The Best Way to Properly Paint an Airplane Hangar

Painting a NJ Airplane hangar and most other Steel buildings are very similar with a few exceptions.  The most obvious is the size of the structure. Hangars are 

also often older buildings. In fact, many airports in the northeast are still using hangars that have been around since WW2. Painting these older structures comes with a lot of extra things to consider such as old lead paints that need to be contained when prepping the surface.  Also, the strength of the roof, if painting the exterior of old hangars. The roof could have begun to rust, and therefore, not as sturdy as new hangars. Walking on a rusted steel roof, sometimes 30 feet up, could be dangerous if you are not careful.  

Exterior Preparation

The preparation of these large steel structures is critical.  Many painting contractors will cut corners due to the size of the project in order to get it done on time.  Cutting corners on a large structure can be a very costly error and should never be done.  One of the things to consider when writing a specification for exterior painting of airport hangars or other airport structures is the wind and potential over spray.  Since airports have to be open flat areas the wind is usually an issue.  Keeping in mind the wind is likely to blow on most days and there are very expensive airplanes nearby it’s a good idea to specify paints that will either not float far or land dry if they do.  We try to specify fast dry alkyd primers and DTM acrylic coatings whenever possible.  

Interior Preparation

Interior painting of an airplane hangar can be tricky as well.  Painting the structural steel beams and steel support structure is critical to make sure the buildings integrity is maintained. The cost associated with painting is a very small price to pay in comparison to the much higher cost of structural repairs, if painting is left undone. My father told me as a child, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. This stands true in maintaining steel buildings as well and as just about any other structure.

Airplane Hangar Flooring

Airplane hangar flooring is another major part of hangars that go over looked.  In fact keeping the Floor coated properly is not only an astatic issue but very important to the longevity of the concrete and utility of the hangar itself.  If it’s got a dirty damp oiling floor it’s much harder to work, in fact hangers should beamong the cleanest floors for preforming maintenance on. These old concrete hangar floors rarely have vapor barriers meaning they are very susceptible to hydrostatic pressure failures.  When prepping and applying epoxy flooring to old hangar floors applying a vapor barrier base coat is a must! This cannot be overstated. If you want the floor coating to last apply a good vapor barrier before applying the base coat.