When it comes to grinders, 30 inches rule.
“Thirty-inch grinders are the highest-producing, most versatile grinders that you can buy,” says Garrett Lassiter, owner of Flagship Commercial Flooring in Lubbock, Texas. “You can take them with you on nearly any job and accomplish your goals with a high production rate.”
Lassiter got into the concrete flooring business in 2009. He was a one-man operation back then focusing on residential and light commercial. He quickly realized he needed to purchase quality equipment. After researching and seeing a demo, he decided on a 20-inch Lavina planetary grinder made by Superabrasive.
With that machine, “I started doing garage floors as fast as I could,” he remembers. Before long, business picked up and he purchased a 30-inch Lavina propane machine to keep up with increased production needs.
Grinder is versatile
Today, Lassiter has seven employees who largely polish concrete for grocery stores and resinous coatings for food processing areas. “We also continue to do residential epoxy coatings,” he says. “And we still use Lavinas to prep all our floors.”
His fleet has grown to include five 30-inch Lavina grinders: three propane and two electric.
He bought the two electric models, his most recent acquisitions, about a year and half ago to tackle grocery stores. “I got the ones with a low shroud because they fit under the gondolas,” Lassiter says.
The 30-inch Lavina grinders have a lot going for them, he says. “One man can get the machine in the trailer by himself,” he notes. “And they fit through doorways.” They are also portable in other ways, he adds. He’s even used a crane and lifts to get them up to a second floor and down to a walk-out basement.
“The best things (about these Lavina machines) are their production and ability to do a lot of different tasks with a single machine,” Lassiter says. “You can change the weights, adjust the head pressure and do everything from difficult prep jobs to intricate polish jobs.”
With minimal training, “You can do it all — polishing, prepping, grinding. They’re very user-friendly,” he concludes.
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