Anyone who appreciates the shine of a freshly detailed car, likely remembers the days when it took a couple of hours, a roll of quarters, and a bunch of old rags to keep that old car looking new. Fast forward to 2018 and feast your eyes on Main Street Xpress Wash, located in sunny Dunedin, Florida. Who wants to spend a back-breaking day washing, drying, waxing, and dressing tires, when you can spend five minutes relaxing in the drivers seat while the fully automated, express wash does all of the work for you? Personal time has become more and more valuable in this busy day and age, and Main Street Xpress Wash is a perfect example of how to save time and money! They offer a variety of monthly membership packages and single-wash options with customizable, a la carte enhancements, to ensure you always receive a best-in-class wash, completely tailored to your vehicle's needs.

Neil Valk, owner of Main Street Car Wash Inc., has become a successful pioneer in the automated car wash industry in Tampa Bay. He has three locations conveniently located throughout Pinellas County, where customers receive a one-stop shop, full service detail. The newest location boasts a total of 11 tons of hot-dip galvanized steel between the exposed frame of the drive thru and each of the individual vacuum stands. On a daily basis, the structure is subjected to an extremely corrosive environment which includes high pressure water, detergents, and other chemicals. The entire project was hot-dip galvanized first, then followed up with a paint coating. Though many specifiers are familiar with one type of corrosion protection or another, very few realize the intrinsic value and synergy of utilizing two corrosion protection systems together, also known as a duplex system. The duplex system combines the superior protection of galvanized steel with the added benefits of another corrosion protection, such as paint. When paint and galvanized steel are used together, the corrosion protection is superior to either protection system used alone, and can last from 1.5 to 2.5 times the combined lifetimes of both systems. A paint system expected to last 10 years, combined with a galvanized system expected to last 70 years has the potential to last 120-200 years, if you were to let the paint and galvanizing wear away naturally on its own. A great duplex coating system relies heavily on proper surface preparation of the galvanized steel. Constant communication and collaboration between the fabricators and galvanizer were critical in achieving a duplex coating that will not fail, while also adhering to the strict ASTM A123 specification. Per A385 specification, proper venting and drainage holes were used to ensure that the galvanized coating was smooth and uniform throughout, with very little touch-up. Equally as important was the strict adherence to the D6386 specification, which ensured that the galvanized surface was properly prepared prior to application of the paint coating. 

The duplex coating system was specified for its corrosion protection, durability, appearance, and cost savings, both initially, and over the life of the car wash. The final appearance of the coating was critical to enhancing the aesthetics of the finished product. Due to such low-cost maintenance, the owner has a major competitive advantage over the competition. With little to no maintenance for decades to come, the owner has designed and engineered a truly sustainable structure that is not only great for their customers, but great for the environment as well.