Removing Oil Stains from Concrete

We’ve listed the best ways for removing oil stains from concrete, including how to remove fresh & old oil stains using a variety of household cleaning products.

Getting your concrete driveway or garage floor stained with oil can be a hassle since clearly, oil stains are extremely hard to remove. Hence, cleaning it with a brush, water, and soap won’t always do.

Oil stains on concrete can be just tiny spots and mild spills. However, if you own a car, especially an old-model one, more or less your concrete driveway is usually severely stained with oil. Moreover, the thicker the oil stain is, the harder it is to remove.

In this article, we’ll talk about several ways to efficiently remove oil stains from concrete, including using surprisingly effective cleaning agents. It might be a challenging task, but equipped with the cleaning guides below, you’ll surely get the job done in no time.

How To Remove Fresh Oil Stains From Concrete Driveway

If your concrete driveway got stained with fresh oil, you can try the following steps which have been proven effective to remove fresh oil stains:

• Remove the excess oil by wiping it with a thick rag. You can also put a small pile of sand on top of it so the oil will get absorbed. After the oil has been absorbed, remove the pile of sand.

• Combine a mixture of water, powdered soap or detergent, and baking soda to create a cleaning paste. Let the paste stay on the oil stain for a few minutes then rinse it with water.

• After that, wash the stained area with dishwashing soap to fully eliminate the oil. Get a rough brush and scrub it rigorously on the oil stains.

• Finally, rinse it with water and your concrete driveway should be as good as new.

How To Remove Old Oil Stains From Concrete

Removing old oil stains is a much tougher task, but here are the steps that might just do the trick:

• Remove the excess oil with a rag. Then, wash the oil away using a powerful detergent, and scrub it using a rough brush.

• Apply a generous amount of degreaser or concrete cleaner to lift and eliminate the oil stain.

• Formulate a poultice by saturating absorbent material such as kitty litter or sawdust with a powerful solvent like lacquer thinner or acetone, then put that poultice on top of the oil to thoroughly remove it from the concrete.

• Let the mixture stay on top of the oil for a few minutes. The oil stains should then be completely removed after rinsing them with water.

Commercial degreasers are actually formulated with oil-fighting components, which are one of the most aggressive oil removers that likewise work well with severe oil stains.

You can buy concrete cleaning solutions and degreasers in most hardware stores or online.

Using WD-40 To Remove Oil Stains From Concrete 

WD-40 or Water-Displacing-40 is a well-known effective spray that can eliminate grease and also acts as a powerful oil stain remover.   

To use, just spray a generous amount of WD-40 on the stained area and let it sit for around 20-25 minutes.

After that, wipe the stained area with a rag. As simple as that, the oil stains should be thoroughly cleaned and completely removed by then.

How To Remove Oil Stains From Concrete With Coke 

Can you believe it? Coke is surprisingly an effective way to remove oil stains from concrete.

Just pour 1 to 2 cans of coke and let it sit on the oil stain for about 5-8 hours. After that, wipe the stained surface with a rag, rinse it with water, and there’s sparkling concrete already waiting for you.

How To Remove Oil Stains From Concrete With Baking Soda 

Baking soda is very absorbent and efficient when it comes to lifting moisture after application. You can try eliminating the oil stains from concrete with baking soda by following these steps:

• Pour a huge amount of baking soda on top of the oil stain and let it absorb the oil for around 30-40 minutes.

• After that, scrub the oil stain with a brush thoroughly.

• Rinse the baking soda and oil stain with water. If the oil doesn’t get removed after rinsing it with water, try repeating the process.

However, if you notice that this process isn’t working well, try following the procedure under the How To Remove Fresh Oil Stains From Concrete Driveway section instead, which is listed above. 

Can A Pressure Washer Remove Oil Stains From Concrete?

If the oil stains are still fresh, using a pressure washer can immensely help in removing them. However, if the oil stains are old and quite severe, a pressure washer might not completely remove the stains, but merely lighten them instead.

Here’s what you need to do if you choose to use a pressure washer:

• Apply a cleaning solution (degreaser or baking soda and detergent paste) on top of the oil stain and then scrub it with a brush.

• If your pressure washer has a detergent tank, then put a generous amount of detergent in it.

• Start the pressure washer and point it onto the stained area. Make sure you’re at a safe distance from the surface while keeping the nozzle at the same distance.

• Let the detergent sit on the stained area for around 5-10 minutes.

• Remove the detergent from your pressure washer. Then, spray your pressure washer onto the stained area only with water.

Does Vinegar Remove Oil Stains From Concrete?

Vinegar is actually one of the most common, natural ways of removing oil stains from concrete. However, vinegar doesn’t work effectively by itself.

Essentially, it needs to be combined with water, baking soda, and dishwashing soap to eliminate the oil stain effectively. Meanwhile, vinegar is also an effective solution to clean tile floors.

Best Way To Remove Oil Stains From Concrete 

There are a lot of effective ways in removing oil stains from concrete. However, it also largely depends on the degree of the stain. 

If it’s a fresh oil stain, you can simply remove it with a cleaning paste made of a mixture of baking soda, detergent powder, and water. 

Nonetheless, if you want a guaranteed solution that will work best in removing oil stains from concrete, you can try to combine all the steps that we have discussed before.

As an example, you can follow the steps below:

• Remove the excess oil by wiping it out with a rag. Mix your baking soda, detergent powder, and water to create a cleaning paste, and put it on top of the stain until the cleaning agent absorbs it. After that, rinse it with water.

• Put 1 to 2 cups of degreaser on the stained area to lift the remaining oil stains, and let it sit on the stained area for a few minutes.

• Rinse the area with water using a pressure washer. Following this, the oil should be completely removed from the concrete.

For other related content, you may visit our article on how to clean linoleum floors.