Do you have an unsightly oil stain on your garage floor that you just can’t seem to remove? When stains occur on concrete, it can be challenging to remove them. Fortunately, with a little work and the right products you can have your garage floor looking like brand new in no time.

First, it’s important to note that if you have a fresh oil stain on your garage floor, you should take care to immediately clean it up. Concrete is a porous material. That means it will absorb the oil and make it even more difficult to clean up.

Oil spills are also hazardous. They pose as a tripping hazard and if you forget you stepped in it, you could bring the oil onto your home’s indoor carpeting.

Cleaning Up Oil on Concrete Floors

For starters, we don’t recommend using any heavy-duty solvents of synthetic chemicals unless it’s a last resort. Not only are they toxic to you and the environment, they could damage your concrete floor.

Natural products that work well on oil stains include:

• Baking Soda
• White Cleaning Vinegar
• Boiling Water

Other helpful products include:

• Cat Litter
• Soda (Pepsi or Coke)
• Dish Detergent
• Laundry Soap
• WD-40
• Pressure Washer

If the oil spill is fresh, try to mop up as much of the oil as you can off the surface of the concrete.

Once you’ve cleaned the surface of the concrete, pour a generous amount of baking soda over top of the stain and allow it to sit for at least a few hours. The baking soda should absorb most of the stain out of the porous concrete. After the baking soda has sat for a period, pour white vinegar over top and scrub vigorously with a hard brush. Finally, boil a pot of water and carefully pour it over top of the stain.

That should take care of most stains, but if it’s an old stain or there’s still some remaining, you may need to repeat the process.

If you don’t have any luck with the baking soda, vinegar, and boiling water combination, you can try some alternative products like cat litter or soda. Cat litter works like baking soda in that it absorbs the oil. Many people have also reported success after pouring soda directly onto the stain.

You can also try scrubbing the stain with a soap like dish detergent or laundry soap. Other options include spray WD-40 or using a pressure washer to rinse out the stain.

If you’ve exhausted all other options and the stain remains, you can try using a heavy-duty cleaner like bleach or ammonia. For stains that still remain after this, your only other option is to try a solvent or contact a professional for help.