Oh great. Your daughter’s skeezy boyfriend parked his rusty ol’ Camaro in your driveway and it leaked oil all over your driveway. To make matters worse, it’s been sitting for a few days. So, how do you remove grease from your driveway? Well, it’ll be tough. But try some of these methods for cleaning up oil on the driveyway.

For fresh oil on your driveway, sprinkle some kitty litter on it ASAP. It doesn’t matter what type of kitty litter you use – we use this all natural stuff that’s made out of corn and it works just fine.  You could also pour sawdust on it as well. Wait for the litter to soak up the oil spill – maybe wait 10 or 15 minutes – then just sweep it right up.

For anything that’s soaked in, grab a scrub brush and work in some grease cutting dish soap. If that doesn’t work, try a mixture of clear, hot water and 2 ½ ounces of washing soda. If THAT doesn’t work, escalate to ½ ounce of TSP plus a gallon of hot water. Be sure to rinse completely.

If all the above fails to work, then it’s time to bust out the big guns.

That means buying something. To cut right to the chase, grab a bucket of muriatic acid. Be super, super carefully with this stuff – I know some people say things are acidic, like lemon juice and the biting wit of David Cross – but this is the real deal. It will eat through anything – shoes, skin, and most importantly, driveway stains. Use with caution. Just dump it on and hose it off as soon as the stain goes away with a garden hose.

For a safer, greener alternative to muriatic acid, you might want to try this stuff called “Green Envy Muriatic Acid Alternative.” It’s supposedly environmentally friendly and is suitable for preparing concrete. I also hear good things about SuperClean Degreaser and Personal Pride Eco-friendly Concrete Cleaner & Degreaser.

Let me know if any of this works for you – the kitty litter worked for us, but we caught it soon!
Image by JancyLi