Oil on a Driveway

[captainhaz]

Can anyone help? I've managed to get oil all over my drive in a rented house. I think its tarmac with a loose gravel all over it. If we can't shift it we'll lose our deposit!!!

[Hippy]

Hire a pressure washer and use the special detergent supplied. You know the sort, little yellow trolley with water heaters and motors that plug into electricity supply and a hose with a trigger lance at the other end. It may take a bit of shifting but you will get rid of the worst of it.

If it was really old oil (undo sump plug whoops! glug glug!) then after the oil has gone it will leave a dark stain. This is vitually impossible to remove. I've had one on my concrete drive for over fifteen years. It shouldn't show up too much on dark tarmac.

[cockneyexile]

you can buy tarmac patch up packs in stores like b&q and wickes just spread a thin screed over the oil affected area a bag of this product costs about �5

[puddofbxm]

Try GUNK from most motor accessary shops. You just spray or pour it on the oil, give it a while and then wash off with water. The older the oil the longer it will take to shift but it's good stuff.

[puddofbxm]

try GUNK from any motor accessary shop

[AntarcticMan]

There is also an (acrylic?) paint for tarmac drives. Very easy to apply, and makes a discoloured  surface look almost like new. (available from B&Q). My old driveway was very badly stained by oil and brake-fluid spills. But after the treatment it was the smatest driveway in the street!

For concrete - there are proprietory solvent cleaners that will make the oil sink into the concrete and leave an almost perfectly clean surface.  If you can't find such a product, maybe laqcuer thinners might do the job?