Will Pressure Washing Remove Oil Stains?

Have you ever noticed that one of your cars was leaking oil onto your driveway? Unfortunately, this happens way too often. Not too long ago I was getting an oil change at a local oil change shop where the only service they offer is oil changes. I waited about 30 or so minutes and my truck was ready to go. I drove home and it wasn't until about 2 days later that I finally noticed the oil stain spots starting to form on my driveway. What happened you might ask? The employee that was working on my truck forgot to tighten the oil filter on all the way and it was causing a serious leak. This is apparently very common! This was a painful experience and one that I hope to never personally experience again. The positive side of this, is I know how to handle these situations because it is a part of my job.

Common Types of Oil that Stains Driveways

There are several types of oil that stain driveways and those include:

1. Food Grease: These are less common on residential homes but most common at restaurants, gas stations and any apartment complex with valet trash.
2. Hydraulic Fluid:  less common on residential homes but can include power steering fluid, brake fluid, and other mineral base oils used with heavy machinery and equipment
3. Gasoline: Common stain at gas stations due to spillage but can often occur at home when filling up a lawn mower/landscaping equipment or any other gas type motor. Usually these stains are not as dark as oil stains and less apparent when glancing over at concrete.
4. Transmission Fluid
5. Motor Oil: Most common stain deriving from a vehicle. Most of the time this occurs from getting your oil change at a car dealership or fluids change shop, but can occur from changing the oil yourself. The best practice to reduce spillage is to cover the ground with cardboard boxes before attempting to change the oil yourself.

Best Practices for Removing Oil Stains

The process for cleaning oil stains is as follows:

1. The best practice for fresh oil stains is to immediately put kitty litter on top of the stain (be generous). The absorption properties of the kitty litter allow for most of the stain to be removed from the surfaced.
2. The next step is to figure out what cleaning agent you're going to use. There are several options.
3. Baking Soda
4. WD 40
5. Laundry Detergent
6. Concrete Cleaner
7. Degreaser (Best option in my opinion)
8. Apply the cleaning agent.
9. Let Dwell for 5-10 minutes (scrub with a broom or light brush to agitate the surface during this time).
10. Rinse the Area and pressure wash.

So Can You Remove an Oil Stain by Pressure Washing?

The short answer is, yes pressure washing can remove oil stains, but only partly. Here's why. Concrete is porous meaning it has several layers to the surface. Oil stains unfortunately slip into the lower layers of the concrete and are the hardest of stains to remove from any concrete surface. The good thing, however, is that there is a solution to this problem. By spraying a degreaser down on the concrete, you can help bring some of the oil to the surface of the concrete. This then allows you the ability to use a pressure washer to wash away the stain.  What kind of degreaser is good for oil stains? The top 2 oil stain removers we use are F9 Double Eagle by Front 9 Restoration and Oilzilla by Texas Pressure Washing Store.

For more questions on how to remove oil stains, Call us at 832-298-4879 or give us an email at support@texaspremierpw.com.

By Robert Dill 2/21/2023

References:

1. https://www.bhg.com/homekeeping/house-cleaning/surface/how-to-remove-oil-stains-from-driveway/
2. https://www.amfam.com/resources/articles/at-home/removing-oil-stains-from-concrete
3. https://prosoco.com/how-to-remove-oil-stains-from-driveways/
4. https://www.fixautousa.com/blog/get-rid-of-oil-stains-on-driveway/
5. allstate.com/resources/car-insurance/how-to-remove-oil-from-driveway
6. https://www.motorbiscuit.com/5-ways-remove-oil-stains-driveway/