Good Ways Of Preventing Oil From Leaving Nasty Stains On Your Garage Floor

I’ve done quite a few articles on garage floor coverings and coatings, but I realize that a lot of people can’t afford to buy such things on a whim. Unfortunately, it’s those people that don’t have a lot of money that tend to change their own oil, which is probably the easiest way to stain your garage floors. Personally, I once had a Subaru that had this wonderful plastic cover whose bolts went up behind the bumper cover, going over the drain bolt. They were nice enough to leave a hole to get to the bolt, but unfortunately the oil did not drain in the direction that they must have intended, because I generally ended up with an overhead oil sprinkler. Great fun.

Preventing Stains

Now, I probably should have just paid for a garage floor mat to park it on or, if nothing else, a small compartment mat just for changing the oil, though there may not be a compartment mat big enough to contain this kind of mess. Regardless, the end result was a very gross, very stained floor.

Clean That Spill Up ASAP!

It does matter. Don’t just let the oil or whatever sit on the concrete garage floor. Soak it up with a rag or something, and cleaning the stain will be a lot easier. The longer it sits, the darker and bigger the stain will be. Concrete is porous, so it will absorb just about anything, but it absorbs it pretty slowly, and used motor oil is kind of thick. If you can afford it, use some sort of crystals to soak the oil up. Generally all you have to do is drop the crystals onto the stain, and they will absorb much of the oil, but not always all of it. Let it sit for the prescribed amount of time, then sweep it up and throw it away. Many people swear by kitty litter, and I’ve tried that, but even though it wasn’t the clumping variety, it still clumped, so I basically ended up with an oily mountain range on my still nasty concrete

You Can Always Try Garage Floor Stain Remover…

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 and best ones leave a very light mark on the concrete garage floor and, 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 and 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 You Just Can’t Remove That Garage Floor Stain…

If nothing else, you can always buy a garage floor covering whenever you do get the money. These can be expensive, though. Sometimes you can use an epoxy garage floor coating once the floor is cleaned to the kit’s specifications, but you’ll have to find one that supports this. There’s also the option of just buying a set of snap-together garage floor tiles, or one of the many garage floor mats out there, and not worrying about the staining, or even future stains as both garage floor tile and mats are generally stain resistant. However, if you end up with a really big stain that just won’t go away, don’t use the peel and stick type of tiles since the sticky stuff won’t last very long placed up against oil. The stain may not want to come out at your behest, but it will have no problem eating the bottoms of garage floor paint or other garage floor coverings.

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