I recently moved into a house with an enclosed garage, and the floor had a 3
x 6 foot patch of motor oil which apparently leaked onto the floor years
ago. It is not totally hard, but more like the consistency of stiff dough.
It will scrape up if I keep at it, but it would take many hours of
back-breaking work to do this.

Any ideas how to get it up faster would be welcome.

Also how to get out the oil stain insofar as possible.

Any solvent based cleaner will let the oil go deeper into the
concrete. If you have a power washer or high pressure on your
garden hose, soak the area with Simple Green, engine degreaser
(from an auto parts), or one of the citrus based cleaners. I'd
let it soak overnight with plastic or a bucket over it to keep it
from evaporating. Go after it the next day with water, scrub
brush, stiff broom, putty knife, and more of the cleaner. This
may be a good quitting point. If you want to try to get more of
it, place dry Portland cement on it. Put it on heavy. It will
absorb the oils. This is not a fast process and may need several
repetitions.

--
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"Ray" wrote in message
news:7veJi.2643$TH2.2228@trndny06...
I recently moved into a house with an enclosed garage, and the
floor had a 3 x 6 foot patch of motor oil which apparently leaked
onto the floor years ago. It is not totally hard, but more like
the consistency of stiff dough. It will scrape up if I keep at
it, but it would take many hours of back-breaking work to do
this.

Any ideas how to get it up faster would be welcome.

Also how to get out the oil stain insofar as possible.

Thanks -- I'll give that a try. I don't want perfection, just hope to get
that layer of gunk off the floor.

-- Ray


"DanG" wrote in message
...
Any solvent based cleaner will let the oil go deeper into the concrete.
If you have a power washer or high pressure on your garden hose, soak the
area with Simple Green, engine degreaser (from an auto parts), or one of
the citrus based cleaners. I'd let it soak overnight with plastic or a
bucket over it to keep it from evaporating. Go after it the next day
with water, scrub brush, stiff broom, putty knife, and more of the
cleaner. This may be a good quitting point. If you want to try to get
more of it, place dry Portland cement on it. Put it on heavy. It will
absorb the oils. This is not a fast process and may need several
repetitions.

--
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"Ray" wrote in message
news:7veJi.2643$TH2.2228@trndny06...
I recently moved into a house with an enclosed garage, and the floor had a
3 x 6 foot patch of motor oil which apparently leaked onto the floor years
ago. It is not totally hard, but more like the consistency of stiff dough.
It will scrape up if I keep at it, but it would take many hours of
back-breaking work to do this.

Any ideas how to get it up faster would be welcome.

Also how to get out the oil stain insofar as possible.

Ray wrote:
I recently moved into a house with an enclosed garage, and the floor
had a 3 x 6 foot patch of motor oil which apparently leaked onto the
floor years ago. It is not totally hard, but more like the
consistency of stiff dough. It will scrape up if I keep at it, but it
would take many hours of back-breaking work to do this.

Any ideas how to get it up faster would be welcome.

Also how to get out the oil stain insofar as possible.

First, cover the spot with kitty-litter. Let the litter sit for as long as
necessary (stirring every day or so), until it soaks up as much of the oil
as it can. Plan on several days.

This reduces your problem by a magnitude or so.

My cats prefer the "clumping" kind of litter.

In article 7veJi.2643$TH2.2228@trndny06,
"Ray" wrote:

I recently moved into a house with an enclosed garage, and the floor had a 3
x 6 foot patch of motor oil which apparently leaked onto the floor years
ago. It is not totally hard, but more like the consistency of stiff dough.
It will scrape up if I keep at it, but it would take many hours of
back-breaking work to do this.

Any ideas how to get it up faster would be welcome.

Also how to get out the oil stain insofar as possible.

Do a search for ecochem EC-1800. It's a product from a Canadian company.
Bottle I have here says "environmentally safe, non-hazardous,
biodegradable formulation for use in removing fresh and aged petroleum
hydrocarbons from hard surfaces."

(That's assuming you've tried Dawn dishwashing detergent and a stiff
push broom and it didn't work.)