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Maine contractor chooses Schweiss doors for New England and beyond

60 ft Schweiss Hydraulic door houses a corporate jet

Irishspan Industries of Alfred, Maine built this new 70x70 ft. hangar with a 60 ft. x 18.6 ft. Schweiss hydraulic door on it. The hangar, located in Rockland, Maine is being used to house a corporate jet for a businessman from Cote, Wyoming.

Irishspan Industries of Alfred, Maine bills itself as New England's Quality Source of Steel Buildings. They are fast becoming a prime installer and promoter of Schweiss hydraulic and bifold liftstrap doors as well.

"At Irishspan, you are not just purchasing a building, you are buying peace of mind that the experience will be headache-free from start to finish. I believe our past clients and vendors would agree that when I commit to a project, they can count on me to deliver," noted owner Dave Fitzpatrick.

67 ft Schweiss Bifold Autolatch Door on Nantucket Island

Hangar 7 has a 67 ft. 9.5" bifold liftstrap / autolatch door. It was delivered to Hyannis, Massachusetts where Irishspan arranged for it to be transported to Nantucket Island.

His most recent project was modifying an existing steel hangar for Marine Home Center of Nantucket, Mass to accommodate a large Schweiss straplift bifold door. Marine Home Center is a Cape Cod region lumberyard, hardware and appliance center on Nantucket Island. Because it's on an island, they offer a four commuter flights daily for many of their employees who come over from Hyannis on the mainland.

Fitzpatrick suggested they put a good quality Schweiss bifold door on the hangar. Marine Home Center agreed and Fitzpatrick further emphasized having the liftstrap design for this 67 ft. 9.5" x 20 ft. door. Schweiss Doors engineered the door for 110 mph windrating and also built a walkdoor into the hangar door for easy access.

Ron Foster of Marine Home Center on Nantucket Island said it was Fitzpatrick who convinced him to buy a Schweiss bifold door.

"We have a different door on our other hangar. Dave (Fitzpatrick) said, 'Why don't you put in a Schweiss door?' I said, 'What is a Schweiss door?' He sold me on it. Dave is great, really great, he was like a breath of fresh air when we met him, really good to work with," said Foster. "The Schweiss door is great, it's a beefy door, I really like the automatic latching feature - when it closes it pulls the door in. The doors that we're used to, when it's a windy day, you have to use a lot of strength and even stand on the door to pull it in. Liftstraps were kind of foreign to us, I don't have any opinion on them yet, we just look at them in amazement. We've had a lot of people on the airfield come look at the liftstrap door.

Functional walkdoor in this bifold hangar door

Hangar 7 with a Schweiss bifold liftstrap door and walk door has a nice clean finished look.

Marine Home Center is just in the process of moving into the hangar. They have three Navajo Chieftain's and will be hangaring two of them at a time. They're based in Nantucket, but start the day in Hyannis. It's about a 15-20 minute commute to fly 24 employees.

The story about how Irishspan was formed is an interesting one that Fitzpatrick normally likes to share in person with his clients. He originally spent 25 years in the commercial bread business working for Thomas English muffins. With that career about to end, he was looking to start his own business. In the search he put together a list of prerequisites for a business and looked to see what would fit the build. With zero construction experience, and halfway decent sales skills, he found one of the only things that fit the long list of prerequisites was selling pre-engineered steel buildings.

"So I got into steel buildings, surrounded myself with knowledgeable people within the industry and started with many hiccups 'Steel Buildings of Maine.' A year later, with a friend of mine who also had his own business, we formed Irishspan Industries, Inc. The name 'Irishspan' came from our heritage; I'm Irish and he's Spanish. We soon found out 'partners' are made for dancing and I now run the business by myself," explained Fitzpatrick.

Eleven years later, Fitzpatrick said he is looking at his best year ever. And the Spanish friend is still a good friend of his today.

He said that one of the many benefits to working with Irishspan is its service.

"I know what it takes to make a project run as smoothly as possible and number one is communication. I'm very involved in every project," noted Fitzpatrick. From consultation to delivery, erection to punch-list, you will always be able to reach Fitzpatrick directly.

"I learned the hard way from my mistakes and I typically don't make the same mistakes twice. I'm involved in construction as well. I understand that it takes more today than 9am to 5pm to run a business and because of this, you can always expect to hear from me," said Fitzpatrick who runs everything out of his home office. He uses qualified insured contractors for his projects and has no employees.

