the sheeting – more rust. Some of the concrete from the floor had been pushed up the outside of the sheeting to hold it in place or just to make it look finished. Where it had crumbled away it revealed more rust. Not good. I decided to see if the sheeting could be saved and so began the great crawl.
where concrete water stand once stood
Dirt against the sheet metal caused this rust. The hole was caused by me removing said dirt.
Concrete removed from outside bottom sheeting shows rust behind where it was.
The doors have no rust but don’t open easily. The doors hang from rollers in a track. Almost all the adjustment is used up so when the doors get hot in the afternoon sun they drag a bit. We adjusted them as far as they can go but major surgery may yet be required to make them work properly. The bottom of the doors have a tongue that sits in a groove which itself is set into the concrete. The groove was full of dirt and decaying plant material which took a along time to clean out. It’s one of those things that will be easier to look after once it is cleaned up. Anyway back to the rust repairs.
The hangar is 12m by 12m with rust on 3 sides along the bottom. Since the soil around the hangar was higher than the floor in places Graham and his trust tractor removed a lot and re-leveled the soil, so that it should keep most standing water away from the floor. We then hired a trench digger to make a trench around the hangar in which we placed drained pipe with holes which went to the lowest corner. Then a deep but narrow hole was dug using a fence post hole digger to help carry away any water. The trench was filled with gravel, again to aid drainage. We have yet to test this as it has hardly rained since November.
Some of the dirt removed from next to the hangar
Concrete removed from bottom of sheeting and drainage trench dug
3 meter post hole digger as far as it will go
Me checking how deep the hole is
Drainage fed to soak hole
Trench back filled wil aggregatee
With the soil away I could remove the concrete on the outside of the bottom of the sheeting. A hammer and cold chisel was too hard and too slow so I hired a demolition hammer which made short work of the job. With the concrete removed I could undo the bottom row of tech screws and push away the metal from the concrete floor from the inside. As suspected the rust was well established n the inside so with a wire brush I removed the worst of the dirt and rust. A good wash with a pressure washer readied the inside for the rust converter. After the rust converter I applied a bitumen based paint. The bitumen pain is not UV stable so could only go on the inside. It is very thick and filled some of the pin holes in the sheeting. With the inside done a similar process was done on the outside except after removing all the loose rust, a rust converter, rust proof primer and rust proof top coat of silver was used. To get an even line I masked off the highest point.
Bitumen paint on inside of sheeting extends below concrete
Rust kill on the outside after all loose rust removed
Masked then primed with rust proof undercoat
Final silver coat with post hole digger leaning against shed
Just remember all of this is done at ground level, so on the inside it was done on chest and elbows, on the outside it was done on the knees. 12m a side, inside and out, multiple processes. AAARGHH.
Once the metal was fixed to the best of my abilities, bitumen impregnated foam was positioned between the concrete flooring and the sheet metal before the tech screws were replaced.
While the repairs to the metalwork were being carried out an opportunity to have the floor professionally painted, at a heavy discount, came up. They ground the concrete to remove built up of oil and imperfections then applied two coats of two-pack paint. It made a huge difference to how it looked, dust control and ease of cleaning. If given a choice I’d have done it last but given the price I wasn’t going to argue.
Freshly painted floor suddenly made it look like a new hangar
While all this was happening in late spring, early summer it became apparent how hot it is inside a steel box on a sunny day. A few hangars have insulation under the roof sheeting and a couple have it on the walls as well. Those ones are quite usable on even very hot days so I thought I would insulate the hangar as well.
Now the best way to put insulation in a metal shed is to do it when it’s being built. They install foam and silver foils material between the frame and the sheeting. It is moderately expensive for the insulation but in terms of speed of application it is very quick so the labour part is minimal. Once the shed is built the problem becomes how to apply the chosen insulation. Getting to the roof is tricky since the walls are 3.6m high and up to 5.2m at the high point. Also hangars can be breezy places. When the doors are fully open even a moderately windy day could lift poorly applied insulation.
I chose to use a simple sisalation material and put it inside the members the sheeting is attached to. I considered using tech screws but the retailer thought that would tear through and recommended builders adhesive instead. I had originally planned to go up one wall across the roof and down the other side in one sheet. Then I’d tape up the join. To get use to handling the material Graham I decided to do the doors first. Good thing too.
