When the winter snows have melted and you can see your driveway again, you might decide it’s time to clean the surface. It’s incredible that something as hard as concrete can be so absorbent – but, let someone park an old oil-leaking car on your driveway, you’ll be left with a large unsightly stain. While it’s almost impossible to remove such stains to the point where you recapture that original white concrete appearance, there are steps you can take to remove most of the discoloration.

Attack a fresh oil spill immediately, sopping up as much of the oil as you can with dry rags or paper towels. Then, sprinkle a layer of kitty litter or sawdust over the area to soak up the remainder. Sweep up the sawdust or litter, and then mix a strong solution of TriSodium Phosphate and hot water (1/2 cup of TSP to one gallon of water). Scrub the area with an old broom or with a scrub brush mounted on a long handle, so you can stand upright while you work the cleaner into the concrete. Then, flush the surface with water. For a thick build-up of old grunge and grease, scrape up the thick stuff with a putty knife and apply a solvent cleaner like SWAB™ concrete cleaner by GUNK (available at car parts stores) to get most of the stain out. Follow that by scrubbing with the TSP solution to remove the solvent residue, and finish by flushing with water. (Read the rest…)