Do you notice some unsightly oil stains on your concrete garage floor or driveway? If you keep your cars, lawn mowers and similar outdoor equipment in the garage, it is practically impossible to prevent occasional oil spills or grease stains from happening. Oil spills or grease stains are not only unsightly, but they can also make you slip and fall, ruin your shoes, and get tracked into the house.
The good news is that there are several feasible options on how to clean oil off concrete garage floor. In this article, we take a look at some of the best ways on How to Clean Oil off Concrete Garage Floor. All our methods are quite simple and affordable, but they will demand a certain amount of elbow grease as far as scrubbing goes.
Cleaning Supplies Needed:
- A broom
- Commercial Vacuum Cleaner
- A nylon brush with stiff bristles
- Stiff plastic scrapper or putty knife
- Water
- Laundry detergent
- Cat litter or sawdust
- Eco-friendly degreaser
- Poultice
Table of Contents
How to Clean Oil from Garage Using a Detergent
Step 1: Absorption
To clean a recent or fresh oil spill, spread the cat litter or sawdust liberally on the affected area to absorb the excess oil or grease. Make sure the entire stain is covered in order to remove as much oil stain as possible from the concrete garage floor. Allow the litter to stay for up to two days before sweeping it up.
Step 2: Sweeping
After blotting up as much of the oil stain as possible with cat litter, sweep it up before applying any soap solvent. Failure to sweep up the litter might result in a secondary stain, which could be harder to remove. Using a broom, sweep the concrete to get rid of the litter or sawdust from oil-stained garage floor. Then, vacuum the concrete floors to eliminate all the dust and dirt from the floors.
Step 3: Mopping
This step is all about mopping your concrete garage floor using a mixture of soap and water. Rinse the floors with clean, cold water using a garden hose. This is to make sure that you will be working in a completely clean area free of dirt, dirt and debris.
Step 4: Saturation
In this step, you are going to saturate the oil stain with your cleaning solution to dislodge the grease and break up the stain. To make the solution extremely soapy, mix a generous amount of liquid dish soap with warm water in a bucket. Pour the soapy solution directly onto the stain to saturate the oil stain, and leave it seated on the stain for about one hour.
Step 5: Scrubbing
After pouring laundry detergent onto the stain and letting it sit for an hour, scrub the stain with a quality nylon-bristle brush which leaves no marks or scratches on the concrete surface. Remember, oil stains in a porous concrete floor will call for a bit of elbow grease to completely blast off the stain.
Scrub the stain in a circular motion, adding a little water and reapplying the laundry detergent if necessary. When done, rinse the soapy water out of the garage using a power jet wand or garden hose. Apply a higher pressure for better results. Finally, let the area air dry.
How to Clean Oil off Garage Floor Using Pour-N-Restore Method
Pour-N-Restore is a cleaning option comprising a combination of a citrus degreaser and a non-leaching absorbent. It is one method that works more effectively for spot-cleaning smaller oil stains. Follow the steps below to clean oil from garage floor.
Step 1: Scrape off the spots
Using a putty knife or stiff plastic scraper, scrape any oil, grit and sand off the affected spots and sweep the area clean. It is recommended that you wear a dust mask, gloves and eye protection in this step. It would also be useful to ensure good ventilation.
Step 2: Cover the stain with Pour-N-Restore
Spread a liberal amount of Pour-N-Restore over the stain with a quarter-inch notched trowel. Allow it to dry completely. Depending on the humidity and temperature, it requires up to eight hours or longer to fully dry. We recommend using this method at temperatures above 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step 3: Sweep it up
As soon as the Pour-N-Restore has dried into a powder, sweep it up thoroughly. Throw the powder into the trash immediately for secure disposal.
Step 4: Allow the moisture to evaporate
After sweeping the powder, you can now relax and allow the moisture from the affected spot to evaporate completely. This should take a couple of days. The stain will be gone when all the moisture from the area is fully gone. If the oil stain persists, reapply the product and scrub the spot with a nylon bristle brush or push broom. Leave it to dry, and then sweep up to blast off the powder.
Warning: Do not use Pour-N-Restore on asphalt.
How to Clean Oil from Garage Floor Using a Poultice
Using a poultice is another common method used to remove oil stains from concrete garage floors. Poultice works largely on small and stubborn stains. This treatment option is made by saturating an absorbent material (like pool filter media, cat litter or sawdust) with a strong solvent (like lacquer thinner, acetone, MEK, or xylene).
All you need to do is smear this material over the oil stain on concrete garage floor. After applying the poultice mixture on the oil stain, cover it with a plastic wrap and leave it to rest. Poultice works through the process of osmosis, allowing the solvent to break down the oil and pull it out of the concrete by absorption. Even though this process works, it is time-consuming and may not be cost-effective or practical when it comes to dealing with large oil stains.
Final Thought
Quite evidently, cleaning oil off concrete garage floor is super simple as long as you know the right ingredients and steps to do it. Panicking or calling in the professionals to clean oil or grease spots on your concrete garage floor is not a wise idea as you may end up spending a lot of money for no good reason. Simply grab a scrub brush, pick up your favorite cleaner and get down to business. We recommend cleaning the oil stain as soon as it happens to make the process easier and less time-intensive.
