After manualizing my transaxle, the garage floor is greasier and oilier than ever before--it was pretty nasty to begin with. What is the proper way to wash really nasty garage floor?
THanks!
By
texasrolla, January 14, 2007
After manualizing my transaxle, the garage floor is greasier and oilier than ever before--it was pretty nasty to begin with. What is the proper way to wash really nasty garage floor?
THanks!
On unsealed concrete floors? First have to sweep up the loose debris and larger pieces off the floor, then spread kitty litter or something like DRY-RITE brand Oil Dry (works like magic, no joke - we use it all the time in the hydralic shop, pulls oils and grease almost completely out of concrete). Work it into the surface a bit and let it soak up the oils.
If you want it really clean - then follow it up with a quick hose down with some plain water and hitting the whole area with a standard degreaser/all purpose cleaner - like Simple Green - and work it into the garage floor, rinse clean and dry.
purple muscle also works great, or does just about any concentrate degreaser at the auto store. mix it 1:1 with water, spray it down, hose it off, squeegee it dry, then paint the floor after its dried for a while.
If you paint the floor, won't it become slippery when wet?
To clean grease I usually grab a spray can of brake parts cleaner and blast the trouble areas.
Max
Simple Green works very well, and believe it or not, so does Tide or Dawn.
To clean grease I usually grab a spray can of brake parts cleaner and blast the trouble areas.
The entire floor is quite dirty, so to clean it with brake cleaner would probably require several cans. I really don't want to turn my garage into a toxic land site.
If you paint the floor, won't it become slippery when wet?not if you get fine sandblasting sand and mix it in with the paint, that'll make the whole floor non slip.
When I spilled Mobil 1 on my garage floor, I used 4 oz. Pine Sol and 1 oz. Ultra Dawn (approximate measures) in a bucket of hot water. Scrubbed it in with a brush, hosed it off. Mobil 1 -- gone! Now I have a large, embarrasing clean spot in the middle of my garage floor. Got to finish the job wall-to-wall this spring!
I also like Greased Lightning.
Bikeman982
Do these solutions also apply to a concrete driveway??
I almost bought a 3-step product that will epoxy coat your entire garage floor. I figure it would cost around $200, but I'm sure you would have to do a super clean job before you apply it.
Bikeman982
I keep my car on an old piece of carpet in the garage. When it gets too dirty, it will be disposed of.
Do these solutions also apply to a concrete driveway??
That depends. My garage floor, like all concrete garage floors, is smooth finished and apparently was sealed at some point after it was cured, but all that happened ten years ago when my house was built. How much of the sealant remains is hard to say. I don't think the Mobil 1 penetrated very much, if at all. On a driveway, the surface is deliberately finished much rougher, in order to provide more traction since it is exposed to water, ice and snow. Unless it is also sealed, oil would have more of a tendency to penetrate. Unless it is immediately treated with an absorbant material and then a strong detergent solution such as the one I suggest, the oil would soak in deep and leave a permanent stain. Of course, even with immediate treatment, it is unlikely to get it all out, but the damage can be minimized. Also, there are commercial acid cleaning compounds which could reduce oil stains on concrete.
Do these solutions also apply to a concrete driveway??
Short answer, no.
Long answer is that we have a rust spot on our driveway because the guy who we bought our house from parked his late 1970s Eldorado on the driveway instead of in the spacious 2.5 car garage, and the Eldorado had rusty coolant and a leaky radiator and waterpump. This rust spot will not come off with anything, not even a commercial grade iron and rust remover. Our friend, who used to pour concrete says the only way to get rid of the stain in the short run is to rip out the driveway and pour it again because sidewalk and driveway concrete is so porous that anything that gets on it and soaks in is there permanently.
Bikeman982
Maybe it can be sealed or painted with a darker color than the oil stain?
Maybe it can be sealed or painted with a darker color than the oil stain?
What colour would you suggest to cover iron oxide orange? The only colour that will for sure work is red, or maybe black. I'm not about to be the only person on the street with a driveway that isn't grey just so I can cover a 1 foot in diameter spot that you can't see from the street and is covered by anyone who comes to visit when they park their car in the driveway.
