Driving up and seeing retired geologist Dick Merrill's impressive looking wood frame barn for the first time, you'd never guess that it is almost exclusively used to hangar his 180 Cessna 'Spirit of Columbus' and that over half of the end wall has a bifold door on it.
“The automatic latch system is great. I can sit here in the house with the extra remote and close the door when I want to, and it latches fine. My neighbor has a manual latch and he's quite happy with that. I like the fact that the door blends in so well with everything. The best thing I like is the remote, and the fact you have to hold the button down to go up and down and you don't have to worry about it coming down on something.”
- Dick Merrill
Chuckey, Tenn. pilot
The 60' x 80' hangar is nestled in the Smoky Mountains Hensley Airpark two miles south of Chuckey, Tenn. It has a Schweiss 50' x 15.6' bifold liftstrap door with photo eye sensors, auto latches, remote opener and an emergency backup system in case of a power outage. The exterior of the barn and outside of the bifold door is clad in HardiePlank® lap siding that matches Dick and Ginger Merrill's adjacent home.
Hardie board siding, also known as cement board siding, has been around forever. It's a low-maintenance, long-lasting material that is completely rot and insect resistant made of 90 percent sand and cement making it fire-resistant. It's also very heavy - Dick estimates that the bifold door with Hardie board over OSB sheathing weighs in the neighborhood of 10,000 lbs. The strong liftstraps give him peace of mind that the door is safe and secure. Since he purchased the door he replaced the cable-latch system with the straplatch system.
"The automatic latch system is great. I can sit here in the house with the extra remote and close the door when I want to, and it latches fine. My neighbor has a manual latch and he's quite happy with that," said Merrill. "I like the fact that the door blends in so well with everything. The best thing I like is the remote, and the fact you have to hold the button down to go up and down and you don't have to worry about it coming down on something."
His wife actually designed the hangar along with the contractor, Smucker Builders of Chuckey, Tenn. to put the barn-looking cross-buck doors on it.
"Most of the barns around here don't have any paint on them. The bifold door came with a stronger frame because we were going to put Hardie board on it. With the five strong straps I figure I can walk under it with no problem," said Merrill. "We built the hangar bigger than it really needed to be, one of the guys said, 'Build it bigger than you think you want it because you'll grow into it.'"
The Merrill's hangar has a 50' x 15.6' Schweiss bifold liftstrap door with photo eye sensors, autolatches, remote opener and an emergency backup system.
Merrill said he was tempted to get a Schweiss hydraulic door but decided to go with the bifold because he is able to park closer to it. He briefly looked at another manufacturers door, but wasn't that impressed with it.
"What sold me on Schweiss doors was when I was at an airport in Fredericksburg, Texas some years ago. The 180 Club had a fly-in there and they had put in a new string of T-hangars that all had bifold doors with straps. It looked like a so much better idea; their doors got used pretty heavily. I've been to Oshkosh and talked to Schweiss there," noted Merrill.
He's been flying since 1959, learning in a Cessna 172 at the age of 16 while still in high school. Wife, Ginger is also a pilot, she had a light sport cruiser, marketed by Piper that they sold. He has owned the Cessna 180 for 38 years, buying it in 1980 from a listing he saw in Trade-A-Plane.
Merrill speaks well of his strong bifold door, and has an even better story to tell about his 180 Cessna that duplicates the look of the original "Spirit of Columbus" that made the first historic round-the-world single-engine flight by a woman. He was so impressed that he had the same year Cessna as her that when the time came for his Cessna 180 to get a new paint job, Ginger encouraged him to have it painted just like Jerrie Mock's Spirit of Columbus. In turn, after talking to Mock he Christened his plane "Spirit of Columbus" as a flying tribute promoting aviation history to her soaring spirit and remarkable achievements.
For those not familiar with the "Spirit of Columbus' - the original that Merrill copied the paint scheme from on his 1953 Cessna 180 - it became world famous by the first American woman, Geraldine "Jerrie" Fredritz Mock, to fly around the world solo in her single-engine 1953 Cessna 180 in 1964. Her plane has since appeared at the Smithsonian Institute among other notable places. After flying more than 23,000 miles Jerrie completed the round-the-world flight in approximately 29 days, and was later awarded the FAA Gold Medal for Exceptional Service in 1964 by President, Lyndon B. Johnson and the Amelia Earhart Memorial Award, among others.
