# Cleaning Up Oil on Concrete



## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

Woke up and just about cried this morning. Changed the oil in my wife's car yesterady and left the oil pan off to the side of the garage. Well she left the house for a few hours yesterday and returned in the evening and somehow managed to run over the oil pan and apparently 'forgot' this had happened. So of course about 5 quarts of used oil leaked out of the damaged oil pan and all over our brand new garage floor. FML. 










Anyway... anyone have any tips on cleanup? I have about 80lbs of kitty litter covering it right now but I know that it's still going to stain. I either live with the stain or apply some elbow grease and some other cleaning product. But was wondering if there are any good products out there for oil cleanup? Friend recommended a 2nd application of kitty litter and grinding it down until it's a powder, which I might try, but it all amounts to the same amount of work. 

PS.
******* mondays.


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## hawgeye (Mar 3, 2011)

Newspaper will pull up a lot of it. Just lay it flat on the area. Another reason it doesn't pay to change your own oil! Lol, my garage looks much nicer now that I painted the floor and oil cleans up like a breeze.


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## Rasputin (Jan 13, 2009)

Bummer. I've been using that "Goo be Gone" stuff and it seems to work pretty well. Good luck


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## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

hawgeye said:


> Newspaper will pull up a lot of it. Just lay it flat on the area. Another reason it doesn't pay to change your own oil! Lol, my garage looks much nicer now that I painted the floor and oil cleans up like a breeze.


Funny I just talked to a painter/coating friend of mine and we talked about epoxying the floor in the spring. Interesting how that conversation preceded this incident by less than 48 hrs.


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## Luv2hunteup (Mar 22, 2003)

Scrub brush and mineral spirits will help after you get the bulk of it up with oil absorbent.


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

I just had this happen also. I had a rider blow a engine just a month ago so I parked it in the garage. It leaked oil everywhere. So I went and bout a bag of kitty litter and put it out. It picked up most of it. I still have it sitting on the remainder of it now. I am thinking I will still need something to remove the stain also. Kitty litter works if you need to pick up big spills.


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## cstroh (Jan 3, 2013)

Coke (as in soda pop). it's nasty stuff, cleans well tho.


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## Steiny (May 30, 2011)

Unfortunately, concrete is pourus and you will likely never get all of the oil out now.
Clean it up and get it off of there ASAP by whatever method but unless you have a real hard troweled slick finish on it, some will have absorbed into the concrete and you will have some discoloration there forever.


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## grapestomper (Jan 9, 2012)

Use brake clean. the spray stuff. all of it will come up.


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## U D (Aug 1, 2012)

Simple Green, straight. Let sit and wash off. Good luck.


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## multibeard (Mar 3, 2002)

If I remember right concrete right out of the bag cleaned up oil stains. I will let you know as I had my transmission develop a serious leak last week. I will not be able to try concrete until spring.

EDIT I am talking straight concrete not mix.


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## Lamarsh (Aug 19, 2014)

U D said:


> Simple Green, straight. Let sit and wash off. Good luck.


Whenever I get oil on my concrete drive, which is about every time I change my oil, I also use non-diluted simple green, I just dowse the spot in it, and it actually does prevent the stain, but I think it only works well if you do it right away and allow the simple green to completely overwhelm the oil. Probably won't work in this situation. It is a good degreaser tho. 

Didn't GM used to use Coke soda as a degreaser back in the day, or is that just an urban legend?


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## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

1. Kitty litter type absoring media
2. Simple Green as noted above
3. Time: repeat the above several times. It may take months to get most of it. 

I wouldn't worry about a remaining stain. I realize you just built a house but stuff like this happens.


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## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

Luv2hunteup said:


> Scrub brush and mineral spirits will help after you get the bulk of it up with oil absorbent.


I've used gasoline to cut the oil and get it off, then scrubbed with Comet and an brush. Maybe bleach wiped on it afterward might help.

If you use anything that is flammable, leave the garage door open and don't light a match.


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

The dust in a garage will absorb a lot of it, after the puddle is wiped up.. Sweep it onto it, rub it in let it sit then sweep off and discard.


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## dachief (Feb 20, 2010)

Kitty litter, mineral spirits, simple green, or if you can find it some heavy duty concrete floor soap, used to use it in my father's gas station years ago, and when it would rain outside on thr drive would sprinkle some on and just let it set on the stains while it would rain, cleaned em right up, Dave.


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## Big Frank 25 (Feb 21, 2002)

Pig Mat! I was surprised at how well it pulled the oil up out the concrete!


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Gas followed up by lots of hot water and dishwashing detergent. Now I've got clean spots that are shinier than the rest of the driveway, and need to pressure wash the rest to match!


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## alex-v (Mar 24, 2005)

Everything mentioned will help.