Hangar 7 before it was retrofitted with Schweiss bifold door

Hangar 7 was a retrofit job. Here is how it appeared before the Schweiss bifold was put on it.

Irishspan specializes in open web truss, straight column and tapered column clear span buildings and self storage buildings. His projects include building horse barns, riding arenas, hangars, commercial, retail, government and military buildings to include designing, concrete design and other general contracting work. No job is too big or too small. It takes him anywhere from New York, Vermont and New Hampshire. He has also quoted projects in Wyoming, Texas, Indiana out to the U.S. Virgin Islands.

"I work best with the end-user and shy away from the bid jobs that have a 90-page manual with them. If we come to a situation in the project, we can talk about it and move on. I work with five different building manufacturers and subs so we are sure to put you in the building to best fit your application and budget," said Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick likes working with Schweiss Doors. He initially had a bad situation where another door manufacturer went bankrupt and out of business, clipping him for $6,000 cash. A search on the Internet led him to Schweiss Doors and he has stayed with Schweiss bifold and hydraulic doors ever since.

"Installation of Schweiss doors is easy and the owners have been happy with them. I like Schweiss doors, they are designed and engineered well and I prefer the liftstraps over cables because they are easier, safer and cleaner looking - it gives you a better feel. The straps have less moving parts and are less vulnerable to potential problems," said Fitzpatrick.

He said he also gets prompt, helpful service from the folks at Schweiss Doors and the doors are delivered on time and in good shape. He'd recommend them to anyone.

Commuter planes housed in this hangar outfitted with straplift bifold door

The hangar on Nantucket Island is used to house commuter planes used by Marine HomeCenter to transport employees from the mainland.

Two of the bifolds he installed were on two different islands in Maine and Massachusetts.

He said the logistics of getting buildings and 60 to 70 ft. bifold and hydraulic doors onto islands can be challenging, but once you know how to do it, it's like anything else. It's not only the doors and buildings, it's also requires getting equipment to the job.

"I have three more Schweiss doors on the docket for this year, one may go early next year.

All local and state, snowloads and windloads are taken into consideration when he designs your building. Irishspan offers a variety of contracting options, from turn-key to working in collaboration
with your own team, Irishspan can help make the job meet your milestone and get commissioned on time. Irishspan is there to make sure your product arrives on time, no matter what the demands. From the islands to the remote regions of the Northeast, Irishspan will deliver your building straight from the factory.


"The Schweiss door is great, it's a beefy door. I really like the automatic latching feature -- when it closes it pulls the door in. The doors that we're used to, when it's a windy day, you have to use a lot of strength and even stand on the door to pull it in. Liftstraps were kind of foreign to us, I don't have any opinion on them yet, we just look at them in amazement. We've had a lot of people on the airfield come look at the liftstrap door."


- Ron Foster
Marine Home Center, Nantucket, Mass.


Irishspan Industries is located at 107 Kennebunk Road, Alfred, Maine. Dave Fitzpatrick can be reached by calling (207) 229-2092. For more information visit their website at: www.irishspan.com

Marine Home Center is a large enterprise. Their main store is based in Nantucket and four other locations differ in what they offer. They have a Marvin Design Window and Door Gallery, two other towns on the Cape are Ace Hardware stores and there is a satellite sales office located on Martha's Vineyard.

Forklifts installing the big bifold doorframe

Two Caterpillar Telehandlers were used to lift the large bifold doorframe into place.

Plenty of headroom with this 60 ft liftstrap bifold door

Big and wide, the 60 ft. wide Schweiss bifold liftstrap
door gives the hangar lots of headroom.

Building being prepared for installing the doorframe

Men on a scissorlift and a Telehandler prepare the building before installing the bifold door.

Welding the finishing touches on this bifold doorframe

A welder does some finishing touches to the doorframe prior to installation.

Great insulation on liftstrap bifold door with autolatch that keeps it weathertight.

The interior of the Schweiss bifold liftstrap / autolatch door is well insulated.