Her story, though not as widely known, has the same flair as that of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. Jerrie battled a swirling cauldron of challenges, including thunderstorms, sandstorms, icing conditions, starless night navigation, radio problems, carburetor troubles over a shark-infested sea, gale-force winds during landings, brake failure, foreign regulations and red tape.
Dick obtained permission from Jerrie Mock to replicate the look on his Cessna. She asked to see it when he finished but unfortunately she died before he had the chance to show her his freshly painted 180. Her family asked Dick to participate in scattering Jerrie's ashes from his plane over the Gulf of Mexico.
To read the entire story as it appeared in the 2016 March/April edition of Vintage Aircraft Magazine about Mock and how Merrill came about obtaining and replicating his plane, click on this link: Spirit of Columbus Story
The Merrill 60'x 80' hangar has enough room to store more than one aircraft. The bifold door, when open, provides a nice shaded canopy.
Chuckey, Tenn. is an unincorporated community in Greene County, Tennessee located on the Nolichucky River, from which its name is derived.
The first U.S. truffle orchard to successfully produce commercial quantities of culinary-quality black Périgord truffles is located in Chuckey. Tom Michael started cultivating truffles in the area in 2000 after observing that the area's limestone soil was similar to the soil of the Périgord region of France, where black truffles are native. In 2007, the first year that truffles were harvested from the orchard, it included 2,500 hazelnut trees growing on 20 acres of land. Thirty pounds of truffles were produced in the first year. Latest reports have indicated that the hazelnut trees there picked up some sort of blight causing them to die that may lead to an end to the truffle harvest.
In the 1890s and early 1900s, Chuckey was home to aviation pioneer Edward Chalmers Huffaker (1856–1937). Trained as an engineer, Huffaker's 1895 paper, "The Value of Curved Surfaces in Flight," gained the attention of aviation enthusiast Octave Chanute, who helped Huffaker secure employment at the Smithsonian Institution. Huffaker worked with the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk in 1901, but left after only one month due to consistent disagreement.
Coming up on this barn it is hard to tell that it is actually a hangar. The hangar is nestled in the Smoky Mountains Hensley Airpark south of Chuckey, Tenn.
Merrill said he was tempted to get a Schweiss hydraulic door but decided to go with the bifold door because he is able to park closer to it.
The exterior of the bifold door and hangar are clad in HardiePlank® lap siding that matches Dick and Ginger Merrill's adjacent home.
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Chuckey, Tenn. barn hangar holds replica of 'Spirit of Columbus'
Driving up you'd never guess that his barn is almost exclusively used to hangar his 180 Cessna 'Spirit of Columbus' and the end wall has a bifold door. Dick and Ginger Merrill of Chuckey Tenn. replicated their 1953 Cessna 180 to match the paint scheme of famous female aviator, Jerrie Mock. |
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Bifold garage door in The Woodlands, Texas has class to match cars within it
A complete remodel of this Woodland, Texas garage included a Schweiss 18' x 7' bifold liftstrap door. The door is equipped with an automatic latch system, remote opener and Simonds can use his backup generator to open or close the door in case of a power outage. That backup generator nearly went to work. The door was installed in the nick of time before Category 4 Hurricane Harvey started on its $200 billion wave of destruction when the eye of the hurricane passed over Rockport and Houston in late August. |
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Blue Bottle Coffee Company opens doors to convivial and growing customer base
Blue Bottle Coffee Company in San Francisco, Calif. turned a dead-end alleyway into a friendly gathering place for people to enjoy their coffee. They have two Schweiss 11' wide bifold doors that they can open to serve customers each day. |
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Custom home hydraulic garage door aids in resale of log home
This door in Oregon is a cedar clad Schweiss designer door with a large man door entrance on a log vacation home two-car attached garage. The new custom-made residential hydraulic garage door is 14' 10" wide with a 6' 3" clear opening and was bought for maximal headroom. The Schweiss Doors is a extra selling point for the owner that put the home up for resale. |
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Connecticut H.S. has multi-use bifold stage and amphitheater door
The new $107 million Warren Harding High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut has a multi-purpose Schweiss bifold liftstrap door measuring 34.8' x 20'. The door doubles as an amphitheater and stage for indoor and outdoor performances. |
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Microburst damage leads Chandler Aviation to replace door with a Schweiss bifold liftstrap door
Extensive storm damage to the Chandler Aviation building in Chandler, Ariz. forced the owner to have an old cable door replaced by Schweiss Bifold Doors. His building needed a revamp from roof to floor including 48' x 14' 10" liftstrap door. The door is equipped with a manual latch system. Four translucent polycarbonate panels at the top half of the door allow natural daylight to brighten up the inside of the building. |
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Prime Silicon Beach real estate site is using Schweiss bifold door at Pen Factory
On this Pen Factory prime real estate at Santa Monica's Silicon Beach sits a 8' 9" x 19' 5" Schweiss bifold liftstrap door with glass cladding. It is equipped with an automatic latch system, electric photo eye sensors, a door base safety edge and back-up system that can be used in case of a power outage. Installation of the door was by Bill Schmidt of ABS Builders, Inc. of Maxwell, CA., the same firm that recently installed the five large 29'x41' Schweiss bifold doors on the new Sacramento Kings Stadium. |
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Skol Vikings!
