How do I remove cooking oil stains from concrete

Hello everyone, I have a chance to do a pretty good sized restaurant but the owner wants me to clean a large cooking oil stain ( Possibly 800 sq ft). I don't know how to clean this type of stain.Surely someone on this board has tackled this kind of problem before and has some ideas. It looks like their tank that they dispose all of the used cooking oil in overflowed and was tracked through their drive-thru lane. Please help!! I'm a newbie but I'm willing to tackle this if I can resolve the oil stain issue. I think the payout would be ok if I can keep the manhours under 12 hours. Thanks in advance for your help!

I have when it is dry put the cement powder used to make concrete on the stain and let it set for 2 or 3 days then broom it up and the stain was gone. You do not want any rain during this process. I am interested to see if any other suggestions. This one worked for motor oil stains on concrete.

Dish soap and steem clean.

So many views but so few replys. I'm still looking for help on removing these stains. The clock is ticking on the bid process. Thanks to all who reply.

if you know how to use acid and hot water....

Hot water is the key. Acid won't do much for grease stains, but caustics will. But hot water and any detergent will do the trick.

Ditto on Roberts suggestion. ....hot water and a caustic cleaner. Castrol makes a caustic cleaner that works very well even when diluted 10-1. Sold by the name "SuperClean". You can get it an most any automotive parts store. Sold as degreaser. (Also makes white walls real bright.) 800sq ft isn't all that big of an area...maybe an hours worth of work (Be sure to comply with run-off regs). Ballpark how long it would take you and multiply by what you'd like to make per hour. We try to get a min. of $75 per hour for any and every motor that is running. Our rule applies on any jobsite regardless of whether we are striping or doing other work like cleaning or surface prep.

Thanks alot Guys, I think I'll try your ideas and see what works best for this particular job. Once again, Thanks Brian

Here's a driveway oil stain removal tip, it may work. You spray the oil stains with WD-40, then pressure wash. Hot water is definitely better. You can get WD40 in gallons, try a pump up sprayer.

I deal with this all the time. I would not use cement powder unless the area was barricaded and you were guaranteed that nobody would be around and it will not rain. A couple of times people around here tried this and one area a dog urinated on the powder and it got hard and somewhat attached itself to the concrete. It came off mostly with a lot of pressure and hot water but you can see where it was. The other was where someone threw out a drink or coffee and the same thing. You can still see where it was. You can use something like cheap kitty litter and smash it into powder and let it sit for a few days and then do it again several times and most of the oil will come out. Then use a strong degreaser and hot water and clean it. Depending on how old the stain will determine how much will come out. Concrete is like a sponge and the pores absorb the oil and stain. If you are very lucky and the stain is not too old you will get it real clean. Most of the time there will be a shadow of the stain that might go away in time. Hope this helps.

oops Robert... Is there a difference between cooking oil and motor oil? We have used hot water and acid for years with great results except for the holes in my skin..

\\\STRIPES/// wrote on May 5, 2006:Go to #7

Sold by the name "SuperClean". You can get it an most any automotive parts store. Sold as degreaser.

Main ingredient besides water: 2-butoxyethanol. We buy it in 55 gallon drums as a concentrate. We pretreat stains full strength, let stand 15 minutes then pressure wash with hot water (very hot water). Some forms of "purple stuff" are made with Sodium Hydroxide, aka caustic soda, aka lye. Both types are CAUSTIC and require eye and skin protection. We also use it on: engines, equipment, boats, shop floors. Will oxidize aluminum and fade paint. Good stuff. Acids will not remove oil stains, but will remove the substrate the stain is in. Acids are good for removing excess concrete, rust stains, and efflorescence.

Best advice would be to use a citrus degreaser, they are sold by about everyone, and also work great on asphalt. We have been using Zep's Big orange for the last year or so, and love it, although all of them out there are very similar. It will do a great job at breaking down the grease / oil, then you can wash it off with water, it will emulsify when wet, they are also bio-degradable and don't require as many safety precautions as other cleaners...Just my two cents