Instead of Kitty Litter get the oil dry stuff from an auto parts store. Lot cheaper. Let it sit and then sweep up. Put more down and scrub it into the floor using the back of a push broom. Do that a couple of times and then start using the solvents people have mentioned.


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## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

Well got about 120lbs of litter down... probably could use another bag yet. Oil insidiously crept in many places I would rather it not have... least of which was my ice shanty and folding chair I had laying on the garage floor. The shanty sopped up quite a bit of oil  

I can wash the shanty bag fine but cleaning the shanty itself is going to be a chore...

Oh the things we do for love 


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

Simple Green and a stiff broom will get the concrete clean 
Dishwashing soap and a stiff broom will get it just as clean at half the cost.


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## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

I've got some oil eater and krud kutter along with some trisodiun phosphate( only a few bucks for 5 lbs) coming from amazon and a stiff nylon brush that attaches to your drill. Or a deck brush if that doesn't work. Between the litter, detergents, and brushes I should be able to knock it down. I figure it's going to take me a week of better to attack it though.

One silver lining... forced me to organize the garage :/


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## bowjack (Nov 20, 2011)

I would try spreading a layer of kitty litter or floor dry over the area and use a brick or piece of concrete in swirling motion to grind it in. It will pull most of the oil up that wasn't absorbed by just putting kitty litter on it. Should make it easier when you use the other products to clean it.


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## flyting (Jan 22, 2010)

bowjack said:


> I would try spreading a layer of kitty litter or floor dry over the area and use a brick or piece of concrete in swirling motion to grind it in. It will pull most of the oil up that wasn't absorbed by just putting kitty litter on it. Should make it easier when you use the other products to clean it.


This is the same way I clean my garage floor or grease on my sidewalks.


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## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

bowjack said:


> I would try spreading a layer of kitty litter or floor dry over the area and use a brick or piece of concrete in swirling motion to grind it in. It will pull most of the oil up that wasn't absorbed by just putting kitty litter on it. Should make it easier when you use the other products to clean it.


A friend who does industrial coatings and floors recommended the same process. Said grinding down the litter into a finer powder shoulder work wonders


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## brigeton (Feb 12, 2004)

After you get the worst soaked up with kitty litter use Tide mixed with mop water. It's what we used in the machine shop I worked in where there was constantly oil spills on the floor.


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## R.J.M. (Jun 10, 2007)

I'd talk to your painter friend about what to use . If your going to epoxy the floor some thinks epoxy won't adhere to . I've had good luck with straight bleach and scrubbing but I'm not epoxying over this so I'd ask first if I was


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## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

Was thinking that, with all the good input you have, and the amount of oil spilled, you might be able to create a design of experiments of sorts. Divide the spill site into a gridwork, and use a different cleaning suggestion in each grid section, and record the efficacy of each suggestion.

To be sure you have repeatable data, spill the same amount of oil again, on fresh concrete (new part of the garage), establish a new gridwork, and conduct the experiments again. This would all be done, of course, out of concern for your fellow man, so that the best solution for oil spill cleanup is widely known.


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## Luv2hunteup (Mar 22, 2003)

I'm sure it's already cleaned up by now.


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## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

kroppe said:


> Was thinking that, with all the good input you have, and the amount of oil spilled, you might be able to create a design of experiments of sorts. Divide the spill site into a gridwork, and use a different cleaning suggestion in each grid section, and record the efficacy of each suggestion.
> 
> To be sure you have repeatable data, spill the same amount of oil again, on fresh concrete (new part of the garage), establish a new gridwork, and conduct the experiments again. This would all be done, of course, out of concern for your fellow man, so that the best solution for oil spill cleanup is widely known.


Haha... I actually (jokingly) thought about just spilling oil across the whole damn thing. At least that way it would all be the same color. 

So far a stiff nylon brush drill attachment and krud cutter seems to be knocking it back considerably. Will know tomorrow when I pickup 2nd application of kitty litter.


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## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

well here's what it looks like after the following process: 1 application of kitty litter to pick everything up, then went over everything with Oil Eater and a heavy duty nylon brush attachment for the drill (for the most part just put the oil eater down undiluted), then a 2nd application of kitty litter over all of that. 

Better than it was and not tracking oil anymore... but just going to have to wait for nicer weather to clean it up more. 

I think if I put some detergent down on it to let it sit and powerwash it in the spring that should pick it up pretty well. 

But that's about as good as it's going to get for now...


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## flyting (Jan 22, 2010)

I still go with grinding in absorb all right off the get go. Anything else has a chance to stain the floor more.


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## Radar420 (Oct 7, 2004)

flyting said:


> I still go with grinding in absorb all right off the get go. Anything else has a chance to stain the floor more.


