Cleaning oil off driveway
Discussion
Is it a recent spillage?
I dropped oil on my mum's new brick driveway and a couple of goes with some industrial brick cleaner from a local hardware store seemed to do the trick. I used it neat, scrubbed the stain, left it for a while and washed off and it worked.
If the stain has been there for a while I think you would struggle to remove it.
I dropped oil on my mum's new brick driveway and a couple of goes with some industrial brick cleaner from a local hardware store seemed to do the trick. I used it neat, scrubbed the stain, left it for a while and washed off and it worked.
If the stain has been there for a while I think you would struggle to remove it.
Over the years I have tried everything but nothing ever cleans it up completely you may mask it our make it look better but never get rid of it.
Having said that I was shown a sample of a product which was a cleaner that contained enzymes which eat the oil and turn it into carbon dioxide, iirc.
If you search on line you will find these products. It is a slow process but it got rid 100% of the spill stain out of concrete.
Having said that I was shown a sample of a product which was a cleaner that contained enzymes which eat the oil and turn it into carbon dioxide, iirc.
If you search on line you will find these products. It is a slow process but it got rid 100% of the spill stain out of concrete.
. I use degreaser (gunk, engine degreaser, brake cleaners, jeyes fluid or whatever you have) get off as much as possible scrub and jet wash. It fades a bit and then after a few months or so it's gone. Get some industrial strength kitchen degreaser of the type they sell in cash-and-carries like Makro or Booker. Comes in 5litre containers and is supposed to be diluted 40:1 for general cleaning.
Make up a 10:1 mixture with warm water and pour it on, scrub it in a bit with a brush, leave it for 10 minutes and hose off. Usually does the trick but if not repeat with a stronger mix.
Just don't get the neat stuff on your hands!
One other down side is that you will end up with one exceptionally clean patch on your drive!
Make up a 10:1 mixture with warm water and pour it on, scrub it in a bit with a brush, leave it for 10 minutes and hose off. Usually does the trick but if not repeat with a stronger mix.
Just don't get the neat stuff on your hands!
One other down side is that you will end up with one exceptionally clean patch on your drive!
PositronicRay said:
kiethton said:
Brick you say?
I'm a little lazy but i'd be very tempted to lift it up, turn it over and replace.....
More likely block paving. Most will have a chamfer, and will be a bit faded. Turning them over will look odd.I'm a little lazy but i'd be very tempted to lift it up, turn it over and replace.....
I know that this post is old but, after searching the interwebs following numerous days of failed attempts at removing oil from my brick driveway, this thread helped encourage me to try some more 'controversial' (desperate) methods, which actually worked! So I'm here to say cheers to the guys that posted previously and to record my experience incase it helps anyone else in the future equally worn out and at risk of losing their hair! lol.
I just pressure washed my drive after many years of natures neglect to discover that my o/h's car had been leaking oil whilst stationary during months of lockdown. I tried putting down sand to draw it out and leaving it for hours and then overnight, but no joy. So then I tried cat litter and bicarb of soda, but still nothing. I applied driveway cleaner to the 20cm x 20cm stain and pressure washed it within an inch of its life for 20-30 mins, but this did next to nothing. Then I purchased some No Nonsense degreaser and applied it in ever stronger mixes whilst scrubbing like a man possessed for an hour... Nope, still nothing. Then I watched a vid where a guy used washing liquid and plenty of elbow grease, so I grabbed the Persil Non-Bio and started slapping that on the brickwork and scrubbing it in for an hour or two, which did lighten the stain a very little, but it was still pretty obvious.
Kind of frustrated I thought about buying £40 specialist cleaner, but it would take days to arrive and I needed the job done immediately so I could get the drive dry (before it rains again) and sealed. So after finding and reading this thread I remembered I had some brake cleaner down the garage, and some engine cleaner and then I started thinking about all the other cleaning products dotted around the house.
You know I said 'kind of frustrated'? Well, truth be told, the reality was more like: utterly fed up, slightly raging and pretty desperate! So armed with brake cleaner, Gunk engine degreasant, Swarfega, bathroom bleach, Cillit Bang bathroom cleaner and Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner Spray and an array of brushes and watering equipment I approached the oil stain again.
