Hired concrete grinder helps with renovation ‘triumph’

Libby McLean works in the fashion industry but should perhaps consider a career change after her achievements with a new, heavy-duty 240V concrete grinder from Kennards Hire.

Her experience, including the help she received from the Kennards’ centre in Belmont, Geelong, are recorded in a blog, Feeling Arizona, in which she details “the trials and triumphs of a single girl living in, renovating and landscaping a mid-20th century home”.

Libby ground 2-3mm off a new carport floor and driveway to produce a polished stone finish, which she described as “a cool and unique entrance, opposed to plain concrete or an exposed aggregate.”

“Whilst the results speak for themselves (and I’m so proud of them), I have got to stress how easy having trades, services and hire places, who don’t treat you like you can’t do something just because you’re a chick, are to doing something like this,” she wrote.

“I vote with my feet, so I’ll go back to Kennards Hire every time because I know they’ll listen to what I want to do, explain machinery clearly and help me get the best results.”

Using skills acquired growing up on a farm, Libby undertook a range of renovating jobs on her recently purchased, 1950s cottage, but was “starting to despair” over the concrete grinding when the first machines she tried under performed.

Her luck changed when Kennards Hire Belmont took delivery of a heavy-duty satellite grinder, the most powerful in the 240V class.

“So, 7am the next morning a truck pulls up outside my place, a guy called Tony [Kennards branch manager Tony Havis] hooks up a miniature crane and lifts this big blue beast down into my driveway,” she wrote.

“Yikes! It was twice the size of the machines we’d had before and looked very, very shiny and new, plus I knew it was worth around 15k ($15,000), not something you want to damage!”

Her fears proved baseless. “Tony spent an hour at my place trying the different grinding stones he’d bought in the truck and making sure we’d fitted the right ones for the exact finish I was looking for. He then demonstrated all aspects of the machine and stayed while I had a go and got comfortable with it.”

Libby’s verdict after completing the job in extra quick time: “A great machine and easy to use…just like using a floor buffer”.

For dry grinding, Kennards Hire supplies a special high performance vacuum unit, which attaches to the grinder.