Chch sandblasters establish premises
After 20 years in the sandblasting and coatings trade, Mr Wayne Rowe can confidently offer an expertise which is second to none.
In 1971, having worked for five years with Ivory’s Painting Service, he formed Rowe Sandblasters, Ltd. For several years after that, he and his wife, Jackie, travelled the length and breadth of New Zealand, carrying out sandblasting and spraypainting contracts. Much of the work they did was on road and rail bridges, under contracts with the Ministry of Works and the Department of Railways. They also carried out a great deal of marine work, refurbishing boats in dry dock for shipping companies. Smokestacks
and fuel-storage tanks were a large part of their business as well.
For 15 years, Wayne and Jackie ran the business from their Christchurch home, obtaining, simply by word of mouth, as much work as they could handle.
A year or so ago, Wayne saw that there was a need for high-quality work in grit-blasting — a similar process to sandblasting, using instead of sand a fine steel grit. In August, 1985, Rowe Sandblasters, Ltd, set up its first permanent premises, on o.6ha of land in Tanya Street, Bromley. Here, the company’s compact and efficient plant is well equipped to handle grit-blasting or sandblasting, spray painting, zinc spraying, epoxy coatings, tank linings, structural steel and other coatings. The large site means plenty of turning room for trucks, and Rowe’s handling facilities are second to none. The 7tonne Hamilton crane and the 5-tonne down-shop gantry crane can handle large, bulky items quickly and efficiently. Waiting
and handling time are kept to a minimum. One of the special services Rowe Sandblasters offers its customers is an overnight tight-schedule service. Without the standard of work being impaired, Rowes will undertake a very fast turnaround of a job when the customer is in a hurry.
Rowe Sandblasters handle all types of industrial contracts. Machinery, steel beams, irrigation pipes, shipping containers — all are treated at the Tanya Street plant for rust, mill-scale or paint, and refurbished using one of a range of specialist coatings. The company specialises in tough inspection work — work which will undergo rigorous inspection and must be done to a high standard. “We like doing work that takes a bit of finesse and offers a challenge,” Wayne said. The coatings available today call for knowledge
and expertise. “You can’t get away with just getting a machine and pointing it. My men are trained,” Wayne said. He prefers to train his
own men from scratch, so that they will get into the right way of doing things. “It takes six months just to get the basics in coatings,” Wayne Rowe said.
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Press, 24 June 1986, Page 28
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446Chch sandblasters establish premises Press, 24 June 1986, Page 28
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