I can't be totally sure which cleaning agent worked best as I mixed and matched, but I'm pretty confident the spray on Brake cleaner and Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner took the win. Bleach did nowt, but after 45 mins or so of applications of brake cleaner and then oven cleaner, coupled with more furious scrubbing, a few minutes leaving it to sit and then thorough washing down between goes the stain finally came out. I was slightly worried when the oven cleaner was turning brown with each application, but it hasn't done any noticeable damage whatsoever. For info: I wouldn't recommend using Gunk Engine Degreasant as it smelled and looked like some type of oil itself, swarfega did nothing and I didn't use cillit bang in the end.
Anyway, I'm made up that the oil stain's gone, so cheers to the original posters for unintentionally spurring me on to potentially massacre, but fortunately actually fix, my driveway.
I just pressure washed my drive after many years of natures neglect to discover that my o/h's car had been leaking oil whilst stationary during months of lockdown. I tried putting down sand to draw it out and leaving it for hours and then overnight, but no joy. So then I tried cat litter and bicarb of soda, but still nothing. I applied driveway cleaner to the 20cm x 20cm stain and pressure washed it within an inch of its life for 20-30 mins, but this did next to nothing. Then I purchased some No Nonsense degreaser and applied it in ever stronger mixes whilst scrubbing like a man possessed for an hour... Nope, still nothing. Then I watched a vid where a guy used washing liquid and plenty of elbow grease, so I grabbed the Persil Non-Bio and started slapping that on the brickwork and scrubbing it in for an hour or two, which did lighten the stain a very little, but it was still pretty obvious.
Kind of frustrated I thought about buying £40 specialist cleaner, but it would take days to arrive and I needed the job done immediately so I could get the drive dry (before it rains again) and sealed. So after finding and reading this thread I remembered I had some brake cleaner down the garage, and some engine cleaner and then I started thinking about all the other cleaning products dotted around the house.
You know I said 'kind of frustrated'? Well, truth be told, the reality was more like: utterly fed up, slightly raging and pretty desperate! So armed with brake cleaner, Gunk engine degreasant, Swarfega, bathroom bleach, Cillit Bang bathroom cleaner and Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner Spray and an array of brushes and watering equipment I approached the oil stain again.
I can't be totally sure which cleaning agent worked best as I mixed and matched, but I'm pretty confident the spray on Brake cleaner and Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner took the win. Bleach did nowt, but after 45 mins or so of applications of brake cleaner and then oven cleaner, coupled with more furious scrubbing, a few minutes leaving it to sit and then thorough washing down between goes the stain finally came out. I was slightly worried when the oven cleaner was turning brown with each application, but it hasn't done any noticeable damage whatsoever. For info: I wouldn't recommend using Gunk Engine Degreasant as it smelled and looked like some type of oil itself, swarfega did nothing and I didn't use cillit bang in the end.
Anyway, I'm made up that the oil stain's gone, so cheers to the original posters for unintentionally spurring me on to potentially massacre, but fortunately actually fix, my driveway.
I tried all sorts to get oil off my block paving but in the end I got two screwdrivers, lifted out all the stained bricks and then swapped them with bricks from an area that you can’t see as it’s right in the corner beneath the bay window
Now I’ve driven over them a few hundred times they’ve settled perfectly
Now I’ve driven over them a few hundred times they’ve settled perfectly
LudaMusser said:
I tried all sorts to get oil off my block paving but in the end I got two screwdrivers, lifted out all the stained bricks and then swapped them with bricks from an area that you can’t see as it’s right in the corner beneath the bay window
Now I’ve driven over them a few hundred times they’ve settled perfectly
Sounds good. I thought about doing the same but my driveway is so tightly packed (insanely tight with a gnats whisker between them) that the blocks get too damaged trying to remove them. Brake cleaner and oven cleaner saved the day for me.Now I’ve driven over them a few hundred times they’ve settled perfectly
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