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Tall 62 x 60-footer goes on Portland Yacht Services building
This big 62-foot wide x 60-foot tall bifold liftstrap door at Portland Yacht Services, Maine, was the second tallest door ever manufactured by Schweiss. The tallest door was 69-foot tall and 90-feet wide, made for a SpaceX rocket hangar at Cape Canaveral. Ten windows on the door bring in natural light. |
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Oklahoma City garage exudes class from floor to ceiling and door
Leo Kingston buys a Schweiss hydraulic door with a clear opening of 15.3' x 7.1' and its equipped with electric photo eye sensors and a remote opener. In order to give extra stability, to compensate for the extra weight of the glass-clad door, Kingston ordered it with a freestanding header that attaches to I-beams at the side and header of the door. |
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West Coast Self-Storage bifold doors enable developer to meet downtown criteria requirements and save money
Two Schweiss bifold doors, a 35 ft. x 19' and a 27 ft. x 19 ft. cleared up a city permit quandary and are being used to access loading bays and elevator lobby. Two hydraulic freight elevators take the work out of bringing storage holdings to the top two floors. Customers are only permitted to access the floor their unit is on through the use of a keypad that is interfaced to the elevator. |
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Iowa high school aviation academy has a Schweiss hydraulic door on its new hangar
Des Moines Aviation Academy builds new hangar. Their new 100' x 96' hangar has a 58.2' x 19.5' Schweiss hydraulic door equipped with electric photo eyes. The One-Piece Door was also ordered with manual windpins, warning lights and horns. The facility consists of a main hangar, mechanical shop, tool/equipment rooms, classrooms and office space. Building contractor on the school was DDVI of Indianola, Iowa. The door was installed by Skold Door Company of Des Moines. |
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Arizona corporate jet hangar has 86' Schweiss bifold liftstrap door
The new 7,360 sq. ft. Triple C Airpark Properties hangar in Scottsdale, Ariz. has a 86' x 26' Schweiss bifold liftstrap door. Schweiss Doors was called upon to provide a bifold liftstrap door with an automatic latch system for it. The massive door has 24 windows located on both halves and a walk door. An exterior truss gives additional strength to the door. The hangar is part of a 12,600 sq. ft. building that has 2,620 sq. ft. of offices, shop and storage space. |
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Thirteen Schweiss hi-tech container doors
The custom-made doors are 13’3” x 7’2” with manual latches and have a 145 mph windload. They have white liftstraps and the motors were painted white as well. The outside of the bifold door was clad in ACM panel. ACM provides a flat surface comparable to much thicker aluminum, at a more reasonable price. When you desire larger panel modules or panels with greater impact resistance, aluminum composite material is the way to go. |
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Ornate cafe-kiosk is part of San Francisco revitalization project
San Francisco's Bi-Rite kiosk offers the first time food has been available on the Civic Center Plaza. It has five beautiful Schweiss bifold designer liftstrap doors. These five doors open up on all sides and when they are closed they blend into the building design to where you can't really see that there are doors there at all. The largest door is 49.4' x 12' and the four other liftstrap doors vary in size from 16.8' to 12.11' in width. |
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Rooftop skylight bifold doors enhance natural light for California photo studio
Eight Schweiss liftstrap skylight designer doors were placed on a photography production studio building in Los Angeles, Calif. Six of these are on the rooftop. The idea came at the recommendation of the Culver City, Calif. architectural firm of Eric Owen Moss Architects (EOMA). These custom-made skylight doors, two of which are 24' x 15.2' and four that span 23.5' x 14.2,' were in addition to two other 23.6' x 15' bifold liftstrap doors placed on the side of the building. Beneath the skylight doors are 1" thick clear glass panels to keep the elements outside the building. The skylight doors have weatherproof electrical components, and the side doors are equipped with photo-eye sensors. |
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Superba Food + Bread opens its bifold door to a tantalizing menu
People at Superba Food + Bread of El Segundo, California insist on living well. They are a community born of the belief that the good things in life ought to be shared and that great food should be accessible to all who seek it. With good intentions, Superba decided on a custom-made 14' 3.5" x 9' 8.5" glass-clad bifold liftstrap door with black straps, electric photo eye sensors and manual latches. |
