04 February 2024 , 14:57
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Oil stains on driveways and patios can be unsightly but you can tackle them with common household items - and it only takes 30 minutes.
A little dirt on your driveway is expected and the majority of Brits can put up with it, but oil stains are a different story and are harder to overlook. Spillages are inevitable if you keep your vehicle on your driveaway so having the tools to tackle them when they turn up is a good way of keeping on top of them.
Removing oil stains doesn't have to be an arduous task says the experts at Terraform Driveways, and you can get the job done using common products you can find around your home. One household product which "works the best" is your laundry detergent.
According to Terraform Driveways website, laundry detergent - including powdered - contains "surfactants and often a mild alkali”. These are molecules that increase the ability of water and other substances to mix which makes it “effective at dissolving dirt as well as oil”.
The website explained: “Remember that oil is hydrophobic so a surfactant can help to lift it even when it wouldn't naturally.”
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You should pour the detergent onto the stain, leave for 30 minutes, and then scrub with a stiff wire or nylon brush. If you have powdered laundry detergent, Terraform Driveways says you should mix it with warm water to create a paste which you can then apply to the oil stain. Again, leave for half an hour and scrub with a brush. Finally, you rinse off the excess oil and laundry detergent with a hose. Once it's dry, you'll be able to see if there is any oil residue left and whether you need to treat the oil stain again.
If you have a "wet" oil stain on your driveway you can use another household staple to clean it. Terraform Driveways says baking soda has “ultra-absorbent” properties and is effective for “oil leaks that are still wet”.
The first thing that you need to do is create a paste of baking soda and warm water and apply it to the oil stain. Again, you'll need to leave the paste for around 30 minutes. If it's a particularly large stain, you can also leave the mixture overnight.
After leaving the mixture to set, you will then need to use a stiff brush to scrub the stain until it clears - Terraform Driveways says this may need a little elbow grease. To aid the scrubbing you can also use some dish soup and even some laundry detergent too. Once the stain is gone, you should rinse your driveway with clean water.
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