Here’s a quick remedy for those oil stains that end up on your garage floor. Every once in a while we are called upon to address oil stained garage floors. It’s not uncommon and these can generally be treated to a satisfactory outcome. We use the same procedure as we do when we address our client’s marble, or limestone, or travertine stains as concrete is similar to natural stone in that it is a porous material susceptible to absorbing liquids and oils below the surface. This is especially true if it has not been sealed. Deck scrubbing and the like will have very little effect of removing the stain as most of it lies below the surface: Think iceberg.
Step one: Evaluate
This photo represents one of the areas of oil staining in the garage we treated. After determining the area involved with the stain and the depth of the stain we prepare to treat it.
Step two: Prepare and treat
Most often we can fix garage or concrete staining by preparing a poultice. For this purpose a poultice is a liquid mixture resembling something of a slurry involving a powdered hydrogen peroxide mixed into water, just thick and thin enough to be poured and spread out over the stain. We will have swept or vacuumed the area before our poultice has been prepared so it’s a simple matter of pouring it on the stain and spreading it out. Once the poultice has covered the stain, we cover it in plastic and tape all of the edges down and let it sit for 12-24 hours. As the water is absorbed by the substraight the oil is drawn out of the concrete and absorbed by the powder. See photo 2. In this case it only took one treatment although in some instances more than one may be required.
Step three: Clean up and finishing touches
12 to 24 hours later we remove the plastic and scrape the now dry powder off of the floor. A little sweeping, a little vacuuming followed by some floor machine and extractor work to create an all-around uniform surface appearance and it’s almost as though a stain never existed.
If you are looking for a local professional to help with driveway or garage floor oil stain removal or to do some stone restoration, marble polishing or honing, take a look at our blog ” Marble restoration: All is not lost and click below for a proposal.
