Residential oil removal with cold water?

JDhomeservices

JDhomeservices

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I know hot water is the best way to do it, but is it possible for us residential guys with cold water machines to remove the occasional oil stain from a driveway? What would be the best product to use? Would I be better off with sodium hydroxide, or EBC, or Creet Kleen from powerwashstore.com, or something like that? I know Russ Johnson has a caustic/butyl mix he sells too...

Is this something I can offer my clients or am I just wasting my time trying to do it with cold water?
 
I have always got better results with hot water but maybe Russ has something that might help with cold water, give him a call and see what he says.

I stay away from those powder masks (we call them masks because they just hide the stain and don't clean it, they don't remove it and just blow away with hard winds or wash away with the first rain), you can do almost the same thing with sand or other powders but the customer does not want to pay a professional to come out and put down a powder and charge good prices, they usually want something done about the stain.

I have always been lucky with motor oil stains if they are less than 2 weeks old using hot water. No luck with hydraulic stains down here as the fluid is black and instantly stains the concrete. I have tried with strong degreasers and hot water within an hour or two of the stain happening and no luck at all but with motor oil I usually can get out fresh stains.

Old stains that are months or years old, I let them know that I will make the stain look better but cannot remove it all so they understand and are not expecting the stain to be totally gone. If you don't talk to them first and help them to understand the situation, they will be disappointed.

I don't believe in the ask forgiveness or apologize nonsense that some people rely on when the job is done and it does not look any better than when they got there instead of educating the customer when you could not do the job that the customer is paying you to do, especially when you know upfront that the stain will not totally come out, that is just cheating the customer in my opinion.

Nobody wants to spend money on cleaning something and it not all be gone but if you explain the situation to them and they still want to try, that is another thing all together and then they are not totally disappointed when there is still a shadow there.

Russ has some great degreasers, you might order some and try them on a gas station or convenience store parking area where you know there will be leaky car oil spots unless you know of some houses that have some bad spots to try out. This way you know what the degreaser will do and what you are able to provide your customer for the future when you get those calls or are upselling jobs.
 
Christopher said:
I have always got better results with hot water but maybe Russ has something that might help with cold water, give him a call and see what he says.

I stay away from those powder masks (we call them masks because they just hide the stain and don't clean it, they don't remove it and just blow away with hard winds or wash away with the first rain), you can do almost the same thing with sand or other powders but the customer does not want to pay a professional to come out and put down a powder and charge good prices, they usually want something done about the stain.

I have always been lucky with motor oil stains if they are less than 2 weeks old using hot water. No luck with hydraulic stains down here as the fluid is black and instantly stains the concrete. I have tried with strong degreasers and hot water within an hour or two of the stain happening and no luck at all but with motor oil I usually can get out fresh stains.

Old stains that are months or years old, I let them know that I will make the stain look better but cannot remove it all so they understand and are not expecting the stain to be totally gone. If you don't talk to them first and help them to understand the situation, they will be disappointed.

I don't believe in the ask forgiveness or apologize nonsense that some people rely on when the job is done and it does not look any better than when they got there instead of educating the customer when you could not do the job that the customer is paying you to do, especially when you know upfront that the stain will not totally come out, that is just cheating the customer in my opinion.

Nobody wants to spend money on cleaning something and it not all be gone but if you explain the situation to them and they still want to try, that is another thing all together and then they are not totally disappointed when there is still a shadow there.

Russ has some great degreasers, you might order some and try them on a gas station or convenience store parking area where you know there will be leaky car oil spots unless you know of some houses that have some bad spots to try out. This way you know what the degreaser will do and what you are able to provide your customer for the future when you get those calls or are upselling jobs.
Click to expand...

I agree Chris.

I tested out the degreaser that I use on this little area first just to see what type of results we would achieve before proceeding to do the entire lot.

Fuel Before 2.jpgFuel After 2.jpg
 
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I wonder if someone held his beer as he did that?
 
I have seen that video before.

The problem with using a torch on concrete is when concrete gets too hot, pieces (large and small) start popping off the surface leaving permanent holes (damage) if you are not careful.

That and burning gasoline on concrete is not too safe either.

I hope nobody tries this on a gas station.
 
Chris, you are right on. But if you are getting paid enough and have the patience that technique does work.

Chris S, has the big Lowes propane torch hooked up to a full sized propane tank for this. But he rarely does any residential work anymore.
 
Tony, is Chris using that for gum or oil spots? Just not sure.

Thanks.



Tony Shelton said:
Chris, you are right on. But if you are getting paid enough and have the patience that technique does work.

Chris S, has the big Lowes propane torch hooked up to a full sized propane tank for this. But he rarely does any residential work anymore.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Tony.
 
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