What to do with those grease stains on concrete.

Hit the stain with a couple of cans of brake wash. It'll really dilute the grease and make the stain a lot lighter, so much so that with regular weather, rain and such, the stain should just disappear. I do this when I get engine oil on our parking pad.

Smiter Q said:

Let your dog have at it.

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Genius and it works. By back patio with my smokers is immaculate.

It was bound to happen sooner or later , so you prolly have to live with it until you sell the home

Cook said:

No one suggested oil speedy dry? (I did see someone said kitty litter).

If you don't want to buy a bag, stop by your local auto garage and ask if you can have a coffee cans worth of speedy dry.

On fresh oil that's sitting on the surface you just need to cover it with oil dry and let it soak it up...then just sweep it away.

For old oil stains you'll want to let the oil dry sit on the concrete for a while...the longer the better. You can also "mash" the oil dry with your foot to break it up on the concrete. We used to do this in the farm shop...let it sit a day or two and then sweep it up.

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YEPPERS!

We used huge amounts of "Oil Zorb" in the machine shops.
Kitty Litter works almost as well.

Sometimes, you need to "grind it in" with foot traffic for a day or two.
But, It has cleaned up every grease stain I have ever seen on concrete.

Good Luck.

TIM

Go to auto zone get purple power pour it on let it sit and hit it with a power washer

A pressure washer works wonders.

I buy from Lowe's here in Florida a can of white goo that is called oil stain remover or something like that. Ask in the paint dept. Don't have any right now about $10 quart or so, Brush it on and let it dry. May have to do a second time but it is fantastic. Have used it for several years on the driveway which is paver bricks.

DO NOT TRY YOUR WEED BURNER. Also, do not ask how I know.

If you don't have a pressure washer, take some naptha and scrub into the grease spot. Then cover with grit and grind the grit in with a broom. That was my job when I was 16 was cleaning oil spots in a parking garage.

Grind in cat litter.

Oxyclean powder is powerful stuff

Had a friend that worked for Jiffy Lube and the car they had just changed oil in leaked on the guys driveway. Unfortunately, it happened to be the VP of a large concrete company... Long story short, he was consummately impressed with the stain removal, he called to ask what the guy used... It was an grease & oil cleaner from Walmart mixed with gas. Poured it on, lit it, scrubbed it with a stiff bristled brush & hosed it down... End of story.

As a guy who spent close to thirty years in the tile and stone business, including selling stone restoration products, I can tell you from experience that removing stains from stone is an exercise in patience. Concrete stain removal methods are very similar. Chance are, it will take multiple attempts to remove the stain completely, but it usually can be done.

Those who mentioned kitty litter and absorbents are on the right track. Using a poultice is a matter of redissolving the stain with (depending on the stain) a detergent or solvent, and then pulling it back out with the absorbent media. Cat litter, baking soda, powdered hobby clay, and talcum powder are the most commonly used media. Cat litter does work better if it is crushed up, you really want something close to a powder.

You can start with a detergent and some water, scrub it in to the stain, and leave it just surface damp; don't leave any standing water. Sprinkle a generous layer of absorbent over the water, enough so you can't see the moisture on the concrete. Then tape a sheet of plastic over the whole thing, at least 3 inches outside of the edge of the stain. Neatness counts when spreading the media, the tape won't stick to any stray powder. When the plastic is all taped down securely, leave it.

Come back in a day or two and if the powder looks dry, or feels crusty if you poke it with a finger under the plastic sheeting, you can peel back the plastic and sweep up the powder. If it still feels soft and punky, leave it until it dries.

Now look at your stain. If it looks lighter, the poultice is working. You can go at it again with the same treatment. If it looks no different, try again, this time with a stronger concentration of cleaner or move on to a solvent. Use fresh absorbent every time. I've seen pieces of stone poulticed 6 times and more to get a stain out.

Xylene (xylol) is a good solvent to try, it's good at dissolving a wide range of oils and greases. Mineral spirits is also a good choice. These solvents don't flash off (vaporize) nearly as fast as something like naphtha or lacquer thinner, and they usually won't eat the plastic.

Remember, poulticing a small area in something like a slab is akin to creating a stain by removing a stain. The poulticed area will often be considerably cleaner than the surrounding area.

Good luck

Chris

I tried Dawn and a scrub brush. Didn't work. I was told powered Tide might do it. Shake it on and leave it for a few days. As long as its not raining.

chad said:

I've used "clumping" style kitty litter on an oil spill on the driveway. I had to leave it there for a couple of days but it picked up the oil and left the spot where the oil was "whiter" than the surrounding cement.

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Yep. Kitty litter or commercial floordry are the way to go.

I got a bag of the expensive floor dry made of diatomaceous earth. Holy crap, it pulled out so many stains the floor in that area is cleaner than the rest now!

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Bump for 2023!

I soak with Dawn and while still moist put about an 1/8" of Oxyclean, or some sort of powdered detergent. Then I let it sit until it rains, which may be a while.

You may get the grease out but, I'm afraid the stain is there to stay.
I've never been successful in getting the concrete back to where it was.

Don't do what I did .... took a power washer to it ..... got everything out including the concrete skim coat ....