Whether its grease from a car repair gone awry, cooking oil from your last barbecue or oil from a leaking vehicle, the chances are you will someday have to face an unwanted stain on your driveway or patio paving. Accidents happen and it helps if you know how to remove stains from pavers.
How to Remove Oil Stains from Pavers
In this article, we’ll discuss a few tips and tricks on removing stains from pavers on your driveway or in your backyard. The post is a step-by-step guide on how to remove grease and oil stains from pavers.
Most times, you should be able to remove stains with products you already have at home or that can be easily purchased at your local home improvement store. Removing stains from pavers is a simple task you can carry out on your own. However, there are cases when you’ll need to have your paved driveway or walkway professionally cleaned or replace the stained paving stones, so they look as good as new.
Removing Grease and Oil Stains from Paving Stones
- If the stain is fresh and still has liquid sitting on the surface, soak up as much of the grease and oil with paper towels and rags.
- If there’s still a significant amount of grease or oil on the paving stones, spreading conventional kitty litter on the stain and gently pushing it into the stain should help. You don’t want to use a wire brush for this as it will scratch the pavers. Give the kitty litter ample time to soak up the liquid then remove the litter by sweeping it up before disposing of it.
- Scrub the stained area with water, dish soap and a deck brush or scrub brush (avoid wire bristles). It’s always advisable to use natural products if possible, but a dish soap that’s known for cutting grease and oil will provide satisfactory results. Alternatively, you can use baking soda in place of dish soap, particularly on smaller stains.
- Finally, spray down the area with a garden hose fitted with a nozzle to direct spray the area under higher-pressure. Alternatively, you can use a pressure washer to remove the oil and grease stains better, but you must be careful not to use too much pressure as that will damage surfaces like paving stones, bricks and concrete.
- If the methods above will not remove the grease and oil stains from your pavers, there are other options. For example, consider spraying a liberal amount of oven cleaner on the stain, then letting it sit for about 20 minutes before rinsing it down. However, be careful when using oven cleaner as it’s filled with chemicals that are not good for you to breathe or to be rinsed into flowerbeds, lawns or storm drains. Another option is to purchase a degreaser that’s specifically made to remove stains from pavers.
Removing Stains from Pavers
Once you know how to remove stains from pavers, you can have them looking as good as new in no time. If you’ve tried all options with no success, that means you need to have your pavers professionally cleaned or install new pavers by a qualified professional. The pros at San Diego Pavers are skilled in laying beautiful pavers whether it be from your backyard to your pool deck.
