Oil Stains on block paving

Evening all /emoticons/smile.png

Ive managed to bag a couple of pressure washing contracts that I'll be taking care of over the next week,one of these has a large block paved drive which has had some pretty bad oil staining from an old landy

The job itself looks pretty straightforward (cleaning about 100m2 of block paving and patio) and I have advised the customer that the oil stains are unlikely to be completely removed due to the time its been on there and the soaking in that will have occurred on the porous bricks. He's fine with that but would like to see it improved at least.

has anyone got any recommendations for an oil cleaner that actually works? as all i can find are products with shocking reviews and i would like to do the best possible job /emoticons/smile.png

Cheers all, loving the pressure washing so far, really pleased I added it as a service

I sorted out some myself last month with good old Ubik. As soon as you turn up, put a good splash of ubik in the bottom of a bucket. Fill the bucket about a quarter high with water, and pour it over the stains, take a stiff head brush and give it a good scrub in- it'll bubble up nicely when you go this. Now go and get the rest of your gear out and get set up. By the time you are set up it will have had a chance to soak in. Quickly repeat the process and then start pressure washing as normal. The two big stains I was dealing with were totally gone. No real science, don't faff about with it, just get it done quickly.

My mate does it for a living and swears by pouring petrol on it to lift the oil

For small stains a blowtorch will burn the stain out if you get it hot enough...mapgas is good

Good old ubik tolish..must try that sometime

I asked about this a while back as my van was dripping power steering fluid on my block paving. I didn't bother trying to clean it. The rain has almost cleaned it for me.

Gave it a go today and its certainly made a difference, cheers for the advice guys /emoticons/smile.png one happy customer!

I think Diwrnach had a good idea, just replace the blocks. Pull one up and you will most likely find a match at your local builders merchants for a quid or two per block. Then just charge the customer.

View attachment 5255 clay floor granules that motor workshops use to clear up oil spills will pull out oil perfectly by capillary action. you just spread a layer down over the oil and leave it to do its job .

downside is it can take a week to draw out every last bit if its well bedded in oil and the area must stay dry while it works .