Concrete driveway cleaning?

[Tonkaman]

I'm moving and need to clean the concrete in my garage and driveway. Does snyone on here do this sort of thing ? Anyone on here have tips for the best way to make it look new again? Should I just scrub it with concrete cleaner from Home Depot and pressure wash it?

 

[MikeGyver]

Rent a pressure washer with a diesel burner. High pressure, scalding hot water will blast out oil stains and tire scuff marks n stuff (without any additives even). A cold pressure washer will not even come close to the same performance. You could look into running a degreaser through the pressure washer if it will support this. Scrubbing with gasoline is the best oil degreaser. You can also remove rust stains with watered down muriatic acid.

 

[jeeper]

Powdered laundry soap and a broom, followed by pressure washer. Works great- you've seen my clean driveway, right?

 

[moab_cj5]

I don't know how big an area you have, but I bought Oil Absorb from Autozone, spread it over the area I spilt oil on while changing my oil when it was windy, crushed the granules (think kitty litter) into the concrete with my feet, then swept and washed the powder away. It worked really well for me, but it was only 10 sqft and not my whole driveway.

 

[STAG]

X2 on pressure washer with HEATED water. The heat makes all the difference. On ours, we turn it to "steam" setting and it makes the grease just run off our equipment like it was only mud.

 

[Tonkaman]

Wow looks like diamond rental will cost me $200 for 4 hours! Anybody have a lead on something cheaper? My driveway and garage aren't bad, is say normal wear and tear. The problem is that I'm renting and this guy seems like he's nit picky about the details. There are no real oil stains just dark spots and mostly tire marks

 

[jeeper]

A regular washer will be fine for your driveway

 

[Caleb]

Yeah, a regular pressure washer will get regular wear and tear off no problem. Check out the rentals at Home Depot. I've found they have just about anything I've wanted to rent from them (sod cutters, small skid steer, post hole auger, etc) and they are WAY cheaper than Diamond or Dill or any other rental place and their equipment is usually nicer too. My dad has my pressure washer right now, if I can get it back, you are welcome to borrow it. It's nothing fancy but I've used it many times to wash all the dirt, grime, wear and tear from the winters out of my garage, I do it every year.

 

[nnnnnate]

We had carpet installed a month ago and the installers truck leaked oil on the driveway. I sprayed it with that purple bottle "Super Clean" degreaser and forgot about it. I just looked out the door and couldn't see the spots from where I was standing. I usually will spray the degreaser then pressure wash it after letting it sit for a few minutes.

You are more than welcome to borrow my washer if you want Derek. Its nothing special, just a consumer grade Craftsman, but I've been happy with it. We had a breakfast at the church pavilion yesterday and spilled a lot of stuff all over (pancake mix, raw eggs, bacon grease, etc...) I don't know that the space had been cleaned in a long time but I took my washer over and everything cleaned right up and the concrete looked a million times better. You could give mine a try before shelling out $$ to rent something.

 

[Gravy]

I did this before we moved at our old place: concrete etcher or muriatic acid and scrub it with a hard bristle brush. took me about 4 hours but the concrete looked almost brand new compared to before. I'll dig up a picture.

but the stuff is really cheap at lowes or home depot. it comes as a powder you mix with hot water.

I had to do the same thing to my garage at my new place before I could do the concrete floor epoxy, because it had 50 years of stains and it made it white and beautiful.

 

[Tonkaman]

I have used muratic acid and a wire brush before but only for spot cleaning. I think I'll go that route mixed with a pressure washer for best/efficient results.
I appreciate the offers for borrowing a pressure washer guys. I'll let you know if I end up needing to borrow one

 

[MikeGyver]

One thing you want to be careful with if using muriatic acid, it can etch a smoothed concrete floor into a rough textured one if you don't dilute it enough.