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Odd Job Johnny has a 'Now You See It - Now You Don't' North Carolina hydraulic garage door
Dennis Scearce of Mooresville, North Carolina, applied this Herb Korthuis principle to his design of his 25.4' x 9' hydraulic door on his 30' x 30' two story garage. When it's open, it looks every bit like a garage door, but when it's closed it looks just like an extension of his home. With two large double windows, it blends in very nicely and matches the rest of his home exterior. The door has remote opener, photo eye sensors and an interior truss. |
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Life Flight Network gets 70 ft. bifold door for new emergency response hangar
The Life Flight "Koala" helicopter stands ready next to the new hangar that has a Schweiss 70'x17' bifold liftstrap door at Lewiston-Nez Perce County Airport. Using state of the art aircraft and highly skilled medical and aviation professionals, Life Flight Network (LFN) provides life saving transport to seriously ill or injured patients from the scene of an emergency or from one hospital to another. |
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Ornate bifold grill design adorns Seattle's Pike Motorworks luxurious Apartment building
Adding to the historic look of the building are two custom-made decorative Schweiss bifold liftstrap designer doors; one of which is 11' 10" x 11' 11" and another at 11'1" x 10' 1." Instead of the conventional metal, glass or wood exterior cladding, these doors have a decorative exterior 12 gauge steel cladding that blends in very nicely with the exterior brick of the Pike Motorworks apartment building. |
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Newly opened Boston Art Center uses two unique concept Schweiss doors
The new Watershed art gallery has two unique Schweiss bifold liftstrap designer doors, 19.9' and 19.11' wide by 26.9' and 26.11' feet tall. It will showcase contemporary art and was built from the ruins of an abandoned copper pipe and sheet metal facility. |
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Bobby Hotel in Downtown Nashville features a 1956 rooftop bus with hydraulic doors
The newly renovated Bobby Hotel in downtown Nashville, Tenn. has a unique landmark, a 1956 Greyhound Scenicruiser bus hoisted 10 stories up on its roof. One side of the bus opens up with a 18’6” x 8’ Schweiss Hydraulic Door and another 8’ x 9’ rear bus door. The bus serves as part of the rooftop lounge. |
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Two glass-clad hydraulic doors open Sam's Tavern in Seattle to outside dining
Sam's Tavern Pike Street bar has two Schweiss 11'8" x 9' hydraulic glass-clad doors that open to an outside patio area. The bar in Seattle is acclaimed for its renowned USA Today endorsed Bakon Bloody Mary and great food. The restaurant and bar opened early this year as part of a newly constructed 13-story office building. |
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National particle physics lab architect calls on Schweiss for bifold door
As part of the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab a 20.10' x 23.9' bifold liftstrap door was installed in the new 4,500 sq. ft. SBN Near Detector Building. The door features gray liftstraps, electric photo eye sensors, warning lights and horns, a top-drive motor, automatic latching system and an emergency back-up system. The door is clad with glass on the bottom quarter and high performance light transmitting Kalwall® panels covering the top three-quarters of the door, both to identically match the adjacent east wall of the building. |
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Business at PropWorks is zooming - Schweiss 60' x 16' bifold goes on new Edmonton facility
PropWorks of Canada recently underwent a expansion that included a new 14,000 sq. ft. steel hangar with a 60’ x 16’ Schweiss bifold liftstrap door. The hangar is capable of holding large aircraft like this Piper Cheyenne waiting to have some propeller work done. |
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Silicon Valley dream home has large Schweiss hydraulic glass Great Room curtain wall
The Great Room of this ultra-contemporary 9,991 sq. ft. Silicon Valley home has natural light flowing through a 23' tall by 36' wide glass hydraulic door that can be opened fully to create a true indoor/outdoor experience. |
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Shomotion is a company on the move
This unique 40' x 12' mobile container was designed and built by Shomotion LLC. Schweiss Doors custom-built a 28' x 7' 11" hydraulic door for it. Inside the container is a prototype fuselage of Mitsubishi's soon to be produced 70 to 90 passenger regional jet. |
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Big 50' Schweiss bifold opens up South Carolina hangar
