There’s a saying – Go big, or go home.
SEI Construction of Morristown, Tenn., decided to go BIG with three large Schweiss Doors bifold hangar doors where they store aircraft at Morristown Regional Airport. The largest of the three bifold liftstrap doors measures 80 feet wide and 28 feet tall. Two others measure 60 feet wide and 24 feet tall.
The newly built SEI hangar, with the 80-foot wide bifold door, is 100 feet by 120 feet and holds the corporate Cessna Citation 10 Elite 750 jet. Adjoining side-by-side 80-foot by 80-foot lease hangars sport the 60-foot Schweiss doors. All three bifold doors are equipped with automatic strap latch systems and engineered for 115 mph windspeed. The largest door has an external truss, while the 60-foot doors have internal trusses.
Bill Staton, SEI corporate project manager, says this was his first time working with Schweiss Doors and he was pleased with the outcome.
“The large hangar is still in the process of furnishing it with a huge conference room on the mezzanine level along with a breakroom, showers, laundry room and kitchenette,” Staton says. “It’s going to be really nice. This was our first venture into the hangar business. Ninety-plus percent of what we do out of Morristown is building and remodeling Costco’s across the country.”
Staton says the civil engineer hired by the city and the SEI corporate pilot encouraged the placement of Schweiss bifold doors on the hangars. From there, Staton contacted Jeremy Rieke in sales and decided to proceed with Schweiss.
“Jeremy was cool, calm and collected, with answers to our questions” Staton says. “He knew what he was doing and made the job a lot easier. Overall, the doors look very nice
and we like how the bifold door, when open, provides somewhat of a canopy. We put our corporate logo on the front of the door.”
Camco Commercial Door Company of Knoxville, Tenn., oversaw the installation on the largest hangar and assisted A-Plus Door & Glass of Morristown on the installation of the two adjacent hangar doors.
“I did my homework and followed the Schweiss installation instructions which are awesome and helpful,” says Cameron Williams, president of Camco. “The people at Schweiss Doors were also very helpful. We had questions on the installation and some electrical issues – they know their stuff.
“I think the Schweiss door design is great. It’s simple, durable and long-lasting. It’s not like a standard garage door where you have to worry about the spring breaking. The liftstraps are made to last forever and the construction of the doorframes is extremely strong. I like the endless size of the doors, where you can go as big as you want. I would install these doors all year long if I could.”