The foil, as we ended up calling it, is very light but has a thread embedded in it to give it strength. However it is awkward to handle. All the creases show up. You can’t put any pressure on it to apply the tape unless there is some structure under it so it made us wonder how long the tape would stick. So on the doors we cut it to size and put it on the doors where the frame could support it all round. That worked very well so we decided to do the walls and the roof the same way.
The walls were done on ladders. All the metal was washed first to remove dirt. Then a pneumatic gun was used to apply the adhesive. Then holding the material as unfolded as possible it was placed in position and then pushed firmly into the adhesive. It could be tensioned once in place to reduce the wrinkled appearance that happened despite our best efforts. To hold the foil in place small magnets glued to metal strips was placed on the outside once we were happy with its position.
Applying “liquid Nails”
Tensioning the foil and adding magnets
Up and down ladder quite a few times.
preparing the surface
Cut to size
For a neat finish and to add some resilience all the edges were taped.
The foil as I said is not particularly strong. You can’t lean on it or put pressure in any place. Sharp objects will go right through it. Also we were using it faster than I had budgeted for; applying it the way we ended up doing it. We were getting lots of off-cuts which seemed a waste to chuck. So I had the idea of applying the foil to the backs of MDF board and using them in the place where I intend to have a working area. Once painted it would look good and be hard wearing.
Applying the sisalation foil to the MDF with my long suffering assistant, Graham
While doing the walls the roof loomed in our minds about how to get there and how to position the foil. A scissor lift was the initial plan but seeing how long it was taking to do the walls, and the roof being such a large surface, it became clear hiring a scissor lift would be very expensive. So my inventive father-in-law suggested using the tractor once again, this time fitting a frame to the bucket. After some toing and frowing on how to do it safely we came up with a plan. Graham is handy with a welder so the lift was made on site. The contraption in the photos may look a bit agricultural but it was sturdy and performed extremely well. We fitted a couple of pieces of aluminium angle around the hydraulic control which meant he couldn’t move the bucket quickly or tip me out if he bumped the lever. We got lots of occ, health and safety comments but no-one could point out any specific dangers.
Tek Screwing up cross bracing
Replacing a glue cartidge
The roof sheets were lifted up on a rail that allowed it to stay un-creased. One end was glued in placed then it was stretched out and glued at the other end. To hold it in place under tension some bigger and stronger magnets were used. Once it as stretched across it was then pushed up onto the glue pre-placed on the roof beams. Then the normal magnets were placed to help hold it till the glue had a chance to grab. This meant the tractor went back and forth a few times but that was easier than running up and down ladders like we did on the walls. I appreciated that as it was quite warm up near the metal roof.
1st apply adhesive then position and hold with strong magnet. Then as the tractor slowly reverses apply adhesive to the roof beams. The bar holds the foil flat and lets it drape behind. The other end is pressed into the glue and held in position with another strong magnet. Then the sides are pressed into the glue. Then it is tensioned and lighter magnets (stuck to the frame of the lift) are strong enough to hold it till it grabs.
Position the second end before pushing the foil up
The side pieces on the roof were a bit of a challenge. The top wall beams didn’t line up with the uprights. Plus the gap between roof beams was wider than the foil so we had to join a piece using tape. A steel angle was made to fill in the gap and make sticking the vertical and roof foils way easier.
The side run on the roof needed wide pieces so a strip was joined using insulation tape
The gap between the upright and the wall/roof beam needed to be bridges somehow.
This was my solution. A piec of light angle.
Tek screwed into position it gave me a place to attech the wall foil and the roof foil
All the edges were taped to give a neat finish. Once the foils was finally on and the back wall painted the floor was given an massive clean. All the dripped glue was stripped off the floor. We then put a connection to the water supply so we had a sink indoors with cold running water.
That’s on clean hangar
All the mod cons – Cold and cold running water
It looked like a different hangar to the one I’d bought 4-1/2 months ago but boy was it a lot of work. The final job is to reduce dust. That means stopping drafts around the doors. We are still fussing around that job but the vast majority of the upgrade is done.
Before
After. Note the new LED lights.
My Celebrity 