Nick and Michelle Cwian are enjoying their new 50' x 16' Schweiss bifold liftstrap door. It is attached to their 60' x 70' hangar at Easley, SC. The liftstrap door, located on the 20' tall hangar sidewalls, is equipped with automatic latches. Their hangar holds their Aeronca Champ and an Aeronca Chief. Nick and Michelle live at the Williamsport Airpark. |
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Oregon BPA helicopter hangar has 40 ft. Schweiss bifold liftstrap door
The newest helicopter hanger utilized by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) at the Redmond, Oregon airport has a Schweiss 40' 4" x 20' bifold straplift hangar door. |
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Scenic mountain art studio-retreat is enhanced by Schweiss glass bifold doors
Forming a glass corner in an open two-story space are two 23' x 15'2" straplift bifold glass-clad doors that have electric photo eye sensors, door base safety edges and black liftstraps and quiet, fast opening top-drive motors. The up/down door control is located 60' away from the doors. |
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Michigan yacht restoration building is fitted with Schweiss bifold and hydraulic doors
The new fully insulated building also features a Schweiss 47.4' x 29.7' bifold automatic latching liftstrap door and a 45.11' x 34.1' hydraulic door, LED lighting, radiant floor heat, floor drains, 24/7 RFID key card access and a private ramp on the shore of Lake Macatawa. The changes make a transition to and from their beautiful storage/service facility effortless. |
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Polycarbonate clad bifold door gives hangar an exclusive look
With the decorative star and patriotic blue front it has all the looks of a hangar home that you might think was owned by Captain America. Jim Weitman, of Weitman Excavation in Sherwood, Oregon, and his wife, Star, live on a private grass airstrip just outside of North Plains, Oregon. The hangar portion of the home measures 40' x 40'. The Schweiss bifold liftstrap door on the hangar has a clear opening width of 38' and 9' 8.75" in height. It is also equipped with automatic latches, electric photo eye sensors and a remote opener. |
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'Guide Dogs of America' found way to integrate mission with bifold door
The 16,000 sq. ft. building has a Schweiss glass designer door measuring nearly 42' wide x 11' tall. The glass bifold liftstrap door blends in nicely with the rest of the buildings windows and architecture, so much so that it is hardly noticeable. The glass bifold door on the GDA building lets in ample amounts of daylight and also gives people within the building a great view of the surrounding mountain range. Two top drive electric motors easily lift the heavy door. |
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Schweiss bifold liftstrap door goes on beautiful Texas hangar home
"The liftstraps and automatic latch system are slick. I feel a lot safer with straps than a cable that can snap on me. I have one remote control in the plane and another in the golf cart. I'm opening and closing the door without bending over and pulling a pin," explained Jesse. "I like the aesthetics . . .not all doors are created equal; it's a good balance between beauty and functionality, I think it's a industrial-strength door." |
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Five Schweiss bifold designer doors add to Yankee Stadium off-season enhancements
The largest of the custom-made bifold doors is 27'5” x 11'4,” followed by two 23'4”x9'2” doors and two 21'10” x 9'2” doors. All the doors are fitted with electric photo eye sensors, black liftstraps, manual latches and alike-keyed opening and closing switches. Four of the doors are clad in a high tech brushed aluminum. They finished the facade and the door to basically match itself so when the doors are down they blend in with the facade and don't reveal what's inside. |
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Texas Music Factory looks to Schweiss for seven bifold doors
The Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas covers nearly 17 acres and seats 8,000 people indoors and outdoors. Seven Schweiss bifold liftstrap doors, which can be seen in the upper left of this architects rendition, were installed on the Pavilion live stage building. The doors open the concert to 4,000 overflow fans on a grass slope. |
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Hurricane Harvey tries to mess with Schweiss doors
Hangars with Schweiss bifold doors at the Rockport, Texas Airport were virtually undamaged by Hurricane Harvey. Many others next to them were demolished beyond repair |
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One of Tampa's oldest restaurants is revived - this time with Schweiss Bifold designer doors!
