Calgary oil stain removal for driveway aprons, garage floors and shop slabs
Fresh drops come out 100 percent in one pass. Old set-in stains need a degreaser pre-treatment plus a hot rinse, sometimes a clay poultice for the deepest ones. We will tell you straight at the visit how much of the stain we can recover and whether a colour ghost will remain. Most Calgary oil stain jobs land between $80 and $300 per area depending on stain count and age.
Soap and a hose will not move set-in oil — degreaser plus dwell plus hot rinse does
Concrete is porous. Oil that drops onto the slab does not just sit on top, it soaks down through the surface pores into the slab body within minutes. A garden hose and dish soap will lift the surface sheen but leaves the embedded oil where it is. A pressure wand alone just emulsifies the surface oil and spreads it. The right approach is a citrus or alkaline degreaser that breaks the oil-to-concrete bond at the molecular level, fifteen to thirty minutes of dwell so the chemistry has time to work, then a hot rinse at the surface cleaner setting that lifts everything off in one pass.
For the toughest set-in stains we add a clay poultice — an absorbent paste that goes on after the initial degreaser pass and sits for 24 hours, pulling oil out of the deeper pores as it dries. The poultice is what gets year-old stains from 20 percent recovery to 70 percent or better. Pair oil stain removal with driveway cleaning when the slab is also due for the surface cleaner pass, with garage floor cleaning for the indoor slab or with sealing services if the homeowner wants to lock the result in with a sealer.
Recent work
How a Calgary oil stain removal runs
Four steps from degreaser pre-treat to dry slab
Survey stains and choose chemistry
Walk the slab, count and age the stains, pick the right degreaser (citrus for light, alkaline for set-in), mark out spots needing the poultice. Plants nearby pre-wet, garage door and weatherstripping protected if needed.
Apply degreaser and dwell
Spray-apply the degreaser, brush-agitate the worst spots to work the chemistry into the concrete pores. Dwell time 15-30 minutes depending on age and depth of the staining.
Hot rinse and poultice prep
Surface cleaner pass at hot-water setting if available, regular rinse if not. Spots that still show a stain get the clay poultice applied and left to dry for 24 hours; we return for the second visit.
Final pass and walkaround
After the poultice dries (if used), removed and the underlying spot rinsed. Walkaround with you to confirm the recovery percentage we discussed and identify any ghost outline that will need sealer or stain to mask.
Calgary oil stain realities
Garage drips, lawnmower leaks and the long-winter set-in clock
Calgary stains have specific failure modes. The garage apron picks up drips every time a vehicle parks half-in half-out of the garage in winter, the slab sits cold and absorbent and the oil soaks deep in 24 hours. Lawnmower oil at the side of the garage sits there from October to April under snow, fully soaking into the slab body. Old construction-era concrete (1970s and earlier) is more porous than modern slabs, so the same drip on a 1972 Mount Pleasant driveway is a deeper stain than the same drip on a 2018 Mahogany driveway.
Fresh stains caught within the week come out 100 percent — the lesson is to call early. Pair oil stain removal with driveway cleaning when the full slab is due for the surface cleaner pass anyway, or with sealing services so the recovered slab does not pick up the next set of stains.
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Annual + as-neededCadence
Hartford oil stain removalResult
Pair oil stain removal with
Services that pair with degreaser work
Oil stain removal is often the first step in a bigger flatwork pass — degreaser plus the rest of the property slab cleaning bundled at one visit.
Five questions that come up on most oil-stain quotes.
Stains under a week old usually come out fully on the first pass — the oil has not had time to soak deep into the concrete pores. Stains two to twelve months old come out 80-95 percent with a degreaser pre-treatment plus a hot rinse pass. Stains over a year old usually leave a ghost outline because the oil has soaked into the slab pores; we will tell you straight at the visit how much we can recover.
Citrus-based or alkaline degreaser for the surface lift, dwell time of fifteen to thirty minutes depending on stain age, then a hot rinse at the surface cleaner setting. Heavier stains get a poultice (an absorbent clay paste that pulls oil out of the pores as it dries), sometimes left on for 24 hours between visits. We use commercial-grade degreaser, not consumer kitchen products that leave residue on the concrete.
Yes, with slightly different chemistry. Transmission fluid is red and lighter than motor oil, comes out faster but leaves a colour residue that needs a brightener pass. Brake fluid is the toughest — corrosive enough to etch the concrete surface in the spot it sat on, so we sometimes leave a faint outline even after full chemistry. Power steering fluid and antifreeze (green/yellow) clean up similar to brake fluid.
Not always. Concrete is porous and oil that has soaked into the slab body for years sometimes leaves a ghost outline visible at the right light angle even after the deepest clean. The poultice method gets the deepest oil out we can. If the ghost is still visible after the full process, the right next step is either a concrete stain (cosmetic colour overlay) or a sealer that masks the discolouration. We will explain both at the visit.
Garage floor work is indoor — limited drainage, no chemistry runoff outside, sometimes a vapour barrier on the slab that affects chemistry choice. Driveway apron is outdoor, drains to the storm gutter, takes full surface-cleaner pressure. We use absorbent mats and dry-vac extraction on garage floors, surface cleaner plus rinse on aprons. Both use the same degreaser; the application and removal method differ.
Calgary oil stain removal reviews
What homeowners say after the degreaser pass
★★★★★4.9· 75 reviews on Google
★★★★★
Fresh oil drop on the driveway apron the day before they came. Came out 100 percent in one pass — they explained that catching it within the week was the difference. Now I know to call right away next time.
L. B.
Calgary · Saddle Ridge
★★★★★
Eight-year-old oil ghost on a 1965 garage apron. The crew was upfront that full removal was not realistic. The poultice plus full surface cleaner got it to about 70 percent which was more than I expected. Booked the sealer to mask the rest.
V. E.
Calgary · Lakeview
★★★★★
Transmission fluid leak from a 1990s sedan I sold years ago. Red residue had set into the slab. Two visits over a week with the poultice in between, the slab came back to driveway grey. Better result than the previous wash company.
C. Q.
Calgary · Sherwood
★★★★★
Five separate oil drops over the years from the lawnmower at the side of the garage. Hartford treated each one, the older two left ghost outlines but the recent three came out fully. Honest about which would come out and which would not.
U. F.
Calgary · Skyview Ranch
From the blog
Oil stain chemistry, poultice technique and recovery notes
Free written estimate
Get your Calgary oil stain removal quote in writing
Tell us approximately how many stains, how old they are if you know, and whether they are on driveway, garage floor or a shop slab. A Hartford estimator follows up within one business day. Most jobs land in the $80 to $300 per area range.
