Removing Driveway Stains Removing Driveway Stains

Leaky cars can leave you with oily driveway stains, ruining the appearance of your driveway with unattractive and smelly dark patches. It takes a little effort, but with this driveway stain removal guide, you can eliminate even the oldest and toughest driveway oil stains.

Step 1 – Clear Your Surface

Before beginning work on the stain, sweep the stain and immediate surrounding area to remove any excess dirt or debris.

Step 2 – Make a Cleaning Paste

Sprinkle dry detergent over the entire surface area of the stain. You don’t need to use enough detergent to completely cover the stain, just enough to create plenty of suds, once moistened. Dampen the detergent using fresh water. Your goal is to create a sort of paste with the detergent, not to wash it away.

Step 3 – Scrub

Using your wire scrubbing brush and some extra water, scrub the entire stain with small, forceful circular motions. The detergent should turn to dirty brown suds. Scrub as hard as you can, thoroughly going over the whole stain.

Step 4 – Rinse and Repeat

Once you’ve scrubbed the stain and covered it in brown suds, rinse the suds away with a hose. Repeat steps 2 and 3 repeatedly, rinsing in between repeats, until the resulting suds are white or mostly white rather than brown.

Step 5 – Apply Kitty Litter and Towels

Even when you can’t scrub any more oil out of the stain with detergent, there will still likely be a dark patch present. Sprinkle a thin layer of kitty litter over the rinsed, damp stain. Moisten your towels so that they are very wet, but not quite dripping wet, and lay them over the stain and kitty litter, covering the entire stain. If your towels aren’t particularly thick or heavy, weigh the ends down with rocks or something heavy. You want to have solid contact between the wet towel and every part of the kitty litter covered stain.