kitty litter- oil stains

[petee_c]

I can only find clumping type kitty litter. The place I went to was out of oil-sorb type adsorbent in the big bags.

I bought a 15 lkg (33lb) box of kitty litter. it is the clumping type, but doesnt seem to clump. Smells nice too. I am not a cat owner, so I am not sure what the clumping action is supposed to be, and how it will affect kitty litter when used as an oil adsorbant.

I changed the ****** fluid on my wife's q7 yesterday, and had a little mishap when prying the pan off the ******. got about 2 qts of ****** oil on the garage floor. Missed the drain pan completely.

I mopped most of it up with shop rags and old towels, just trying to lift the remaining stain off a 30+ yr old garage floor. I used a can of brake clean shop rags to get rid of some of the stains when 'fresh' as well as scrubbed with a bristle brush and a mixture of about 1/2 cup dish soap and 2 gallons of hot water.

I'm leaving the kitty litter on the stains for a couple days, periodically going out and sweeping it around and regrinding it into the concrete with my shoes.

 

[58Yeoman]

I buy the clumping litter for my cats. It will clump around pee and runny ****, but my cats seem to want to pee against the side of the plastic litter box. Holy ****, then the litter/pee sticks to the plastic like glue, and I have to scrape it off. Works fine when they pee in the middle, then it clumps into a ball and is easy to scoop out. Seems like it's working for you if it hasn't clumped up with the oil.

 

[Dave Carney]

Best stuff I have found for oil stains on concrete is an enzyme product called Oil Eater, it's available on Amazon. Was $9 a gallon, now it's $12 thanks to covidflation. However, you dilute it with water anyway, and a gallon will last you a very long time.

 

[Bretny]

I typicaly use saw dust and burn it for spills. My second option that works really well is actualy just dry dirt, and throw it away.

 

[John in OH]

Kitty litter (either clumping or non-clumping) will do a pretty decent job soaking up "wet" oil, but I've never noticed that it was any help in getting rid of residual oil stains.

 

[Forgottonia]

You might try scrubbing it with a stiff bristle brush and plain ole dish detergent--e.g., Joy or Dawn or something. You'd be surprised how good that stuff works at getting stains out.

 

[Glemon]

I buy the cheapest kitty litter I can for oil and spill clean up, it doesn't need to smell good or clump, just soak up oil and such. If you get it on early it works pretty well not only to pick up oil, but to avoid stains.

 

[FredWanaker]

I use clothes washing soap (Tide) and water, let it sit a little while. Oil floats on water so some will come out of the concrete if you get to it right away.

 

[kelpaso1]

I just use saw dust that I get from the local wood workers in my neighborhood. Free and works fine.

 

[Goose_NC]

I have been using Tide laundry detergent. I scatter the powder over the oil stain, leave it for a couple days, then sweep it up. It removes much of the oil stains. Even the staind from before I bought my house 4 years ago. I have reapplied and each timeit reduces the oil stain. I have als used the tide and a brick to scrub the floor for quicker results. I tested the overnight results and it was good at removing the slickness of the spill, but left much of the stain.

 

[petee_c]

can you still buy powdered tide detergent? I though it was all liquid formulations now....

 

[PoorUB]

Go to a home store and buy paint thinner, or mineral spirits and pour it on the oil stain and work it in with a stiff brush or shop broom. Pour kitty liter, or floor dry over it to soak it up. The oil stain should be almost gone.
You need to get the oil out of the floor and kitty liter just will not do it.

 

[bmxdukie]

Go get a bag of portland cement.. pour it on the stain and leave it for a while. Its the fine dust that will help remove the stain.
Then clean with tide or something like that.
This is what my commercial cleaning customers do.

 

[petee_c]

Stain's mostly gone....(I think - still kinda dusty from the kitty litter) used paper towels, brake clean dish soap and a stiff brush on mop handle and then kitty litter

 

[mopar4u]

I buy the cheapest kitty litter I can for oil and spill clean up, it doesn't need to smell good or clump, just soak up oil and such. If you get it on early it works pretty well not only to pick up oil, but to avoid stains.

