Inspect Underground Parking Spot Before Making Condo Purchase

Shell Busey talks about making sure to inspect the underground parking spot before making a purchase in a strata. Are there oil stains already there? Is the concrete in good condition? How close is it to the elevator or stairs? Shell also talks about electric cars and what you will need to think about before purchasing one.

Removing Oil From Concrete:

Oil or grease that is allowed to sit for any length of time on concrete will be very difficult to clean up as it penetrates deep into the porous surface of the concrete. To remove the stain, the most important thing to understand is that you have to draw the oil or grease out of the concrete.

There is far more concrete out there today that is not sealed as opposed to concrete that is sealed. First off – you should seal your concrete if it has not been sealed! This will eliminate a lot of future problems you may have with your concrete surfaces becoming stained.

To remove the stain, first wet the surface with hot or warm water. Straight from the bottle sprinkle my home cleaning formula over stained area and scrub it in using a stiff bristle nylon brush.

Now, saturate an old terry cloth towel with a heavy duty mixture of my home cleaning formula, wringing out the excess cleaning mixture and lay the towel over the stain and cover with a piece of poly plastic. This is called a poultice – remember when your mother or father used to put a warm towel around your neck to draw the cold out of your throat? The same concept applies here.

Make sure to tape the plastic into place using duct tape to ensure the plastic doesn’t move or blow away with a gust of wind. Remember that oil rises in water, the towel is there to absorb the cleaning formula solution and oil as it rises up through the concrete.

Leave this for 2-3 hours. The poly plastic keeps the solution from evaporating giving the oil and grease time to go deep into the terry towel. Finally, remove the plastic and wipe up with the terry towel and rinse with a hose. Repeat if necessary. This project should be done in the morning or evening to avoid the hot sun because the heat of the sun may cause the solution to evaporate too quickly to be effective in drawing the oil or grease out of the concrete.

If it is a fresh oil or grease stain on concrete first soak up as much of the oil or grease as possible with an old towel, kitty litter or paper towels. Now you can use my home cleaning formula to clean the surface. Just spray the diluted cleaning formula mixture on the affected area and let soak for 10 – 15 minutes, then scrub the area with stiff bristle brush and rinse well with water.

Caution: Wear protective gloves and eye wear when scrubbing with cleaning solution.

I would suggest cleaning the entire concrete surface as you don’t want to leave a clean spot when you remove the oil or grease spill. If the concrete has not been sealed it should be sealed using an acrylic concrete sealer. Apply the sealer using a low-pressure garden sprayer, or puddling the sealer on and then spreading with a roller. Do not seal concrete in direct sun.