How to Remove Oil and Chemical Stains from Asphalt Pavement
Stains which are left untreated will cause your asphalt pavement to deteriorate fairly quickly. This is because asphalt pavement is comprised of sand and aggregates which are held together by a binding agent, and this binding agent will be dissolved by oil and some chemicals. In situations where oil or chemicals have been allowed to remain on the surface of asphalt for quite a while, it will often cause the surface to be softened.
For this reason, it’s always best to deal with any stains as soon as they occur, because any untreated stain will become absorbed by the asphalt, and will promote deterioration. To prevent oil or chemicals from being absorbed by an asphalt surface, you should have your driveway or pavement area seal-coated every 2-3 years, as needed. If you haven’t yet seal-coated, here are some of the best ways to handle oil and chemicals, so they don’t have a chance to start breaking down your asphalt pavement.
Oil stain remover
There are several oil stain removers on the market which are easy to use, and which will effectively remove stains left by grease, oil, hydraulic fluid, and practically any other materials which have an oil base. Your first step should be to scrape off any buildup in the area, and then you should apply the oil stain remover directly on the area where the stain was. You’ll have to leave the stain remover in place for somewhere between five and eight hours, until it turns into a powdery substance. Then you should be able to sweep away the powder, along with all of the remaining oil residue.
Coca-Cola
After wiping off any excess oil or chemicals, pour several cans of Coca-Cola on the stain, and leave it in place overnight. The next morning, you can wash off the entire area, and that should remove any oil or chemical stain with it. Keep in mind that this technique will be most effective on a stain which has recently been put in place, and it will not be quite so effective on a stain that has been in place for a longer period of time.
Kitty litter
Clean off all the excess oil or chemical substance on your asphalt pavement, and then put down a layer of kitty litter where the stain was. Pat the kitty litter down in place to make sure that it gets deep into the pavement and has a chance to absorb whatever substance caused the stain. For best results, you should leave this in place overnight, and then the next day you can sweep it all away. Then you should only have to hose down the surface area with water, and both the stain and the kitty litter should be entirely gone.
Replace deteriorated asphalt
If you have left a stain in place for an unusually long time, chances are none of the techniques above will have much impact, because the asphalt itself will have been broken down by the substances in the stain. In this case, there’s not much you can do because the oil or chemicals have been saturated right into the pavement, and caused it to be altered and weakened.
That means you won’t have much choice but to completely replace the damaged area. Assuming that it’s a relatively small area, you should be able to heat it somehow in order to soften it, and then scrape away the saturated layer of asphalt. Then you’ll be able to replace it with some new asphalt, which you can patch in and hopefully blend in with the surrounding pavement.
