MTFCA Forum

I’m finishing up a new garage soon (hoping!) and the 7-month old concrete driveway is as yet unsullied by oil stains.

Can someone suggest a treatment for the driveway surface that will keep the inevitable oil drips from soaking in?

Ideally, oil drips would easily wipe or wash off the treated concrete without leaving any evidence.

Not interested in a fancy pants polyaspartic or epoxy coating, the natural look would be ideal.

Suggestions?

This may sound counter-intuitive, but I soak my concrete in old oil, both as a weather guard, and
to promote a patinaed, organic look.

Spokane uses magnesium chloride as a de-icer during the winter, and when dragged home and dripped
on porous, water-absorbing concrete, it soaks in, freezes, and pocks the nice (and expensive) surface.

Oiled concrete takes on a look much like purposely color-stained concrete, in a pretty neutral grey-
brown. Any oil drops just kind of fade into the overall color and it all looks fine. Personally, I hate things
like bright white fences and siding and concrete drives and walkways that require lots of fuss to keep in
an unnatural level of sparkly perfect. I'd much rather embrace the old and weathered look, even if artificially
induced, to both go with my overall look of weathered barnwood and rusty metal, AND best of all, it requires
no fuss and heartburn over getting drips or stains on things.

Rope off the driveway and park in the grass

Reminds me of this one...
How does a hillbilly keep flies out of the kitchen ??
He sits in the living room...

I recently finished building a large shop and did some research about what to put on the floor. I did not want a surface coating that would come off with hot tires or wear off. I ended up using Euclid Diamond Hard. It is a densifier and sealer for concrete, it penetrates the concrete. So far I am very happy with it. You have to be careful when you put it on the concrete to make sure it gels but not too much. The concrete will show tire marks, but you can use a mop or something similar and the tire marks come off easily. Both oil and water are repelled by the surface, so if you wipe up the liquid soon it will come right off. If oil sits for a while it can leave some marks, but you can scrub it off. The concrete color is not changed. When you apply it, it can leave white marks on the surface, but I found if i just put traffic on the white marks they will wipe off with water after a couple of months. This is using the product inside a shop, I applied it on outside concrete, but it is not as effective, but still works. Particularly if it is a broom finish, instead of a smoother finish on the concrete.

Thanks for the comments and suggestion.

I know it seems nutty to own Model Ts and fret over oil stains, but my other two garages are working garages and they look the part, whereas the new one is properly finished inside and out and will be more of a parking/display/social space. It looks pretty nice now and I'd sure like to keep it that way for a while.

According to some on-line reviews, that Euclid stuff is effective, economical, and easy to apply, but will probably cloud up some after long UV (sun) exposure.

I may still go that route, but if there are further suggestions from the gang that I could explore, that would be very helpful.

Hello Burger in Spokane, could you please post some photos of your driveway? Your solution is interesting for sure, but I can't visualize it. Thanks, Bill

It was over twenty years ago that I applied a tire-shine product on my truck. I guess a lot of the product ran onto the concrete of my driveway. To this day I still see the four "dry" spots in the driveway whenever it rains. Nothing soaks in.

Almost 10 years ago I applied a product called EPOXY-COAT on the floors of my garage and workshop. It covered well and has held up to a lot of abuse. I must admit that in a couple of places, where I did not clean the floor well, the coating has been compromised. I used two coats, applied using the 'spikey' shoes (so you can walk on the wet surface), and down the accent 'paint chops' and sand for wet surface traction. If I move again I will absolutely use this product again.
Mike

Explosion and death cannot occur if you are using a true epoxy coating (one which uses a part "A" and a part "B"). It does not 'dry', but rather a chemical reaction 'cures' the coating. There is no outgassing as with traditional coverings such as oil based paints.
Mike

Bill, ... I have yet to pour concrete for the driveway at my current place. But the
shop floors are done this way. Will pix of that do ?

Yessir. Shop floor pix would be good, and thanks! Cheers, Bill