What a mess!

[azav8or]

Advice on cleaning oil and grease covering garage floor.

I moved into a house a couple of years ago and the previous owners apparently had no ideas what a drip pan is. There are stains front to back and side to side. Some I don't recognize but mostly oil and grease. I have tried Pour and Restore with somewhat favorable results but with all the mess the price to use that would be astronomical. I have read up some on using a floor buffer with a HD grinding attachment to scrape the surface. My main question is, what is an effective method to get the main mess off? Should I use the floor buffer and then go for left over stains? My ultimate goal would be epoxy coating. Thanks, Joe.

 

[bgarrett]

what was dripping in the house?

 

[Uncle_Charlie]

Are you talking about oil and ATF stains on the garage floor?

 

[wkderf]

specific info about the stains, or even pics would help the people of the forum guide you in the right direction.

a more descriptive title to your thread will also help the more knowledgeable people on the subject find the thread to chime in.

 

[azav8or]

Renamed thread and added picture. Thanks for the advice.

 

[ddawg16]

That is a mess? Is your name Felix Unger?

But most garage standards, that is clean.

The oils soak into the concrete.

Go spend some time in the flooring threads....lots of good info over there on cleaning the floor.

 

[Steevo]

That is a mess? Is your name Felix Unger?

But most garage standards, that is clean.

The oils soak into the concrete.

Go spend some time in the flooring threads....lots of good info over there on cleaning the floor.

Don't let slobs like this guy deter you from the dream of a clean garage floor, azav8or.

If one of my cars/tractors dripped on my garage or shop floor, I would fix the leak, not let it spread. If it couldn't be fixed, I'd get rid of the leaky beast. Like you, I think that is a mess there in your picture.

What kind of absorbent materials have you tried, to get the oil up out of the concrete?

Some ideas:
Baking soda.
Crushed kitty litter (put it on and smash it good with feet, or whatever else you can to break it down into fines.
Dry silty dirt (yes, dirt), like the fine powdery talc-like stuff found on well traveled dirt roads.

Spread over the area, compacted by walking around on it, and then left for a week or three, these powders often wick most of the oil from the concrete. Sometimes a re-distribution of material weekly helps too.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Re: Advice on cleaning oil and grease covering garage floor.

My main question is, what is an effective method to get the main mess off?

Wet the floor well. Sprinkle laundry soap on it. Let sit.. The longer the better, 30 minutes minimum. Mist lightly if it starts to dry out. Use a stiff nylon bristle push broom and scrub. Rinse well.

I have had good luck withe Drive Up and Greased Lightning. Dry concrete. Apply full strength, directly to the stain. Scrub, Let sit over night. Rinse well.

I have heard a commercial steam cleaner works well.

 

[ddawg16]

Don't let slobs like this guy deter you from the dream of a clean garage floor, azav8or.

If one of my cars/tractors dripped on my garage or shop floor, I would fix the leak, not let it spread. If it couldn't be fixed, I'd get rid of the leaky beast. Like you, I think that is a mess there in your picture.

What kind of absorbent materials have you tried, to get the oil up out of the concrete?

Some ideas:
Baking soda.
Crushed kitty litter (put it on and smash it good with feet, or whatever else you can to break it down into fines.
Dry silty dirt (yes, dirt), like the fine powdery talc-like stuff found on well traveled dirt roads.

Spread over the area, compacted by walking around on it, and then left for a week or three, these powders often wick most of the oil from the concrete. Sometimes a re-distribution of material weekly helps too.

Me a slob???....in fact, my garage floor is spotless.

I sealed it prior to doing anything in there. any spill wipes right up.

And, I don't allow oil leaks on any of my vehicles.

Nothing looks tackier than oil stains on a driveway or garage.

I was just trying to make the OP feel a little better...and to be honest, his floor does look pretty good compared to a lot of others.

 

[larry_g]

I use solvent liberally applied to the stain. Scrub with a stiff brush making sure it stays wet. While wet cover with floor-dri, kitty litter or the like. Leave the kitty litter down for a few hours. Sweep and save the floor-dri for the next area. By thinning the stain with solvent the floor-dri soaks it up much easier.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[coljar]

I wouldn't be able to help. I own English cars. If they're not leaking, they're out of oil.

 

[benjamintmiller]

larry_g is correct: you need to use solvent to make the oils less viscous, then apply an absorbent material to draw them out of the concrete through capillary action.

A few years ago, I experimented with various solvents and clay cat litter. Brake cleaner worked the best, but was very expensive. Mineral spirits worked pretty well, alcohol didn't work well at all, and water with a degreaser was middle of the road.

My process for nefarious oil spills now is to pour mineral spirits on them until they are wet, apply clay cat litter, and crush it up with a board. Crushing it up increases the surface area of the clay and thus causes it to draw more of the oil out of the surface.

