Outdoor Walk-in Freezer for Olanta Elementary School

An outdoor walk-in freezer for a South Carolina elementary school required panels that withstand 80 mph winds and 30-pound per square-foot snow loads.


To meet the customer’s needs, we designed and built the freezer using three different styles of panels. This type of flexibility in construction is unique to Imperial Brown.


The outdoor walk-in freezer for Olanta Elementary School in Olanta, SC, is located next to a taller building, creating a potential for snow drift, or snow piling up on the freezer, even with less snowfall in the South.


The 4” thick wall panels are made of low-density urethane edge (LDU), or soft nose, nominal size panels made in aluminum frames (jigs). The 4” thick ceiling panels are made of high-density urethane edge (HDU), or hard-rail panels that are custom built. These panels were selected for the additional strength desired on the outdoor walk-in freezer. The 4” thick floor panels employ yet a third construction—high-density urethane edge (HDU) hard rails 3½” thick create the panel frame.