Paint or Re-pave the driveway (oil stains)?
 

I have a couple really huge, really nasty oil stains on my driveway. It looks like someone poured a couple of quarts of oil on it. My driveway is on an incline, so it also dripped leaving bad streaks of it.

I've since removed my girlfriend's car from my house which was the cause of all my issues, so now I have to figure out what to do with the driveway.

I have tried everything everyone here has probably thought of trying (cat litter, bleach, pressure washing with acidid chemicals, citrus/degreaser mixes, oxyclean, etc etc etc)... These all helped get a few layers off, but it's still very badly stained.

Does anyone have any great ideas that worked for them, or know a general cost for a small driveway to be re-paved, or painted with that special paint that makes it look like concrete?

I gotta do something here...

Maybe get it sandblasted?
I do know that Griot's Garage sells a 2-part DIY paint that is supposed to be for garage floors. I don't know how it would hold up to outdoors use, though...

Hydrogen Peroxide?

You could always evenly coat the rest of the driveway in oil.

Sherwin Williams makes a variety of products for sealing, staining, and texturing concrete driveways. And they're probably not the only company that does so. Head down to your most serious local paint store and see what they've got for driveways, and if it'll cover oil stains. Don't know the price, but it's got to be cheaper than repaving.

Kerosene does a great job at removing oil stains from concrete. Let it dissolve the old oil, then soap and scrub away with water. Re-seal the concrete to make such stains easier to clean up in the future. If it's asphalt, just re-seal it.

Paints won't really hold up well outside. Opaque stains do better, but coverage may be uneven on weathered concrete.

I've been seriously thinking about it....

Call up your mechanic- ask them what they use for oil stains. If anyone knows about oil and getting off of various things, it'd be a mechanic. Auto Zone or Napa would probably have some advice as well.

Have you ever been around a mechanic? ...or his shop? ...or anything he's touched?

If you want to know how to get oil off of something, ask a mechanic's spouse.



I suspect the answer is probably mom spit--The Universal Solvent.

hee hee hee- good point!

Driveway Oil
 

Try this: Go to Lowe's and buy some Muriatic Acid. Very, very carefully mix in a garden hand water sprinkler (mix water and Muriatic Acid). Put the water in first then add the acid so it doesn't splatter on you. If you do get some on you, rinse immediately with some cold water from a hose. Sprinkle the mixture over the oil stain. You should see it fade. Do it again and it will fade even more.

http://images.google.com/images?q=tb...A_N_91_15g.jpg

Interesting idea... Will try it after the hurricane passes.

Thank you, thank you, thank you..... I had to say it more than once because this did the trick... the stain was BAD... like, 2 feet wide by 4 feet long, and this worked like a charm. It's almost like the stain was never there!!!


There's some newer spots from my old roommate's car when it started to leak right before he moved out. These did not come out, but I'm sure they will once I clean them up with something else, then remove the stain with the acid like I did with the big one.

You just saved me a bunch of money...

Thanks again!