His new 4,000 sq. ft. restaurant has four glass-clad Schweiss Bifold Liftstrap designer doors. The largest of these doors is 12'5" x 7'6" tall. Two are 9'1" x 7'6" and the smallest is 6'5" x 7'6". The doors all have electric photo eye sensors, manual latches and one remote that can operate all four doors. The doors were fitted with black liftstraps and also painted with a dark green "fractured" paint old school design to give them the look of having been on the building for years. |
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Canadian hangar developer has 11 Schweiss bifold doors
Gjesdal has a total of 11 Schweiss doors on his hangars built over the past five years. Schweiss bifold liftstrap doors, with automatic strap latches and electric photo eye sensors were placed on his two newest 100' x 167' hangars. The doors vary in width from 57'8" to 50' and in clear opening height from 16'8" to 16'. His older hangars are equipped with six Schweiss 50' x 14' cable lift doors. All these doors also have walkdoors and remote openers. He opted to receive his doorframes painted in red. |
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Strap bifold doors are the premier choice for many hangars at the Waterloo airport
The Waterloo Regional Airport hangars in Waterloo, Iowa are leased by the city to private pilots and corporations. Three of the large hangars have jet aircraft in them; multiple planes, floatplanes, jets and helicopters are stored in other hangars throughout the airport. Two of the hangars are used as maintenance shops. |
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Husky Brigade is off to the sky minutes after pilots hit the open button on their Schweiss doors
Kerr said that along with somewhere around 18 Husky's on the Alpine field, not counting neighboring Husky's from the Double L Ranch and other style aircraft hangared at Alpine Airpark, over 45 of the 58 residents there have Schweiss doors on their hangars each with their own personal style and size to match their mountain vacation homes. |
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Hydraulic door added to mancave dream for helicopter and floatplane pilot
Easy access to the 11,160 sq. ft. hangar in his 80 ft x 152 ft. building is through a quiet-operating 50' x 17' 7.5" Schweiss hydraulic door. The hydraulic pump for the door is mounted out of sight above the rafters to make best use of all available space within the hangar. He also has a remote opener to enable him to open and close the door without having to leave the cockpit. Three 3.5' x 2.5' windows in the door give him optimum use of available light into the in-floor heated hangar and the hydraulic one-piece door, when open, provides a nice shaded canopy. |
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Former airline pilot chooses Schweiss hydraulics for door and lifting garage staircase
Gene Buboltz of Cold Spring, Minn. chose Schweiss Doors to install a small hydraulic door and lifting staircase on his lakehome to give him easy access to all levels of his home. As time progressed he turned this basement room into a rec. room and a place to store his flying memorabilia. |
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RV Bifold garage door was built for performance, designed for style and meeting zoning restrictions
Jay Hare and his wife, Kathy, of North Oaks, a suburb of St. Paul, Minn., had to deal with zoning restrictions on their RV garage door, but with the assistance of Schweiss Doors they were able to work around them. The finished look on their 12' x 16' RV bifold autolatch liftstrap door with remote opener and photo eye sensors gives them a clear opening of 14' but gives the outward appearance of a door half that size in height. |
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Texas aviation high school opens to new type of education with a 49' Schweiss aluminum bifold door
Ross Shaw Sterling Aviation School in Houston, Texas had this 49' 6" x 20' 2" Schweiss bifold liftstrap door placed on its new attached hangar. The custom-made aluminum frame door has galvanized windrails and siderails and a keyed switch entry system. |
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Unique Schweiss glass bifold doors open new Kings stadium entrance
Schweiss Doors engineered and built five one of a kind bifold strap latch doors to be used at the stadium entrance. Three of these doors measured 29' x 41'5" and the other two were 29'4" x 41' 5". Each door is lifted by three 5 h.p. motors and the liftstraps are 6" width, compared to the usual 3" width. The doors, with glass, weigh in at about 28,000 lbs. each. |
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Larry Robbins is a pilot living the dream
Like many young boys dreaming to be licensed pilots, Larry Robbins remembers at the age of six or seven scooting out the front screen door of his parents central Illinois farm house where he grew up to get an overhead glimpse of any and all planes that came within earshot. His love of aviation led him to pursuing a career as an Aeronautical Engineer and his latest job with Bojac Aviation Services. |
