Getting Oil Stains Off of Your Driveway: The Most Practical Method

Oil stains can be pesky annoyances on your driveway. Not only does it make your driveway unattractive, it might even decrease your property value! So how to get rid of these stains? Here are some handy tips to transform the spottiest driveway into a stainless work of art. Follow these ten steps and you are sure to get any stain out!

1. Solid materials like brick, stone, and asphalt are porous and the key is to find a solvent that can dissolve the stain. Finding the right solvent will make all the difference. Laundry detergents work wonders on greasy driveways. Use concentrated laundry detergent for the best results, the purer the better. Wisk, Tide, Cheer will all work here.

2. The detergent should be mixed with water. This mixture should be able to put your stain into solution and allow it to be dissolved. Be careful not use the solution only on the stain and not the driveway. Putting the solvent on the driveway might actually dissolve the driveway and hurt the integrity of the asphalt.

3. Scrub the stain with the solution until brown foam appears. Materials like sponges are good for applying the solution and wire scrubbers are good for subsequent scrubbing.

4. After the foam forms, rinse the foam off with water and dry with a clean towel.

5. Repeat step 3 and 4 until the foam is becomes very light. Usually it takes about three to five times for the foam to lighten. Even after the foam completely lightens, there will still be a dark spot on the driveway. Don’t worry, this stain will be removed with the next steps.

6. After step 5 is complete, scrub the stain with detergent water one more time and leave the foam unwiped. Place one or two wet towels on top of the foam as a form of poultice. The poultice keeps moisture in and allow time for the solvent to sufficiently penetrate the stone and dissolve the oil.

7. Leave the poultice (your wet towels) out to dry completely. The stain, which by now has been put into solution, will travel to the point of evaporation which is the poultice.

8. The neat part of this whole process is that the stain will move up and out of the asphalt surface and onto the top of the poultice. You can see the stain on the towel.

9. Step 6 to 7 might need to be repeated until the stain is completely removed. The longer the stain has been on your driveway, the more times you might have to complete the poultice process.

10. Feel free to try the process out with different solvents and poultices. Different stains can be removed with different solvents and poultices, so in theory you can remove any stains on porous solid surfaces made by anything with this process!! Experiment to see what works the best for you!

Until next time clean well and prosper!