How To Remove Oil Stains From a Concrete Driveway
Various means are there that you can implement to remove the oil stains from concrete driveways. The fact is you have to take the oil stains seriously so that it is never neglected, or unkempt. Yes, oil stains may not brings significant changes to the driveways, but it never brings a good look too!
However, if you don’t know how to remove oil stains from a concrete driveway-here a guideline for you.
Things you can use to remove the oil stains are-
- Soap and Detergent
- Baking Soda. Bleaching Powder
- Vinegar
- Concrete Cleaner/Degreaser
- WD-40/Carbonated Water
- Pressure Washer
Now let’s discuss all the means elaborately.
Use Soap and Detergent:
Clean oil stains with the help of soap, dish soap, or detergent. Just take a scrub brush, and scrub the oil spills with your convenient cleaning item. Soap or detergent can remove the excess oil from the surface easily.
But if the oil stain is too old, you might have to rub the surface for a long time. Also, using hot water will make the cleaning process more efficient and convenient.
Just apply the detergent water, or soap water on the stained surface for approximately 25 minutes, then rub the surface. It will remove the oil stains from the concrete.
People also use cat litter for cleaning oil stains easily.
Use Baking Soda:
Baking soda is an incredible home remedy to remove any sort of old stain from any surface. Removing oil stains from the driveway rather more could be easier if you use baking soda.
Wear safety gloves before you sprinkle baking soda on the driveway. However, sprinkle baking soda on the surface. Let set the baking soda for 1 hour. Then scrub the surface using a scrub bristle brush.
Finally, rinse all the areas with normal water. Baking soda is an incredible mineral, that can dissolve other molecules easily, therefore it also can dissolve unsightly oil stains and can remove them.
Use bleaching powder or bleaching solution:
Many people use bleaching powder to remove the stain from white clothes. Also, the bleaching solution used in the laundry is to bleach cloths for various purposes. Whatever bleaching powder or bleaching solution could be an alternate concrete cleaner to remove the oil spills from there.
You can sprinkle the bleaching powder over the driveway. You also can make bleaching solutions as well. Whatever you are intending to use, use safety goggles and gloves before using them.
Make a bleach solution with water on a 1:1 ratio. Keep the mixer in a spray bottle and spray this mixture then on the driveway oil stains. Let set the bleach on the surface for a while, then scrub the affected area. Finally, rinse the surface with normal water.
Use Vinegar:
Vinegar is acidic in nature. These are also natural degreasers. It’s an organic compound, you can use to get out the oil stains from concrete driveways. But the problem is, you can’t remove the hard stains with this.
A lighter oil stain is perfect to clean with vinegar. Make a mixture of vinegar first. Take a bowl of water, pour 3/4 tablespoon of vinegar over there, and add a splash of detergent and dish soap to this mixture.
Now pour this mixture on the stained surface. Let the mixture set over the surface for 20 minutes. Rub it well, clean it finally with clean water.
Concrete Cleaner/Degreaser
You can use concrete cleaner or degreaser to remove the oil from the driveway. There are so many of these commercial concrete cleaners available on the market, you can use any of these. Before using these products, read the label written on the cleaner container. Do what is written here exactly.
WD-40/Carbonated Water:
Wd-40 is a commercial cleaner, mainly usage for industrial machinery cleaning purposes. This lifehack, not only removes the rust from the metal parts, but it also can clean the old stubborn oil stain from the concrete cleaner.
This product has wonderful solvent properties, for which we are suggesting using it for your driveway cleaning. So before using the Wd-40 on your driveway, wear safety gloves first. Now spray it directly over the affected surface. Let the Wd-40 set at least for 20 minutes. Rub the surface using a rag, and you are done.
However, a nonconventional method is to use carbonated water for surface cleaning. You also can try this. Pur a bottle of coca cola on the driveway, and rub the driveway with the scrub brush. Before rubbing, let the coca cola to set on the surface for about 1 to 2 hours. See the oil stain has gone away. However, you cannot use coca cola to remove old or difficult oil stains.
Use Pressure Washer:
You can use a pressure washer with not more than 1700 psi to remove the oil stains from the concrete driveway. A higher psi from the aforementioned here will cut your driveway instantly. So be careful about it. Turn on the pressure washer, and apply a detergent to the soap tank. Spray the detergent solution on the surface, and wait for 20 minutes. After that use the high-pressure washer to clean the oil surface.
FAQs
What is the best product to remove old oil stains from concrete?
Pour-N-Restore Oil stain Remover is one of the best products to remove the old oil stain from concrete.
Are oil stains permanent on concrete?
No, no oil stains are permanent on concrete. If you use the perfect oil remover, you can remove any oil stains from the concrete as well,
How do professionals remove oil stains from concrete?
Initially, they use powdered laundry detergent to clean oil stains. Or there are also several commercial oil cleaners, which they use. However, most professionals use the pressure washer to remove oil stains from concrete.
Final Verdict:
So that is How do professionals remove oil stains from concrete! If you are a newbie to cleaning concrete oil spills, start your cleaning with any of the home remedies, like vinegar, coca cola, baking soda, and bleaching powder. The final option to clean the oil stains from the concrete surface is using the pressure washer.
If still you cannot make your concrete driveway shine like new, call the professionals to make it shiny!
