LESLIE: Tom in Texas is on the line and needs some help with a driveway cleaning project. What’s going on?
TOM IN TEXAS: Well, I have a couple of old, large oil stains on my driveway and wanted to know what you thought about getting it removed.
TOM: What kind of driveway do you have? What’s it made out of?
TOM IN TEXAS: Just concrete.
TOM: It’s a concrete driveway, OK. And they’re really old oil stains?
TOM IN TEXAS: Yes. About a year, maybe.
TOM: One thing you can try to do is you can mix up a paste of trisodium phosphate – TSP. You can pick that up in a home center or a hardware store. It’s usually in the paint department.
And mix it up into a paste, so not a whole lot of water. Just a real sort of soppy paste, kind of like wet concrete. And then spread it onto that stained area and let it sit, let it dry in place. You may find that that draws out some of that stain and lightens it up enough where it’s not quite as obvious as the rest of the surface.
If that doesn’t work, then I think you’re going to have to chalk it up to charm, because it’s pretty difficult to get oil out of something that’s as absorbent as concrete.
TOM IN TEXAS: OK. TSP then.
TOM: TSP.
TOM IN TEXAS: Alright.
TOM: Now, here’s a more important question: have you fixed the oil leak in the car?
TOM IN TEXAS: Yeah. I finally got that done, yes.
TOM: Alright, good. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
Leave a Reply