getting oil stains offa concrete floor

[audiopile]

My truck seems to have developed a transmission leak.  It let me know by drooling about a gallon of ATF on my shop floor (Friday night).  I'm not too worried about the truck's tranny... that I can fix... but:  I sopped up the pool of oil with a pile of rags & scrubbed the oiled area down with gas... mopping up the gas & oil with more shop rags... but the floor's still gotta nasty stain where the pool of ATF was.  I'm fixing to hit it next with a decent hot-water pressure washer.  Anybody here got any tried and true suggestions for getting the oil stain out of the concrete?

[BillESC]

Try a box of baking soda.  Sprinkle it liberally on the stain and allow to sit overnight.  It should pull some of the stain out of the concrete.

[RoadRanger]

I've seen folks put speedy-dry on it every night to try to wick it out of the concrete but don't know how effective that is. I'd think fuller's earth (cat litter) would work better myself? The 20-20 hindsight thing to do it to use a sealer on the concrete before the problem .

[audiopile]

The 20-20 hindsight thing to do it to use a sealer on the concrete before the problem .

Do you have a recommendation for a good sealer? 

When that slab was poured, I asked the siderod for the concrete crew if they'd sealed it, as sealing it was in the bid... and I'd watched the whole operation and I hadn't observed any portion of the operation that looked like sealing was applied.  He looked at me like I had a third dick growing out the side of my head... and didn't say nothin... just walked off... got in his brand new Dodge turbo Cummins diesel dually one ton crew cab 4X4 pick-up truck with the custom sculpted leather interior, surround sound sound system, chrome mudflaps, monster gumbo tires with the gold plated super-trucker rims, 6" lift kit, and 16 shock absorbers... and drove off.

[RoadRanger]

I've seen it done and really should do my garage this year before I mess it up . A quick search brought this up:
http://www.concretenetwork.com/products-sealer
Hope that helps!

[BillESC]

You can't seal a freshly poured concrete pad.  It must cure at least a month.

[BigJD]

I use TSP from the Home Depot. Buy the powdered version it works well.

[monthlymixcd]

+1 for TSP... wear gloves though 'cause that stuff will eat your hands faster than you can say Jeffrey Dahmer!

[TimmyP1955]

Muriatic Acid used to be a common concrete cleaner.

[audiopile]

Muriatic Acid used to be a common concrete cleaner.

That's an idea... but for what I know, that sort of works... by dissolving the surface of the concrete.  I'd like to avoid that as the surface is burned in nice and smooth.

I like the idea of using a chalk (diatamatious earth or Fullers earth) to try and wick the oil out of the concrete pores.  I'm fixin on trying that soon as I make a trip to town.

[Keyguy]

Griot's Garage makes something called, strangely enough, "Concrete Cleaner". It's expensive, but it works. (removing hydraulic fluid from my driveway).

http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/in+your+garage/garage+clean+up/concrete+cleaner.do

[audiopile]

Update:

I've pulled the trigger on doing a top-coat make-over on the shop floors... some kind of epoxy, silicon, ploy something or another... The pictures in the brochure make it look simple with fabulous results.

I'll post pictures of the actual outcome when it's... well... "done"... or "done enough as far as I'm concerned".

[RoadRanger]

Sounds nice. Do you get taxed on any improvements such as that to your buildings like we do here? Folks leave their paint pealing to keep down the taxes. I remember one town where nobody had front steps because that changed the tax bracket your house was in .

Y'all won't believe this shit but in Massachusetts (and a few other states) besides the interest you might have to pay on any money borrowed to pay for your inventory you have to pay taxes on the average value of that inventory in stock over the year. You'd be taxed to death out this way .

[audiopile]

Sounds nice. Do you get taxed on any improvements such as that to your buildings like we do here? Folks leave their paint pealing to keep down the taxes. I remember one town where nobody had front steps because that changed the tax bracket your house was in .

Well... it is common in this area to leave the front of a new house "unfinished"... tar paper or tyvek basically indefinately, with the finish sheeting tucked away in the rafters of the garage until a month or two before putting the house up for sale... because an unfinished house is taxed at a considerably lower rate than a finished house.

Y'all won't believe this shit but in Massachusetts (and a few other states) besides the interest you might have to pay on any money borrowed to pay for your inventory you have to pay taxes on the average value of that inventory in stock over the year. You'd be taxed to death out this way .

There are reasons why I've located my business where I have.  One reason is the lack of inventory tax.  Another reason is the price for commercial real estate:  I can buy and build here for what amounts to a few months rent inna industrial park in a more central mainstream metro area.  Admittedly, my price to ship to customers is seemingly oftentimes a little higher from where I'm located, but I believe my passed on lower operating costs in the selling price of my products, and level of quality that I can offer at my selling price is hopefully attractive in an over-all picture sort of way.  The down side is that order out pizza (or anything for that matter) is a moot point, and the night life here is... well... watching the sun set and the stars come out and listening to the frogs or crickets chirp.