Stainless Steel Prefab Booth Stands Up to All Weather Conditions

Extreme cold weather and heavy snowfall, which envelops many parts of the U.S. in winter, creates tough environmental conditions for outdoor booths and shelters. B.I.G. Enterprises responds to this challenge with a new standard paint system for their prefab booths.

Los Angeles, CA. – June 13, 2011 – In areas where severe weather and salted roads pose a major challenge for guard booth construction, B.I.G. Enterprises (www.bigbooth.com) designed the “Freddie Mac” guard booth in stainless steel and finished it with a factory installed “Thin Brick” veneer to insure structural integrity and a sophisticated presentation. 

B.I.G. has standardized on a new paint system that provides a catalyzed two-component polyurethane topcoat paint that serves as a protective feature by resisting chemical, impact, fade, abrasion and UV exposure. 

An impartial and independent salt spray corrosion test laboratory—per ASTM B117—was engaged to push the limits of the B.I.G. updated painting system. Four separate painted booth panels were placed in an isolated salt spray chamber where they were continually monitored while being subjected to a simulated hostile weather environment. After 3,500 hours—equal to years of harsh environmental conditions—the lab could not find any signs of rusting, no undercut creeping and no corrosion at the scribe cut in the steel.

Even in 2005, four years prior to the introduction of the new paint system, B.I.G.'s booth at Six Flags in New Orleans sat submerged in floodwaters for two months. After the theme park was pumped dry, the park's facility staff remarked on the relative good condition of the B.I.G. booth.

B.I.G. booths have a proven track record of withstanding extreme environmental conditions. Two B.I.G. steel booths stood in the pathway of Super Typhoon Paka in Guam. Though wooden structures around the booths were flattened, the booths, including their glass windows, were intact after the 220 mph winds passed over.

B.I.G. booths are also used by Costco to protect their unmanned gas station equipment from weather extremes. Asked why these shelters are necessary to their operations, Tim Hurlocker, Director of Gasoline Operations at Costco, explained, “The original objective for the equipment shelters was two-fold: Guard the equipment and control the temperature around the equipment. We operate gas stations from Anchorage to Miami and from Hawaii to Minnesota. Though the outside may be very cold or very hot, we have to maintain a climate around all the gas station control equipment within a specific range.” When asked what standard design feature was critical in terms of functionality, Hurlocker said, “Painting is difficult and B.I.G. has it dialed in.”