Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine June/July 2023 Digital Issue
FAIRFAX, MINN. – Schweiss Doors, the premier manufacturer of hydraulic and bifold liftstrap doors, erected a new manufacturing facility at its headquarters in Fairfax, Minnesota, which will also serve to showcase the company’s new “free-standing” header frames.
A post-frame building erected in 1960 was torn down to make room for the 90-foot by 94-foot metal building with an inside clearance of 20 feet. The building features three hydraulic doors that illustrate the company’s free-standing header frames integrated into the hydraulic doors, allowing the doors to support themselves with no reliability on the building structure itself.
“The free-standing header frames are another unique innovation from Schweiss Doors,” says Mike Schweiss, owner of Schweiss Doors. “The building and free-standing hydraulic door design will be a real exhibit that displays the new stand-alone hydraulic door. There’s nothing on the market like it.”
The doors measure 20 feet by 14 feet; 28 feet by 17 feet; and 37 feet, 7 inches by 17 feet. The gray wall panels of the building are 3-inch expanded polyurethane sandwich panels with an R-value of 21. The doors are all sheeted with 2-inch ribbed tin with a black exterior and a flat liner inside sheeting, allowing for two inches of insulation for an R-value of 14.
Schweiss says the expansion will serve as an additional door building shop, featuring six welders and custom-designed hoist systems throughout the facility to help maneuver the door frames (www.bifold.com).