Don’t you just love the feeling when you buy a new house and you drive up on a pristine clean driveway into a flawless garage that leads to a blissful home? HA! Fat chance of that happening because no matter how new your house is there’s a chance that some contractor, neighbor or annoying lawn mower has dripped oil or some other eyesore on your driveway.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen someone on facebook or other social media platform ask how to get rid of these annoying stains.
Here is just a sample of the answers I have seen on the subject. Some of these tips and tricks might work on a fresh stain but the reality is that your concrete is very porous and depending on atmospheric pressure that oil stain could penetrate as much as an inch into the slab depending on how dense your particular slab is so no matter how hard you try, some stains may never come out.
Naomi Hughes
Dawn dish soap. Let it sit for a few hours and then wash away with water hose.
Cecilia Jones: Also Commercial vinegar
Ann Schultz: Go to Auto Parts Store.. Buy Oil Dry Absorbents for oil spills. Also Simple Green works
Kyle Dailey: Cheap cat litter and grind it in with your feet.
Josh Gokey: Depending on how old it is you may never get it up completely but hot pressure wash. Dawn dish with oil eater. Scrub with stiff brush and let it soak in.
Mark Johnson: Purple power degreaser from Home Depot or Lowe’s
Daniel James: Always change where you park your car when you are changing the oil. That way, the oil stains will be evenly dispersed. It’s hard to spot an oil stain on a driveway that has nothing but oil stains.
Rueben Yanez: Strong degreaser , wire brush on a drill then pressure wash.
Derek Brown: I got you… you need a product called bar keepers friend , the powder kind you’ll mix that 2:1 so 1 can of barkeepers and 8oz of dawn detergent. Mix this to a paste and let it set for about an hour or so , the put on the oil /grease Stain and scrub liberally and let that sit for a few min and rinse.
Kenny Davidson: Stain the rest of the driveway
Rachel Bracho: Purple power driveway and concrete cleaner
Annie Gandy: Kitty litter if its still fresh.
Tom Cash: I hired someone to come grind it off.
Janet Rizzo: Cat litter. Put it on the oil stain & then grind it in real good with your feet (of course make sure you have shoes on).
Andrell St. Jules: Acid
David Miller
Goof Off Gel in a yellow rectangular bottle. Let it sit at least one day. I let it sit two days and it did a very good job.
Sean Sanders: I had a big old stain in my driveway and my HOA was going to fine me so I got some concrete that you use on interior walls and I just covered it up and you can’t even tell where the leak was.
David Walker Sr.: Put cat litter and use a brick to rub it in.
John Alvarez: I first sprayed the stain with a car degreaser. Then, I scrubbed in dish washing detergent. After, I power washed the spot. After the area dried, I threw on more detergent. Now, the spot is very hard to find. I also heard that the oil eater liquid is good..
David Brown: Dawn dish soap/little water with a shop push broom. Scrub it in until it’s pretty much gone. Then rinse. If that doesn’t work you can use tide.
All the degreasers and what not never really seem to get deep stains out. You have to let the dawn seep into the concrete for it to work.
Joe Angel: Cat litter
Rene Carino: A room temperature coke, leave it over the stain over night and GONE
Briela Chandre: A pressure washer and the the concrete ZEP
Odie-Omar Garcia Trevino: Denatured alcohol
Sherry Guthrie Gautney: Stardust sold on Amazon. It is expensive but works well. Sprink onto spill, using a broom move it back/forth over area, after done, you sweep up remaining dust and Reuse. I’ve heard clay cat liter does a similar job, but never tried it.
Clint Harris: Get the cheap cat littler (clay type) and sprinkle it onto the oil stain. With your shoe (on your foot), rub it in breaking down the bits of clay. Sweep up. Repeat as necessary. It’s worked every time I’ve done it for swept (rough) and smooth concrete. I’ve had some mixed success with dish soap, powdered laundry soap, and other types of powders. I keep going back to the clay litter method because it always works.
Tee Lewis: Cover the spot with comet, then spray clorox cleaner and let it sit a day before rinsing.
Jake Hlavaty: WD-40 and a wire brush.
Tracy Keller: We’ve tried everything. We have diesel trucks for work. Nothing has ever worked.
Monique Sanchez: Palmolive dish soap applied liberally and allowed to set and penetrate.
Works with motor oil (I worked as Maintenance manager for a trucking company & this is what we used to clean the bays) , brake fluid, acrylic paint, 50:1 oil.
Definitely helps. Saturate the spot, let it sit a little, scrub with Hot water (we would get a coffee pitcher of hot water) & let that sit for about 15-20 minutes & then hose off.
Kevin Sahr: Paint thinner and cheap cat litter!
Garza Joe- “DAWN SOAP”