 

[bigbubba]

Not sure how safe it would be but I spilled a pretty good puddle of Sunoco Blu race fuel on the shop floor a while back and it left that spot shiny and new looking!

 

[plow]

Re: Advice on cleaning oil and grease covering garage floor.

I moved into a house a couple of years ago and the previous owners apparently had no ideas what a drip pan is. There are stains front to back and side to side. Some I don't recognize but mostly oil and grease. I have tried Pour and Restore with somewhat favorable results but with all the mess the price to use that would be astronomical. I have read up some on using a floor buffer with a HD grinding attachment to scrape the surface. My main question is, what is an effective method to get the main mess off? Should I use the floor buffer and then go for left over stains? My ultimate goal would be epoxy coating. Thanks, Joe.

Not very "green" of you to buy such a toxic waste dump like that.

 

[tavernaut]

You should have seen the mook I cleaned off my concrete after Katrina left my garage in 5 feet of water for 2 weeks. The top layer was like 4 inches of peanut butter and I got that out with a flatnose shovel.

When I got down to the filthy oily concrete, I spread out a LOT of laundry detergent (like a big box to cover 500sq ft) and watered it to a paste like theoldwizard1 said. I left it wet for several days and then hit it with a pressure washer. it worked well.

and cheap clay cat litter is miraculous for drying up a fresh oil spill. i think you need some detergent (or solvent) to pull an old stain up.

 

[slip knot]

Not sure how safe it would be but I spilled a pretty good puddle of Sunoco Blu race fuel on the shop floor a while back and it left that spot shiny and new looking!

I was thinking lift it with acetone but race fuel may be cheaper. either way, no smoking during this process.

 

[azav8or]

Re: Advice on cleaning oil and grease covering garage floor.

Not very "green" of you to buy such a toxic waste dump like that.

I have learned the error of my ways and am trying to make amends for my horrible decisions. Now if you will excuse me, I am going to eat my bald eagle and whale meat sandwich.

 

[mikegt4]

That looks like the typical garage floor in 50% of homes, the other 50% just use the garage for household storage.

Many good suggestions here, I would do some scrubbing with Wisk or similar laundry soap followed by kitty liter. The finer the kitty liter particles (or crushed/scuffed in with your shoe as mentioned above) the better it works. Let it sit for at least 24 hrs. and scuff it in a few times. Brakekleen may be necessary for the worst areas.

I worked with a guy that lived in a HOA, he was **** about his driveway, well actually about everything. A couple of times a year he would lightly sprinkle Portland cement on his driveway followed by a mist of water to regain the "as new" color.

 

[azav8or]

I appreciate all the advice you have given and I will be giving them a try soon. I will be sure to post in the proper section next time. Thanks.

 

[BFBOB]

I wouldn't be able to help. I own English cars. If they're not leaking, they're out of oil.

Yeah, that old joke: Why don't the English make computers?

They haven't figured out how to make them leak oil.

 

[RickP]

I've used TSP powder to clean diesel spills on my garage floor. I think it's the active ingredient in dishwasher detergent, but I buy it in bulk and mix it with water.

 

[brass89]

Not sure what kind of finish is on the concrete if any. The floors in the shop I worked at were painted, so that may have had something to do with it. Even on the places where the paint was almost non existent, some of the best stuff I used was Zep brand industrial cleaner (purple). Home depot has it for around $36/5gal. Either cut it with water (50/50) or use it straight. Make sure you have access to a hose to hose it out. Wet the floor, slosh a little of that out and use a push broom to scrub it. Thoroughly scrub over it, about 15-20min worth of scrubbing would probably do that floor. Let it sit for 5-10min (don't let it dry), then hose off.

If you opt to go this route, don't get this stuff on your clothes. If you think you might slosh some on your hands, wear gloves. It won't kill you or anything, but it's pretty nasty stuff. I've gotten undiluted degreaser on my hands, and my skin gets soft and starts to rub off a little while rinsing in water.

Major note of warning here, DON'T get it on anything painted. Just adding a little of this stuff to a pressure water wash bottle and washing the outside of the shop building, metal signs, wall paint etc started to run. Whoops. Should make those grease stains darn near disappear though.

 

[Bryan Burns]

Use mineral spirits, steel wool and a paper towel.

 

[plow]

Re: Advice on cleaning oil and grease covering garage floor.

I have learned the error of my ways and am trying to make amends for my horrible decisions. Now if you will excuse me, I am going to eat my bald eagle and whale meat sandwich.

 

[ebamba]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003EOWDMM/?tag=atomicindus08-20
This stuff works slow, but if you're patient, it will get rid of the entire stain. It worked for removing transmission fluid stains on my paver driveway. It was really set in from years of trying to clean it up, with no luck. Whenever I discover oil drips on the driveway, I simply apply a dash of this stuff on it and within a matter of days, you'd be hard pressed to find where the drip was. I also use it on grease splatter from the barbeque grill.