Cleaning Your Garage Floor

Garages can see a lot of wear and tear depending on what they are used for. People can use garages for just about everything under the sun, typically for storage. There are those out there, though, who use a garage for its intended purpose of storing vehicles. When this happens—a garage being used for storing vehicles that are either in working order or in the process of being repaired or restored—there tend to be spills, leaks, and stains because of oil or gasoline. Oil and gas stains may seem to be extremely difficult to remove, but in actuality they are not. Here is how you can do your own garage stain removal, with out having to go to the expense of using a professional.

Cleaning the garage of oil or gasoline stains is going to be an easy task for any veteran or novice home improvement warrior. Before starting, you need to make sure that you have all your materials in one place. To do this little home improvement chore, all that you need is an old deck broom, some kitty litter, and a dust pan. Once you have gathered all of your materials, choose the largest of the oil spots to remove first. Also, you need to make sure that you have sufficient time and energy to do this task. You are going to be using quite a bit of elbow grease, so you are probably going to be tired when finished, and depending on how dirty the garage is you may end up working all day.

After choosing where to start, simply pour some of the kitty litter onto the oil spot. This material is used to absorb the oil or petroleum product, so once you have laid down a nice, fairly thin layer of the kitty litter onto the oil spot, let it sit for a few moments for the oil to be absorbed. If the stain is older, then you do not need to wait for a few minutes.

The next step is to work the kitty litter into the stain. Do this by using your foot or the broom to grind the kitty litter into the stain. Feel free to use both, since you are going to get tired. Once you have used the broom for this task, you do not want to use it inside again, since that could just bring the grease inside. So be advised, you are going to ruin your broom for any other future job, so only use one that you do not mind dedicating solely to using either outside, in the garage, or that you can throw away.

When you have worked the kitty litter into the stain properly, all that is going to remain is a fine powder. Simply sweep up the powder and dispose of the mess properly. Since the EPA has mandated special disposal procedures for oil and petroleum products, be sure that you know what the current laws and procedures are prior to disposal. You do not want to get into any trouble simply for removing the stains from your garage.