I agree. I've had our work van leak oil on client's brick pavers. Kitty litter ground in with the heel of my boot works wonders but it's always been done in a timely fashion.


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## grapestomper (Jan 9, 2012)

Use either Brake clean or electrical parts cleaner and the stain will be gone.


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## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

I have to wait until nicer weather too much crap in the garage to move it and let it sit outside...


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## Luv2hunteup (Mar 22, 2003)

Power wash it when you can after let detergent soak in for a while.


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## Buddwiser (Dec 14, 2003)

From personal experience this past summer, nothing works short of acid and that eats the cement. I even bought a power washer run scrubber, used everything I could think of, everything that was suggested.....nothing has worked.


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## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

The stain I can live with... it was the oil that was tracking everywhere that was the biggest issue. I think if I let some detergent set for a few hours and then powerwash that it will knock it back a little bit more. 

I am under no illusion though that I will be able to completely rid myself of that stain. 

Spilled milk at this point...


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## alex-v (Mar 24, 2005)

d_rek said:


> well here's what it looks like after the following process: 1 application of kitty litter to pick everything up, then went over everything with Oil Eater and a heavy duty nylon brush attachment for the drill (for the most part just put the oil eater down undiluted), then a 2nd application of kitty litter over all of that.


Sometimes putting down or using something undiluted is not as effective as using the product the way the manufacturer intended. Many of the oil eating solvents are oil based themselves. Just something to keep in mind.


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## tuckersdad (Oct 30, 2010)

diluted acid


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## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

alex-v said:


> Sometimes putting down or using something undiluted is not as effective as using the product the way the manufacturer intended. Many of the oil eating solvents are oil based themselves. Just something to keep in mind.


I tried a diluted application first but that didn't seem to be working as well. So technically it hate a diluted solution on top of it, and i just splashed some undiluted on top of that.


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## hypox (Jan 23, 2000)

Would burning it off work?


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## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

hypox said:


> Would burning it off work?


Not a good idea. Concrete will pop and spall with a lot of heat applied. I've seen driveways literally explode when people had fires sitting directly on them.


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## hawgeye (Mar 3, 2011)

Steve said:


> Not a good idea. Concrete will pop and spall with a lot of heat applied. I've seen driveways literally explode when people had fires sitting directly on them.


Right on! You definitely don't want to use a torch on concrete, it can be very dangerous.


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## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

Crap I already mounded up a pile of old pallet wood for kindling and have been dousing it with gasoline... I thought for sure that would get rid of that oil spot!


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## fishindad (Mar 11, 2009)

d_rek said:


> I have to wait until nicer weather too much crap in the garage to move it and let it sit outside...
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Every garage has too much crap, at least the garage of any self-respecting sportsman, lol. Nice work on the cleanup. You should at least get the wife to buy you a new ice shanty, seeing's how it was her fault and all : )


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## hypox (Jan 23, 2000)

Lol!... OK, no fire! I had a slightly different vision of a technique but we'll just say it was a bad idea.


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## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

fishindad said:


> Every garage has too much crap, at least the garage of any self-respecting sportsman, lol. Nice work on the cleanup. You should at least get the wife to buy you a new ice shanty, seeing's how it was her fault and all : )


SHe already obliged me the new shanty lol! 

The plan is to build up a big storage shed / small pole barn this spring or summer. What's taking up a lot of space right now is actually just leftover building material that came with the house. I probably have enough extra siding to do a small shed.


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## tuckersdad (Oct 30, 2010)

increase molar mass of acid until it removes it...


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## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

kroppe said:


> Was thinking that, with all the good input you have, and the amount of oil spilled, you might be able to create a design of experiments of sorts. Divide the spill site into a gridwork, and use a different cleaning suggestion in each grid section, and record the efficacy of each suggestion.
> 
> To be sure you have repeatable data, spill the same amount of oil again, on fresh concrete (new part of the garage), establish a new gridwork, and conduct the experiments again. This would all be done, of course, out of concern for your fellow man, so that the best solution for oil spill cleanup is widely known.


You're mean.


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## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

d_rek said:


> Crap I already mounded up a pile of old pallet wood for kindling and have been dousing it with gasoline... I thought for sure that would get rid of that oil spot!


As Adam and Jamie would say, "Don't try this at home. We're what you call professionals".


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## Joshmack (Mar 4, 2013)

Oil n grease emulsifier Benjamin Moore industrial coatings. Apply as directed and rinse use shop vac to remove residue. Rinse well and repeat. Probably not get rid of the spot but critical to remove the oil residue prior to coating.


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## Crawfish (May 7, 2002)

Now you can use the turkey fryer in the garage without feeling bad about making a mess.


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## devildogs67 (Apr 3, 2013)

I agree with grapestomper, use brake cleaner in the spray can it has worked for me. I've been down that road before.


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