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Canadian Forces military base calls on Schweiss for hydraulic and bifold doors
Supplying doors for military bases is nothing new for Schweiss Doors, they've been doing it for years. Although Canadian Forces Base Borden didn't have a need for specialty blastproof doors like other military establishments, a recent building expansion project for its training school called for the use of Schweiss hydraulic and bifold liftstrap doors. |
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U of M physics building has clean room access with a Schweiss bifold door
Star Equipment of Blaine, MN was in charge of installing a 19' 11" x 22' 8" tall Schweiss bifold liftstrap door with automatic latches and electric photo eye sensors on the physics building. The specially designed door has a rather unique application of wide glass panels at the top that nearly surround it all the way to the man door alongside it. This allows as much natural light as possible to enter the building without it being an all-glass clad door. Strong black liftstraps and two top-drive motors open the door quickly and quietly. |
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Federales Mexican restaurant in Chicago features a fully retractable roof and Schweiss bifold doors
Nothing says summer like tacos and tequila. Chicago’s newest sprawling Federales Tequila & Tacos restaurant and bar in the West Loop offers plenty of both. Inspired by Mexico's roadside taco joints, Federales specializes in barbacoa-style tacos, starring such slow-cooked meats as pork belly al pastor and shredded beef brisket, served with warm corn or flour tortillas and taco trimmings. It truly has a vacation atmosphere featuring a fully retractable roof and two Schweiss bifold liftstrap 14' 3" x 14' 8" designer doors that open to beer garden. |
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Hangar with Schweiss bifold door has look of Texas flare
Who needs Europe? Fredericksburg, Texas in the Texas Hill Country, west of Austin and north of San Antonio, might be the next best thing to crossing the Atlantic. The region is lush, colorful and, unlike much of the pancake-flat state, dotted with beautiful green hills that are evocative of Tuscany or the south of France. Towns like Fredericksburg offer a taste of the Old World, with German-style biergartens, schnitzelhauser and a lot of wineries. |
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Big 70-foot hydraulic door opens Tennessee jet hangar
With nine locations in Tennessee and Mississippi Dr. Ron Bingham has an interesting business model requiring aircraft from his hangar in Jackson, Tennessee to visit his satellite clinics in rural areas. |
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Cubex in Calgary installs eight bifold doors
Cubex Limited of Calgary, Alberta, Canada is a busy fabrication business that underwent an extensive renovation project in order to get the best use out of their building. To do this they virtually knocked out several portions of one side of the building adding eight Schweiss bifold/liftstrap doors for easy access. |
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Pennsylvania hydraulic garage door has touch of class and a beautiful view
It's very satisfying for a business to hear from a client who mentions sincerely that he or she was equally satisfied with the service rendered as well as the product itself. It's been a highlight for Brian who says one of the best things about his new Schweiss hydraulic garage door is hearing favorable comments from people who see it. |
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Fast Fab erects CAID Industries Mid-West Structure of the year
CAID Industries called on Fast Fab Erectors, Inc. of Tucson, Arizona to do the design and building work for their new Tucson, Arizona facility, featuring metal products from Mid-West Steel Building Company.Part of the construction called for two large Schweiss hydraulic crane doors. A 30-ton crane has a lot of lifting power, but in many cases, it needs a door system to effectively do its job. |
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Glass bifold designer door serves California church expansion plans well
The Father's House church is listed at the top spot as one of the best 10 churches in Vacaville, California. It has shown amazing congregational and building expansion growth under the direction of founding Pastors Dave and Donna Patterson. The church was opened for worship in 1997 and has grown from a handful of families to thousands of attendees at multiple campuses in Vacaville, Napa and East Bay. The three locations are all within 40 minutes or less of each other. |
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