Oil staining on concrete....

Hi all,

We have some quite heavy oil staining on the concrete floor inside the garage and i'd really love to get rid of it - or at least some of it...

I've heard the citrus stuff is really good, but just wondering what others reccommend?

Its the rough surface concrete (kinda like sandpaper), not the smooth stuff.

Thanks in advance =)

Kerosene is supposed to work for this.

There are products on the market specifically for this.
I had a rental years ago , and I had to clean off Oil leaks from the driveway (old leaky Toyota Celica...I miss her so)
I faintly remember going to Super Cheap Auto, and buying a bottle of oil stain remover (cant remember the brand name), you spray it over the oil spills, wait 20 minutes, then hose it all away.
It works a treat.
pat.

Hi, the best way is to use turpentine or another strong solvent such as thinners to wipe the excess off the surface, then you soak the solvent into the floor and cover it with kitty litter (absorbent clay). Crush the clay into the floor and flood again with solvent. Cover with plastic if you can. The solvent dilutes the oil and as it evaporates it will bring the oil up into the kitty litter after an hour or four. You can repeat this if you want.

To remove the stain a bit more sprinkle water on the surface after removing the kitty litter and then spread powdered laundry detergent over and agitate with a fine broom to make a wet paste. Leave this for 20 to 40 mins keeping it from drying out and wash it away afterward.

The stain will mostly be gone, but it may return after a day or week as the oil comes back up again. Repeat all the processes above if it does. You will never fully remove it, but after cleaning it should fade in time.

I hate oil stains! Being pretty handy on the spanners I have always had to deal with oil stains from mine occasionally over the years and when mates come by to get things fixed. I have moved into houses with huge stains in the drive or garage floor. The cheap export degreaser from bunnings and super crap has always worked very well for me. It works better than any other expensive brand I have tried. I used that liquid magnet once and it was ok I guess.

The above post looks like a go. I might try it next time

I use same as Fu Manchu.

Just a spray can of engine degreaser works great to remove oil stains. Just spray on, leave for around 20 minutes and then scrub with a regular or wire brush. Try not to hose down into the drain though, that stuff can't be good for the environment. Maybe soak it up with a towel, then throw the towel away and then wash down with hose so it doesn't drain off into the gutter.

You can buy the degreaser in a large spray can for about $2!

Hi guys,

Just to put my previous post into perspective, there are oil stains...and there are oil stains. I agree that the above degreasers will work very well and it is good to hear of real experience with them especially those cheap ones, but they only work on the surface. Give it a day or so and if the stain was old it will return again. Sure, no oil on the surface however the dark stain will come back up again so my post was a cheap way to get most of it up from below the surface. Also the laundry detergent was a cheap option because the lady of the house usually buys that, but do not get caught!

If you spill oil onto the concrete any type of strong detergent or degreaser will work well, but if the oil has been soaking in the hot sun for ages then it will have stained deeper down. In factories under machines that have leaked oil for decades the oil goes all the way through and into the soil. Oil stains are a real pain on concrete and not much gets it out that I have seen, you can only make it better.

I used to epoxy paint factory floors, mainly old engineering plants with totally oil soaked floors. I pressure cleaned off the surface muck with my water jet floor mower and recycled the water. After 6,000 psi there was nothing left on the surface, but it was still an oil soaked floor. Then I would flood the floor with a strong detergent and use a ride-on scrubber to agitate it and vacuum pick it up. After two rinses and vacuum pick up we would paint as soon as it dried which took about an hour and it was guaranteed not to peel for life. Tests I did years ago suggested that this system removed everything from perhaps the top 0.5mm only. That was enough for the paint to adhere strongly. If we waited too long it took only 2-3 hrs in summer for the worst stains to appear at the surface again and we would have to spot clean those just before painting.

Sorry to bore you, thought it might be interesting to some.

Not a bore at all diamond, very interesting indeed.

Just confirms even more what a pain in the a$$ oil is.

The simplest and the best way to remove those oil stains on the floor of your garage is to use OIL GONE EASY HOME & DRIVEWAY S-200. The product works on any surface, be it concrete or cement. If you want to know more about it, you can check out their site at http://oilgoneeasy.com

Would you buy something endorsed by a guy called "Mr Fix It Lou Manfredini" ?

My dad is a motor mechanic and uses petrol to clean up fresh oil

We cover up our oil-stained driveway using a big bit of plywood. . . hope this helps!