[drive surgeon]

my pet hate, does anyone else hate these jobs?  what do people recommend,   you have to be carefull that the chemical does not eat the tar!   think this is the worst type of pressure washing job you can get.   its a nightmare.     got to look at one tomoro too.

[keith b]

drive surgeon,

Take a look around a website that specializes in chemicals and methods for removing oil from different substrates including tarmac.

www.oiltechnics.co.uk

One to look for is `Road Bio` 

[drive surgeon]

cheers keith but has anyone tried these chemicals?
 also look at what it says

APPROVALS
German UBA − Environmentally acceptable chemical.
Note − Oil stains degrade Tarmac and Asphalt leaving behind an etched surface which appears as a dark stain − this cannot be removed.
 
has anyonr had any success getting oil out of tarmac with any chemicals?

[Andy Foster]

Hi

Have had some success with this problem, but  it does depend greatly upon the amount of time the oil has been on the drive.
You can use a chemical readily available fom B&Q and the like made by 'Thompsons', but you need to be very careful how long it is left on the tarmac.

The 'Road Bio' is for fresh spills on road grade tarmac and would be useless on the domestic oil stained tarmac I'm afraid.  They have a product designed for domestic stains but as mentioned previously, it doesn't get rid of the etching stain.

Not much help here really I'm afraid, but if the stain is not too old, you could try the 'Thompsons' product, otherwise, offer to recolour the drive for them... dead easy and good money too!

Andy

[drive surgeon]

do pic do the bitumen paint do they?  do you just roll it on or brush it on>

[keith b]

Yep, I know of the Thompsons product - but I have never tried it!

Depending on the severity of the stain and the colour of the tarmac - I believe its possible to use tarmac paint to cover such stains - it might be worth factoring this into your costings!

Im not sure, but I think a company called `WATCO` sell this stuff!

[drive surgeon]

will try, but it would be goodto just get the oil out first.

[John Kelly]

Be aware that most cleaning products are only effective on organic oils. Fully Synthetics are sometimes virtually impossible to remove totally.

[mikephowell]

As john kelly says some synthetics are virtually impossible to remove, especially some of the hydraulic oils. Some oils when removed leave a "brownish" coloured patch which is more unsightly than the oil stain.

Yes Watco produce a product for recolouring a tarmac drive - it's wonderful stuff looks really good when finished and its easy to apply- brush or roller but din't roll too fast or you will get splatter on any brick or paving edges.

How about offering a trial clean, then if all goes well do the whole job. If its your first time and you don't make much money ,then so what, it's the cheapest training course you'll ever get.

Having cracked how to do it, and we all do things differently, then you can promote tarmac drive or pathway restoration as part of your business that you can offer to both domestic and commercial clients

Best of luck

[sam1975]

oil off tarmac?
Is that the same as oil off bitumen?
Tarmac goes under crushed blue metal to create a road? (bitumen)
Getting oil off bitumen is a bitch ,,,, just get a few tonne of cracker dust and cover the oil??

[drive surgeon]

really dont like the idea of even trying anymore to get oil out of tarmac, its a nightmare.

[mark.laycock1@ntlw]

hi there is alot of products that will cover tarmac some are like water and some are really think. i have done alot with black got some to do red this year.