Like any concrete surface that leads to the front entrance of a major Las Vegas hotel, the driveway at the main valet area of Caesars Palace is subject to all kinds of wear and tear. Constant vehicle and foot traffic had turned the 55,000-square-foot surface dingy and black in the 15 years since its installation. Michael Layne, owner of Vegas-based Excel Concrete & Coatings, recently restored the stone-textured concrete driveway and returned it to its original slate grey and beigelike colors.
To allow space for vehicle and foot traffic during the work process, Layne and his crew divided the area into four sections, worked on one at a time over four five-day periods and took weekend breaks in between each section. They prepped each area by stripping off the existing sealer and caulking, pressure-washing the surface and repairing damaged spots with a concrete patching product.
Using materials supplied by Las Vegas-based Concrete Accessories Inc., they then applied Proline Concrete Tools’ EZ-Tique Water Based Acrylic Antiquing Wash to the surface’s onetime slate grey portions, followed by Proline’s Duracolor EZ-Accent water-based acrylic stain in Desert Tan to restore the formerly beige-green areas. Finally, they sealed each section with three coats of a polyurethane sealer from Arizona Polymer Flooring, broadcast a heavy layer of aluminum oxide into each topcoat of sealer for slip resistance and allowed three days of curing time. A local subcontractor filled open expansion joints with caulking material.
Layne says the challenges of the four-week project did not stem from the work itself but from what was happening nearby. First, he had to work around the cast and crew of “The Hangover Part III,” who happened to be filming at Caesars Palace during the driveway overhaul. Second, the work required shutting down a portion of the driveway, which created some congestion during peak traffic times.
“Until you shrink a driveway area to half its size, you don’t realize how badly traffic can bottleneck,” Layne says.
Layne and his crew completed the driveway just after Thanksgiving 2012. He says he considers the job a prime business opportunity for his company, which opened its doors in July 2012.
“This job really gave us the opportunity to get going,” Layne says. “It’s a stepping stone to bigger things for us.”
