Get listed in the Spick and Span Directory

General Cleaning Issues - Floorcare, car valeting, buying and selling businesses, pricing, staffing, market research, etc.

Cleaning oil offfactory floor

Posted by jake (jake), 13 October 2003
hi folks

going to price a job this week cleaning a factory unit. One of the jobs will be to clean old oil stains where machines have stood, anybody know of suitable products or methods that might work. going to test afew areas first, and thinking of trying caustic soda, any ideas?   Huh
Posted by Clean_Waterless (Clean_Waterless), 13 October 2003
Hi

We have the perfect product. It is non toxic and very efficient, therefore not expensive. If you want some more info email me at enquiries@waterlesscarcleaning.com & I will send you some info.

Gary Mansfield
The Waterless Car Cleaning Company Ltd.
Posted by mike_halliday (mike_halliday), 13 October 2003
What is the floor made of? if its unsealed concrete then forget it.

how you clean it depends on what it's made of

Mike
Posted by woodman (woodman), 13 October 2003
Hi

There is a US product called Oil Lift that is absolutely brilliant on sealed and unsealed floors plus  all manor of surfaces but I'm blowed if I can remember where it  can be obtained from.

I borrowed some a while ago from a fellow cleaner but I can not contact him now.

If any body knows where this can be bought please let me know Wink
Posted by Cloverleaf (Cloverleaf), 13 October 2003
When I was in engineering we had many oil spills from machinery. We used to use a product called Mop which was granuals not unlike cat litter. When this is thrown onto floor and allowed to dwell and walked on to make it powdery it gradually draws out the oil and most of the staining to leave it feeling dry.
I do not know where you could buy this, but worth doing some research.
John Wink
Posted by woodman (woodman), 13 October 2003
Hi

Just use cat litter it's the same thing.

Grind it in and allow to dwell for a few days and blast away or just sweep up but no where near as good as Oil Lift.  Sad
Posted by jake (jake), 13 October 2003
Thanks guys!

I believe floor is a'power floated' one and the stains quite old, I shall follow up your suggestions and let you know how we get on
Posted by jake (jake), 13 October 2003
Woodman

just found 'Oil Lift' on the net, typed in the name and it's own site came up, seems only available from the U S, going to e-mail them to find out more

                                     regards Jake (Westclean)
Posted by petra (petra), 14 October 2003
Listen to woodman, as the cleaning lady from the Us (on GMTV Today) recommends cat litter for oil.
Petra
Posted by shinnyshinner (shinnyshinner), 15 October 2003
Hi Woodman
I was checking out the winspray web site and found a link to chemicals and found one oil-flo from the states. Is this the stuff? Link is below.
Good luck
Alan

http://www.squeegees.net/restoration.htm

Posted by woodman (woodman), 16 October 2003
Thanx Shinny

Unfortunately thats not the one Sad


Posted by shinnyshinner (shinnyshinner), 16 October 2003
Hi Woodman
Sorry about that.
Did you check out that site and the other products they offered.
Speak soon my friend

Alan
Posted by Mike_Boxall (Mike_Boxall), 17 October 2003
Hi
We do a product called Maxima which is very good for oil removal - its sold in 2 x 5ltrs - details here

http://www.express-cleaning-supplies.co.uk/shopbask/cg300001.htm

Best results are when it is used with hot water, given plenty of dwell time, scrubbed with a rotary and removed with a wet pick-up. As Mike said earlier though, the more porous the floor the harder it will be to remove.
Posted by jake (jake), 17 October 2003
After viewing factory floor I can confirm that is an unpainted 'power' floated floor(shiney), 20,000 sq ft and and about 50/60% covered in very old, dry oil staining from previous standing machinary. We tried a few products by hand and by far the best results were from using a heavy duty citrus based de-greaser!! Applied to several areas with a stiff brush it did the trick! On the day(s) it would have to be used with a scrubbing machine, but it will work. Now if we can just get the price rightHuh??   Huh


This page is a thread posted to the cleanitup forum at www.cleanitup.co.uk and archived here for reference. To jump to the archive index please follow this link.