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I take a lot of pride in my new home and I have a problem that is driving me nuts. My wife and I both drive older model cars and despite getting them recently repaired we still have very minor oil leaks that leave dime sized oil stains on our new concrete driveway when leave them parked over night. When we were shopping for homes I was always turned off by homes with huge oil stains in the driveway. Maybe I am just picky, but it drove me nuts. And now I feel like our place will look like one of them (Oh the Humanity !) We aren’t leaking huge amounts of oil, but over a few years I imagine all these “dime sized spots” will add up and make our driveway look just as bad. How do other people deal with / repair this when they sell their homes. Is there someway to resurface the driveway? I know there are cleansers that claim to remove these stains but I hear most don’t really work, and I don’t see the point in doing it now as our cars will continue to periodically leak anyway and putting soemthing under the cars to absorb the oil is almost as unsighlty as the oil staisn themselves! Anyway, if any of you realtors have ever had to deal with a client trying to sell a house plagued with an oil stained driveway and have recommendations on what they did to fix the problem please share it with the rest of us.
By the way, why are all the driveways here in NC concrete anyway? Is it because asphalt would get too hot in the summer? I miss having a black asphalt driveway that would hide such minor leaks. Although concrete looks nice, any minor flaw really sticks out!
I think the major reason is concrete lasts longer than asphalt. That's why DOT makes most high-volume interstates in concrete (when they can afford to do so, that is).
An alternative of course, is to have a gravel driveway. Not as pretty, but at least there's no stormwater issues or stains.
There are a couple of "solutions", you can buy some stuff to absorb the stains, and they will then fade over time. That has helped us. We park in our garage and my husband actually used to park his motorcycle on an old area rug, he sold the bike and now parks his car over it.
At our old house, we painted the garage floor with special paint that resists those type of things.
If you are parking in your driveway, I don't have any real suggestions!
You might try cleaning the concrete with brake part cleaner.
I'll be doing that soon in my own driveway, so I hope it works like that feller on the car forum said it would.
You can get brake part cleaner at Advance Auto, and I think right now they hae a BOGO on the store brand. It's not expensive anyway.
Try going to an auto parts store and asking one of the "car guys" about a cleaner that works. I doubt this will be the first time they have heard this question and since most of them probably have concrete driveways too they should know of something that works well. I know our here in California I have seen and used concrete cleaners that take off just about everything. Power washing afterward will definitely help. When you get all the spots out, go to Home Depot or an other home improvement store and get a CONCRETE SEALER. most people will use it for patios but it will work in driveways since - ta dah - they are made from concrete/cement too. Hope this helps. Most of this info I have seen on HGTV - good stuff. Char
As a gearhead who works on his own cars, I can attest to what MikeJaquish said - the brake parts cleaner does work. You may still have a very light stain left behind, but nothing like before, and what's left will be taken care of by weather over time. And not only that, the stuff works great on carpets too (if you happen to get some oil on your shoe soles). Just don't get it in your eyes!
Of course, if it was me - I'd get the oil leak fixed. Then the concrete vs. blacktop debate is a non-issue. I know, easier said than done, right?
I never really thought about the scarcity of blacktop drives in the area. Come to think of it, most driveways I've seen almost anywhere I've ever been have almost always been concrete, if they're paved. Blacktop also gets MUCH hotter in the summer sun. Hope you don't like walking barefoot!
As a side note, permeable or porous pavers are great for drive ways! They come in many styles and colors and are truely a beautiful. PLUS if one gets stained you can remove it and replace it w/ a new one! Not to mention they are great for controlling storm water run off. It can be expensive, but since so many bricks are made in central NC maybe it's more affordable there.
As for the orginal post, I'm not sure what will remove the stain, but if you put kitty litter down it will catch the stain before it gets to your drive way.
I have always assumed it was because the concrete doesn't get as hot as the aslphalt does in the summer. But when you really think about it, the concrete ones (while definitely easy to stain.... and unavoidable to stain really) do last longer and are much more resistant to cracking and deteriorating.
Concrete can be placed on the steep driveways we often have, where asphalt cannot, or will not hold. So drives are concrete, since no tract builder wants to use two different materials on the same street.
Concrete will take the heat better than asphalt, and done right will bridge voids and settled areas. Asphalt will sag to conform to voids and areas that settle.
Concrete will not "scrub' away from tire squirm in hot weather. Asphalt does, and will separate around the edges, since it is not as cohesive a pavement as concrete.
But for a driveway basketball court, asphalt is MUCH easier on the feet and legs, since it is "softer."
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!) We aren’t leaking huge amounts of oil, but over a few years I imagine all these “dime sized spots” will add up and make our driveway look just as bad. How do other people deal with / repair this when they sell their homes. Is there someway to resurface the driveway? I know there are cleansers that claim to remove these stains but I hear most don’t really work, and I don’t see the point in doing it now as our cars will continue to periodically leak anyway and putting soemthing under the cars to absorb the oil is almost as unsighlty as the oil staisn themselves! Anyway, if any of you realtors have ever had to deal with a client trying to sell a house plagued with an oil stained driveway and have recommendations on what they did to fix the problem please share it with the rest of us.