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Jumping over the best
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Hugging the southwest corner of Long Island, New York, Brooklyn's earlier identity was mostly hitched to Coney Island beach and the Brooklyn Dodgers of baseball immortality. Today the city is enjoying a renaissance of rediscovery by artists, retailers, ambitious contractors and creative landscapers including the Andre Kikoski Architect firm which just wrapped up the complete renovation of two empty, abandoned warehouse buildings on 22-28 Wyckoff Ave.
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Consolidation is that aggressive word which has been enveloping agricultural business for several years now. In simple terms, it results in fewer but bigger. And that certainly is the recent history of the farm implement business, which used to pride itself on having eight, 10, even 12 or more dealerships per county. Today three or four farm equipment dealers per county is more the usual. But ownership of farm implement stores today often includes multiple locations throughout an entire state.
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Flying since he got the bug when working the fishing canaries in Alaska, Eric Hutchins, Grand Rapids, MN, has a rather diversified agenda these days. For example he runs a year-round Dairy Queen in this bustling tourist center town. He also does some part-time law enforcement work and occasionally flies fire detection with the MN DNR. When time permits, high on his agenda is getting together with his snowmobile buddies for a few miles through the beautiful lake and woodland country of Itasca County.
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In September of 2009, we started the rehabilitation of Hanger 155 at Chippewa County International Airport in Kincheloe, MI. Our first step was to remove 60 years worth of lead paint from the existing steel substructure and miles of asbestos-containing material. When the building was safe to work in, our demolition subcontractor started on the roof system.
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It's big, 43,500 square feet. It has a special floral display unit out front courtesy of the employees and the general contractor. You walk into an 'eye catching' 100' x 160' 'Consumer Display' section complete with a 10' high shelf showcasing various John Deere 'consumer goods'. And greeting you at the retail counter is a colorful prairie scene with an old country barn, woodlots, fields of corn and wheat plus a depiction of the original 1-bottom plow that launched the John Deere machinery company. A show place of sorts? Yes, indeed.
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Well, it's all of the above for 62-year-old Daniel Shaw, a plumbing contractor at Geneva, Fla. Who has given new meaning to the term "hangar home." The structure is 50' wide x 60' deep x 30' tall, all metal/ However, a 45' x 15' Schweiss hydraulic door sporting a wrap-around porch with decorator railing, table and chairs, a "walk through" door with stylish window, and veranda "roof" gets your attention.
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Schweiss Hydraulic and Bifold Doors recently installed four new hydraulic doors at the Renville County Fairgrounds located in Bird Island, MN. The Renville County Board approached Schweiss looking for a way to open up the event building located at the county's fairgrounds. The event building is used to host live bands, beer gardens and public auctions by Henslin Auction Services. Hydraulic doors seemed like the perfect solution to open up the building and allow easy access to the building for large groups of people.
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We're no longer just selling iron. Today we're selling precision farming products and that requires special training of both our personnel and our farm customers," says Paal Haug, general manager of Haug Implement with stores at Willmar and Litchfield
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The creativity of customers continues to be a driving force for many manufacturers. Take for example North Star Imaging, Inc., a Rogers, Minnesota manufacturer of industrial x-ray systems which are enclosed by a radiation shielding cabinet and access door and used by manufacturing firms in the aerospace, military, automotive, medical device, electronics, even the genetic seed industry and many more.
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How do you make the loading dock area for your store secure, yet still easily accessible and stylish? This Target store in North Carolina found the answer with two 39' x 17' bifold gates for their loading area. Give us your idea and we will get you the door.
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What looked like a near impossible situation without some totally new engineering design instead turned out to be a remarkable solution to an extreme challenge. The challenge? How to fit a "roof door" over a 20' by 30' sandblasting chamber used by SMS Millcraft, Oil City, PA. This firm specializes in refurbishing component parts for various Pennsylvania steel mills.
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It is rare that an Air Tractor dealership changes hands. It cant be done without an approval from Air Tractor, Inc. This requirement became all too apparent to Bill Taylor of Farm Air in Fairfield Illinois. Bill was starting to think about retiring from the business he formed in 1976. Shortly after forming Farm Air, Bill saw a need for Air Tractors in the Midwest, and approached Air Tractor about becoming a dealer. Over thirty successful years later, Bill decided it was time to sell Farm Air with its Air Tractor dealership intact.
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This custom set of Schweiss Bifold Doors was the perfect solution to provide a unique dining experience for this restaurant's patio bar customers.
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