Same experience for me.

also use it for antifreeze or ****** fluid clean up. Helps i have cats so i always have litter around.

 

[John in OH]

Go get a bag of portland cement.. pour it on the stain and leave it for a while. Its the fine dust that will help remove the stain.
Then clean with tide or something like that.
This is what my commercial cleaning customers do.

The cement sounds like a good idea! I'll have to give it a try sometime.

 

[Tostal]

The cement sounds like a good idea! I'll have to give it a try sometime.

The Race Marshalls used to spread cement on oil spillages at race tracks, I'm not sure if it removed the oil stain (although it seemed to have done so afterwards) or was done to quickly make the track less slippery so racing could continue.

I've used a solution of Tide or similar clothes washing powder, brushed in, left to soak, then vacuumed out with a wet/dry shop vac, then repeated if necessary. My thinking was to try to get something that might dissolve the oil that had soaked into the concrete worked in and then sucked out. I thought it probably better not to use my shop vac if I had used a solvent to dissolve the oil.

~Tostal

 

[rayra]

I have been using Tide laundry detergent. I scatter the powder over the oil stain, leave it for a couple days, then sweep it up. It removes much of the oil stains. Even the staind from before I bought my house 4 years ago. I have reapplied and each timeit reduces the oil stain. I have als used the tide and a brick to scrub the floor for quicker results. I tested the overnight results and it was good at removing the slickness of the spill, but left much of the stain.

Sometimes I'll sprinkle the powder, mist it with water and use a pushbroom to work it into a damp paste and let it sit on the tougher stains. Keep it damp to keep up the leeching action.

 

[Train]

I use the absolute cheapest litter I can find. Sometimes the stain might be there for months, and this still works. Pour on a little Varsol, and rub it in with a nylon brush. Doesn't even need to be stiff, and you don't have to scrub hard, just rub it in. Cover with cat litter and leave it a couple of days. Works every time. I've used paint thinner, and it works, but not as well. Takes two applications instead of the one with varsol. I thought they were the exact same thing, but apparently not.

 

[PoorUB]

Good luck finding Varsol in the USA. I wonder if it got the axe from the EPA. I can find it on Cnadian web sites.

 

[ZRX61]

Good luck finding Varsol in the USA. I wonder if it got the axe from the EPA. I can find it on Cnadian web sites.

Varsol Solvent

Used In Industrial, Professional, And Consumer Goods Applications

www.laballey.com

 

[PoorUB]

Varsol Solvent

Used In Industrial, Professional, And Consumer Goods Applications

www.laballey.com

Sure, but nearly $100 a gallon? 5 gallons for over $300? 55 gallons for nearly $900?

Mineral spirits is $10 a gallon every where!

 

[wayne55]

Grind in the kitty litter a little with your shoe.

 

[onewheat]

Kitty litter works great - probably better in the driveway than the polished garage floor, but still good. My FedEx delivery guy's truck drips and so does my landscape guy's truck. Dump a little on the spot, grind it with my shoe and forget about it. By the time it blows away, there is no mark left on the concrete. It does the same in the garage, but eventually, you have to sweep it up - because it doesn't blow away in there.

 

[rossddvm]

The problem with using concrete it is a single use Item, at least around here with our relatively high humidity a bag quickly becomes a block.

 

[Jeepster04]

Dollar General typically has the non clumping stuff.

 

[smalltown]

I would still try to find the oil dry.
I keep mine in a 5 gallon bucket.
Whenever I have an oil spill I toss some on the spill/spot then using the end of a piece of 4x4 scrap about 6-8 inches long I grind the oil dry right into the spill spot. I'm always amazed at how it cleans up the spill/spot.
No need to wait to clean it up. Get it dried up before it soaks into the slab.
Then I simply clean up with a dust pan, and it's into the trash.

