Hints And Tips On Preventing Oil Or Other Chemicals From Leaving Gross Stains On Your Garage Floor

I’ve written quite a few articles pertaining to garage floor coatings & coverings but many people I know really don’t have much money to spend on things like that. Those of us without money though are the ones that are likely to be changing our own oil which is very easy way to stain garage floors. Some car manufacturers aren’t exactly helpful either; I can think of a certain Subaru that I once had on which there was a plastic cover over the oil pan that was near impossible to get off without removing the front bumper cover. Of course they included a space for the drain bolt which made it really easy to get the bolt off but the oil would never actually drain through that little hole instead spraying the flooring with a nice thick coat of used motor oil. You can imagine the mess.

Preventing The Stains From Occurring In The First Place

I should’ve probably paid the cash to get a garage floor mat to put under it or at the very least a small mat for oil changes although they may not even make a compartment mat that is large enough to protect the floor from this car’s oil sprinkler. So of course I ended up with a thoroughly stained & nasty looking garage floor.

Clean The Spill Up Quickly

One of the main things you can do to help remove the stain is to remove the oil as soon as you can once it spills. Believe me the longer it’s sitting there the harder the stain will be to remove. Have a roll of paper towels or stack of rags for this purpose & you’ll be glad later. Don’t think that only a small amount of oil is safe either because even a little dot will make a bigger darker stain the longer it left on the concrete. This is because concrete will soak up anything liquid like a very slow sponge but a sponge nonetheless. There are products that are designed to soak the chemicals up often called concrete crystals or something similar but those can get very expensive very fast if you’re very spill-happy. If you can afford them though they would certainly help since they will absorb much of the spill but never all of it. To use them you just set them on & in the spill for however long they’re supposed to sit then sweep them with a broom that you don’t mind getting nasty & throw them away. I’ve heard people say they use kitty litter & I did try that got the type that doesn’t clump & everything but I still ended up with stains & some really gross gummed up kitty litter.

Does Garage Floor Stain Remover Work?

I can honestly say that I’ve only use a few but most will agree that garage floor stain removers have a slight chance at best of working. Even when they do work they’re not very consistent. Even the absolute most expensive & best ones leave a very light mark on the concrete garage floor & well I just don’t think that is worth the trouble. However if you do a smallish bottle of stain remover can usually be had at hardware & auto parts stores for around ten to twenty dollars but if you’ve got a truly epic spill you’ll probably have to aim a lot larger.

If The Garage Flooring Just Can’t Be Cleaned…

If all else fails your next best bet will be to use a garage floor covering. This can be pretty expensive. You might be able to do an epoxy garage floor coating after you’ve cleaned the stains with stain remover but that totally depends on the garage floor coating’s directions. You can always instead buy a mat or snap-together garage floor tiles & never worry about the existing stain or future stains since garage floor mats & tiles are both stain resistant. If you have a big persistent stain avoid peel & stick garage floor tile as the adhesives tend to break down if they touch any other chemical. That oil may be stubborn about going anywhere when you want it to but it’s great about ruining any garage floor finishes.

For more information on garage flooring check out Sweet Garage Floor.