Even if I wanted to do that, my neighbors would throw a fit, and I like my neighbors and want to keep up decent relations with them.
Thanks for the suggestion though, it may work for someone else who has a really bad spot they desperately need to cover up.
Bikeman982
It depends on your neighborhood, but I have seen driveway made from asphalt or concrete and some of them are covered with a dark sealant.Maybe it can be sealed or painted with a darker color than the oil stain?What colour would you suggest to cover iron oxide orange? The only colour that will for sure work is red, or maybe black. I'm not about to be the only person on the street with a driveway that isn't grey just so I can cover a 1 foot in diameter spot that you can't see from the street and is covered by anyone who comes to visit when they park their car in the driveway.
Even if I wanted to do that, my neighbors would throw a fit, and I like my neighbors and want to keep up decent relations with them.
Thanks for the suggestion though, it may work for someone else who has a really bad spot they desperately need to cover up.
I bet you could cover it with a dark sealant, and then after it dries, paint it with a lighter color to match all the other driveways in your area.
It depends on your neighborhood, but I have seen driveway made from asphalt or concrete and some of them are covered with a dark sealant.Maybe it can be sealed or painted with a darker color than the oil stain?What colour would you suggest to cover iron oxide orange? The only colour that will for sure work is red, or maybe black. I'm not about to be the only person on the street with a driveway that isn't grey just so I can cover a 1 foot in diameter spot that you can't see from the street and is covered by anyone who comes to visit when they park their car in the driveway.
Even if I wanted to do that, my neighbors would throw a fit, and I like my neighbors and want to keep up decent relations with them.
Thanks for the suggestion though, it may work for someone else who has a really bad spot they desperately need to cover up.
I bet you could cover it with a dark sealant, and then after it dries, paint it with a lighter color to match all the other driveways in your area.
Painting a concrete driveway is a VERY bad idea. The paint would create a very slippery surface, and you'd have little traction when it was wet and/or icy. Some more elaborate concrete coatings can be given a traction surface using a silica-based material, or even ordinary sand can be scattered over the wet paint. However, the problem with painting is that the paint starts to deteriorate, leaving bare spots, color fading, etc. Unless you're using one of the more high-tech epoxy-based concrete finishes, you're setting yourself up for a maintenance nightmare.
Let's face it -- concrete driveways have only a few good years of pristene appearance in them, then they start showing their age. You can use sealers on them, but eventually you end up with stains no matter what you do. I've seen very few concrete driveways over five years old that didn't have some kind of problem.
Bikeman982
Doesn't sound like there is much hope for a stained concrete driveway or garage floor.It depends on your neighborhood, but I have seen driveway made from asphalt or concrete and some of them are covered with a dark sealant.Maybe it can be sealed or painted with a darker color than the oil stain?What colour would you suggest to cover iron oxide orange? The only colour that will for sure work is red, or maybe black. I'm not about to be the only person on the street with a driveway that isn't grey just so I can cover a 1 foot in diameter spot that you can't see from the street and is covered by anyone who comes to visit when they park their car in the driveway.
Even if I wanted to do that, my neighbors would throw a fit, and I like my neighbors and want to keep up decent relations with them.
Thanks for the suggestion though, it may work for someone else who has a really bad spot they desperately need to cover up.
I bet you could cover it with a dark sealant, and then after it dries, paint it with a lighter color to match all the other driveways in your area.
Painting a concrete driveway is a VERY bad idea. The paint would create a very slippery surface, and you'd have little traction when it was wet and/or icy. Some more elaborate concrete coatings can be given a traction surface using a silica-based material, or even ordinary sand can be scattered over the wet paint. However, the problem with painting is that the paint starts to deteriorate, leaving bare spots, color fading, etc. Unless you're using one of the more high-tech epoxy-based concrete finishes, you're setting yourself up for a maintenance nightmare.
Let's face it -- concrete driveways have only a few good years of pristene appearance in them, then they start showing their age. You can use sealers on them, but eventually you end up with stains no matter what you do. I've seen very few concrete driveways over five years old that didn't have some kind of problem.
Topic List: Go to Everything Else
