anyone know a good way to get oil stains off the garage floor?

[cwiert]

i've got a bunch of small oil drip stains on my garage's concrete floor. aside from painting the floor, any good tips out there to clean it up a little?

[legion]

Go to Wal Mart and get the absolute cheapest bag of kitty litter you can find. I bought a 50 lb. bag of "Special Kitty" for around $2. The cheap stuff won't have any of the perfumes or other chemicals you don't care about for cleanup duty.

Completely cover the stain with the kitty litter. Let it sit for a week.

[rouxroux]

And if you have any residual stain left after the kitty litter treatment, "Pour & Restore" will get the rest. Used both, then light acid-etched before I epoxied our floors.

[cwiert]

cool. thanks. i'll give it a try.

[Oh Haha]

Yep, kitty litter is great.

Drop a pile on the stain(kitty litter, you clowns) and then smush it around, pushing it into the stain. Let it sit for a few days and then scoop it up and re-use.

I keep a waste can full of the litter and just keep using it.

[scottmandue]

The spray car engine degreaser stuff works pretty good too.

[ruf-porsche]

Why wait, grind the kitty litter into the concrete with your feet and sweep away the residue. Oil Gone.

[rcecale]

Originally Posted by ruf-porsche

Why wait, grind the kitty litter into the concrete with your feet and sweep away the residue. Oil Gone.

Cleaning up spilled fuel, hydraulic fluid, engine oil, etc., on the flight line, while I was in the Marine Corps, we called that dance move "The Speedy-Dry Shuffle"!

Randy

[myamoto1]

Originally Posted by legion

...get the absolute cheapest bag of kitty litter you can find. Completely cover the stain with the kitty litter.

I just did this last night. I forgot to open the "breather hole" in my oil catch pan and ended up with about 2 - 3 quarts on the floor. While legion got a much better deal than I did, I spent a whopping $4 on a 20 lb bag of the cheap stuff at the local super market.

Just throw it down on the oil and let it soak in for about 10 - 20 minutes, then start mixing it around and getting the non-oil soaked bits, on the floor. Keep doing this, while stepping and mashing it into the floor, until your KL has a fairly even oil coloring. Scoop it up and toss it. Then put down a thinner fresh coat. Take the time to really grind this into the floor. The more powdery you make it, the better it'll do at soaking up the remaining oil.

Total clean up time was about 20 minutes. You can still see the stain on the floor, but I wasn't that anal about it. Besides, it was wine and stinky cheese time

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by cwiert

i've got a bunch of small oil drip stains on my garage's concrete floor. aside from painting the floor, any good tips out there to clean it up a little?

Kitty litter.

[MT930]

Kitty Litter and finish with lacquer thiner not a trace !!!!!!

[Gogar]

There's something about the KITTY LITTER STOMP that is really satisfying. My neighbors think I'm nuts, though.

[Oh Haha]

I put on my oil changing mechanic's gloves to smush it around. it usually draws the fluids out of my gloves.

I HAVE used my bare hands if they were especially dirty from working on the car(s).

[Zeke]

It's the dark stains you want out, right? You've wiped up the oil. Pour mineral spirits on the stains and scrub. Then hit with a concentrated stream of water. The oil and thinners will float on the water to wherever you designate to collect them. Usually I wet the path to the collection point prior to the thinner and scrub. Do not wet the stained areas until the scrub is done.

You can collect some of the residue in a dam made of sand. You could vacuum the rinse with a shop vac, let separate, then blot with paper towels. There are lots of safe ways to collect the small amount of thinner it takes to do the job.

IMHO, this is no more harmful to the environment than spraying brake cleaner or the equivalent on the stains. Maybe less. Hopefully less.

[kaisen]

Muratic acid, water, and a wire brush

[porsche4life]

Kitty liter ground in with a board. Grind it into the stain till it is a fine powder and then sweep. I can't do this in my garage however because somebody painted a few cars in the garage and any oil spill bubbles the paint on the floor and it turns into a narsty mess

[dad911]

Oil Eater on stains. Costco sells it. http://www.oileater.com/

[s_morrison57]

To late now but if you put down paper, cardboard or plywood you won't get those stains on the concrete, ya I know it was the PO of the concrete that made the mess so hang up a big sign in the garage and blame him, clean up the excess but you will always have the stain unless you get the grinder out

[azasadny]

I pour Simple Green on the floor, let it dry, repeat over several weekends, then pressure wash and the spots are gone!!

[T77911S]

Originally Posted by legion

Go to Wal Mart and get the absolute cheapest bag of kitty litter you can find. I bought a 50 lb. bag of "Special Kitty" for around $2. The cheap stuff won't have any of the perfumes or other chemicals you don't care about for cleanup duty.

Completely cover the stain with the kitty litter. Let it sit for a week.

grind it into the floor. i usually stand on it and do the twist. you can also get a 2x4, about a foot long and grind it in too. i got the idea from a shop that had a 2x4 on a broom stick, they used it to get the oil up. i usually just get down on my hands and knees with the 2x4, have not crafted the modern broom handle way yet. works very well. i had an old pair of sneakers that had no tread on them, that helps too.