Garage Floor Cleaning

[sld]

Appreciate all the ideas. Right now as time permits I am just treating single spots with different things trying to find something that works reasonably well. Trying to clean the whole thing at once has been too much of a task.

We built this house 16 years ago and I knew then I should've taken the time to seal the garage floors one way or another. It's just one of those things you keep putting off as you build and move in.

The one that kills me is where my wife set a coffee can full of fry daddy grease once. Well, it leaked and made a nice mess before I noticed it. It's actually just darker gray and not a brown stain. Maybe peanut oil would be a good sealer for the entire floor! :laughing:

 

[kevin37b]

Oils will soak into the concrete and there's nothing you can REASONABLY do to get it all out.

That said, there's a couple of less reasonable ways.

(1) If you seal a hose to the concrete and apply a vacuum condition to it, the oil will slowly flow out. We're talking days to weeks for that though.

(2) Other way is to get water to up well through the concrete from the bottom, and carry the oil with it. Long periods of flooding can do that for you. If you've soaked the area in detergent prior to the upwelling, it works even better.

Short of that, jackhammer the floor ABSOLUTLY the most stupid post I have ever seen .

 

[Egon]

Oils will soak into the concrete and there's nothing you can REASONABLY do to get it all out.

That said, there's a couple of less reasonable ways.

(1) If you seal a hose to the concrete and apply a vacuum condition to it, the oil will slowly flow out. We're talking days to weeks for that though.

(2) Other way is to get water to up well through the concrete from the bottom, and carry the oil with it. Long periods of flooding can do that for you. If you've soaked the area in detergent prior to the upwelling, it works even better.

Short of that, jackhammer the floor ABSOLUTLY the most stupid post I have ever seen .

Why??

 

[Egon]

Oils will soak into the concrete and there's nothing you can REASONABLY do to get it all out.

That said, there's a couple of less reasonable ways.

(1) If you seal a hose to the concrete and apply a vacuum condition to it, the oil will slowly flow out. We're talking days to weeks for that though.

(2) Other way is to get water to up well through the concrete from the bottom, and carry the oil with it. Long periods of flooding can do that for you. If you've soaked the area in detergent prior to the upwelling, it works even better.

Short of that, jackhammer the floor ABSOLUTLY the most stupid post I have ever seen .

Why??

 

[George2615]

Appreciate all the ideas. Right now as time permits I am just treating single spots with different things trying to find something that works reasonably well. Trying to clean the whole thing at once has been too much of a task.

We built this house 16 years ago and I knew then I should've taken the time to seal the garage floors one way or another. It's just one of those things you keep putting off as you build and move in.

The one that kills me is where my wife set a coffee can full of fry daddy grease once. Well, it leaked and made a nice mess before I noticed it. It's actually just darker gray and not a brown stain. Maybe peanut oil would be a good sealer for the entire floor! :laughing:

Even sealing a new floor doesn't last forever. When I poured my garage floors I sealed them with 4 coats of sealer. The first 2 coats soaked right into the floor and coats 3 & 4 left a nice semi gloss shine but over the next several years the top coats of sealer eventually wore off. Now, 20 years later the floor looks dry and has no shine. I've thought about re-sealing again or using the special floor epoxy with the flakes but I have too much stuff in the garages to move everything out. I do a lot of oil changes and some always gets on the floor. Using speedi-dry or cat litter A.S.A.P. soaks up the oil before it can penetrate.

 

[fixit]

It will depend on how the floor surface is
on my old garage it was just a reasonable finish so the oil would soak in
Since then i have built two more workshops and both floors have been ready mix concreat and power floated they have a well sealed finish. so if there is a waste oil spill we find a splash of petrol or brake cleaner on the floor will lift the oil out then soak up with dry sawdust

 

[sld]

Dealing with a driveway mess now. Future SIL's car had a brake line rust thru and brake fluid is everywhere. Immediately put some kitty litter on it and seems to have taken care of it. Getting to this stuff sooner than later is the key for sure.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I've recently started cleaning up the attached garage and have some old oil / grease stains on the floor. I've tried many things but have yet to get them to "lift" out. I've tried power washing, Tide detergent, mineral spirits, etc.... Tire marks are still there too.

Anyone have any experience as to what really removes old oil stains from concrete? I don't need it perfect but the cleaner the better. I now am parking 3 cars in there that have no leaks. The main culprit was my tractor at one time but that has now been fixed.

Take mineral spirits and pour it on the floor.

Scrub it around with a stiff push broom.

Hose it off with a water hose on squirt.

The floor will look like new.

 

[/pine]

And if the OP has not got enough opinions...

https://www.google.com/search?q=remove+oil+stains+from+concrete&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

 

[sld]

And if the OP has not got enough opinions...

https://www.google.com/search?q=remove+oil+stains+from+concrete&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

You can never have too many options! I had looked at most of those links but did miss this one: Pour-N-Restore: Oil Stan Remover, Oil Stain Removal, Removing Oil Stain on Driveway, Concrete Oil Stain

Citrus based liquid that draws the stain out as it dries. Picking some up today to see what it will do. Thanks!

 

[sld]

Take mineral spirits and pour it on the floor.

Scrub it around with a stiff push broom.

Hose it off with a water hose on squirt.

The floor will look like new.

I did try denatured alcohol but had little success.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I did try denatured alcohol but had little success.

Mineral spirits. We used to get it straight out of parts washer to clean up the last shop I worked at and our floors looked like new once a week.

 

[Todd727]

Kitty litter is basically clay, at least the part that absorbs liquid. If your local soils have clay in them, then you can just use a scoop of that. Around here, we have silty-clay. I filled up a five gallon bucket and always have some free oil dry standing by.

 

[Parkanzky]

I did try denatured alcohol but had little success.

Motor oils are very non-polar.

Denatured alcohol is a polar solvent. Mineral spirits are non-polar.

Like dissolves like. Oil and alcohol aren't miscible. The mineral spirits will dissolve it.

Cleaning it from deep within the concrete is another story.

 

[sld]

I will try the mineral spirits next. The pour-n-restore that I just cleaned up did work pretty well but didn't remove it completely.