 

[Jlarson]

We get actual oil dry for some stupid price from our supplier but I hate using it, and yeah it's yet another thing that's suffered at the hands of the current covid/supply chain/dumpster fire. We try and use pig mat and avoid the spill in the first place.

A piece of sheetrock works good on stains, take a hunk and grind it in.

 

[mikegt4]

Kitty litter works great - probably better in the driveway than the polished garage floor, but still good. My FedEx delivery guy's truck drips and so does my landscape guy's truck. Dump a little on the spot, grind it with my shoe and forget about it. By the time it blows away, there is no mark left on the concrete. It does the same in the garage, but eventually, you have to sweep it up - because it doesn't blow away in there.

My experience exactly, grinding it in with your foot pulverizes the material to a more absorbent powder that really ***** the oil up.

 

[CJDave]

Smear the stain with waterless hand cleaner such as GoJo. Leave it. In a few days the hand cleaner will be gone and the stain should be also. CJDave.

 

[bugman-74]

Like many that have already posted I start with Floor Dry or Oil Dri to get the wet stuff up. Then I follow it with a thin layer of a bioremediation product called "Eximo", which I have found to work wonders at removing oil stains from concrete. On a bad stain that has absorbed well, I will re-treat with Eximo once a week for about a month.

 

[Mallen]

I buy the clumping litter for my cats. It will clump around pee and runny ****, but my cats seem to want to pee against the side of the plastic litter box. Holy ****, then the litter/pee sticks to the plastic like glue, and I have to scrape it off. Works fine when they pee in the middle, then it clumps into a ball and is easy to scoop out. Seems like it's working for you if it hasn't clumped up with the oil.

You might need a bigger box for them. Here's the most awesome thing I ever found. Take a puppy pad. They cost like 4 bucks for a pack at walmart. Tape it to the bottom of the box with masking tape. If your cats pee again at the side, fold it up along the sides. Now, when the cat urine soaks through and pools in the bottom of the box, if doesn't glue a giant clump to the bottom. It absorbs into the puppy pad.

It gets better. Buy a second litter box. Every so often, line that litter box and dump the litter into it. Remove the puppy pad and throw it away. Rinse the old box and put it away.

I use this low dust clumping litter called Okocat made from wood because my cat has asthma. It looks kind of like rabbit pellets and costs 20 bucks for a big box at petco. It lasts about a week normally. But with the puppy pad absorbing the extra urine that gets through to the bottom of the box, it lasts a month. And my cat is diabetic and pisses like a race horse. (Yea, he's 19 years old and a basket case)

In fact, the better the litter absorbs, the worse the puppy pad trick works, although even then it still works really well. But if less urine soaks into the litter, then the litter doesn't last as long. But if it reaches the bottom of the box, it's absorbed by the pad.

 

[longez]

Try a little 100LL Avgas on the oil spot - use a paper towel to keep it wet for a few minutes and use a broom - when it dries the oil spot will be 95% gone. Obviously, be damn careful with the Avgas and flammability!!

Don't bother trying this with unleaded car gas - won't do anything

 

[driftpin]

Go get a bag of portland cement.. pour it on the stain and leave it for a while. Its the fine dust that will help remove the stain.
Then clean with tide or something like that.
This is what my commercial cleaning customers do.

Yep, that's what I've used and it works well.

 

[IMCA38]

I keep an old brick in the shop to grind in the oil-dry/ kitty litter. Works well.

 

[rburke65]

I just spilled about a gallon plus of hydraulic fluid on my concrete floor. 40 years ago it was treated with Thompson Water Seal but nothing since. I used Oil Dry, then Diesel fuel on a rag…the next dry I was shocked as how clean it was.

 

[Worsedog]

I have some oil dry made from Fuller's earth. It was expensive as hell, but goes a long way. I'm sure it's just finely ground kitty litter, it looks like termite ****. It will also lighten old stains as well.