Oil on Tarmac Parking area

[davidjpowell]

[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Hi - hoping there may be someone who can help.

My partner is on the committee of a pre-school group, who are a Charity. They use a community centre during the mornings. Part of the grounds includes a tarmac car park, which for the pre-school period is gated off and used as part of an outdoor play area.

The inevitable has happened and a car has leaked oil onto the tarmac. Various people have been getting into a tizzy because of this, and while they have been told unofficially that it is not harmful, no one has yet agreed to put this in writing.

They have been told that the only way to remove the stain is to dig up the section, and resurface with a quote of £1,500 which sounds expensive, when another car could then come along and repeat the oil leak.

Does anyone have any ideas? are there specialist products available to clean this? or is there any way to coat the tarmac in a anti-oil covering, which would still be durable enough to take cars, but also safe for the kids?

Grateful for any help

David[/FONT]

 

[Rovinghawk]

Water & fairy liquid- seriously.

RH

 

[portzy]

Dont see why the oil could not be chemically cleaned up then.........

Thompsoms DriveSeal. Its a black watery liquid and its for reviving tired looking, but still sound, tarmac and ashpalt drives. Cost around a tenner per 5l from such as B&Q etc and you apply it with a roller, most times you need a couple of coats to start with then once per year. Totally oil, petrol, diesel proof etc. I think its the dogs!

Portzy.

 

[N/B]

Whilst used engine oil isn't exactly good for you, it would be pretty ludicrous to spend £1500 cleaning up a car oil leak.

Some hot tips...

FWIW, I guess the UK equivalent of DAWN is good old Fairy Liquid.

 

[franey]

Dave, if you pop into Doncaster, namely on Black Bank there is a car parts place called Alan Kay Components, he sells some specific driveway oil spill cleaning fluid.

I tried it and it works. I never checked though to see if washing up liquid would work.

 

[mattc]

I despair of people! £1500 to do a £50 quid job (and I include the resealing here)! No wonder tax money gets wasted! Of course all the darling parents are concerned but how many will chip in an hour of their time to the charity (which pesumably they are all happy to utilise)?

How do these self same people clean their hands when they get cooking oil on themselves FFS!

I could go on. and on.

 

[davidjpowell]

Dont see why the oil could not be chemically cleaned up then.........

Thompsoms DriveSeal. Its a black watery liquid and its for reviving tired looking, but still sound, tarmac and ashpalt drives. Cost around a tenner per 5l from such as B&Q etc and you apply it with a roller, most times you need a couple of coats to start with then once per year. Totally oil, petrol, diesel proof etc. I think its the dogs!

Portzy.

Thanks for that - I will suggest it, although I have a nasty idea of what the result will be in terms of who will do it.

Dave, if you pop into Doncaster, namely on Black Bank there is a car parts place called Alan Kay Components, he sells some specific driveway oil spill cleaning fluid.

I tried it and it works. I never checked though to see if washing up liquid would work.

Also thankyou - I assume the previous committee (who have now mostly gone) tried washing up liquid, so I will call in the next time I am in town.

I despair of people! £1500 to do a £50 quid job (and I include the resealing here)! No wonder tax money gets wasted! Of course all the darling parents are concerned but how many will chip in an hour of their time to the charity (which pesumably they are all happy to utilise)?

How do these self same people clean their hands when they get cooking oil on themselves FFS!

I could go on. and on.

This is a difficult one. It's a relatively small pre-group and many people do get involved, if only in fund raising. I agree on the £1,500 quid part, but that is why they are looking closely at it, and not just ripping up said tarmac.

But in this day and age, if there is a risk it must be properly dealt with, part of the problem I think is that it is committee run, but that has worked for it overall for many years. My partner gives probably more than an hour per day, and I fear that I am the one who will be scrubbing tarmac!

Thanks for all of the advice so far.

David

 

[N/B]

If you think that's a waste of money, try buying an old farmhouse that turns out to have Bats living in it.
You'll wish you'd decided to restore a crash-damaged rusty Miura instead.

 

[N/B]

But in this day and age... I fear that I am the one who will be scrubbing tarmac!
David

David, is scrubbing the ground with a stiff brush & hot soapy water THAT bad? Probably about as much effort as washing your car.

This thread is destined to be a tit-for-tat squabble over "what if it were your child?", and a bunch of Four Yorkshiremen references.

 

[davidjpowell]

I hope not - and it is not that bad, I was jesting - it obviously did not come across as meant.

 

[Chattonmill]

If you think that's a waste of money, try buying an old farmhouse that turns out to have Bats living in it.
You'll wish you'd decided to restore a crash-damaged rusty Miura instead.

I did and now I have no Bats

 

[N/B]

I did and now I have no Bats

Be thankful of your location.
A friend of mine in Wales recently spent large on an old farm at auction.
Following 3 Bat surveys (£1500 a time), he has been duly informed that building work cannot commence until AT LEAST May 2009.

We immediately thought of camping out with Night Vision and a couple of Barret Light .50s...

 

[Chattonmill]

I rang the local Batline who sent out a Rep. Wierd looking bloke, may have been related to the Bats.
Anyway he came and counted them endlessly and informed me that I had the largest Nursery roost in Northumberland.
When it came to building he did a report for me which cost me nothing saying as long as the building was confined to the stipulated area he had no problem with it.
Eventually we had them excluded which sorted the problem(Although the neighbours now wonder what they have to do to get rid of them...)

I did once think that instead of Clay pigeons the bats would do nicely as they popped out of the roost.....PULL!!!!!

 

[Chrishazle]

"Gunk" - recently used the last of mine, with a stiff yard broom, to sucessfully clean an oil spill off our newly laid block paving driveway (thank you brother-in-law and Ford Focus!). Driveway cleaner says it's for concrete, but would expect it to work on tarmac. Would not be surprised if neat washing up liquid and stiff broom also works - a surfactant by any other name!

 

[portzy]

Four Yorkshiremen references.

Go on, gimme a clue, its been a long shift.

Portzy.

 

[l5foye]

I would not recommend Gunk -it will probably react with the tar. Use biological washing powder -spread it on ground, wait for some rain or gently pour water over it and leave for a day or two. Oil will disappear.

 

[grober]

pressure washer plus correct detergent= sorted http://www.karcher.co.uk/acsearch.php?type=1

 

[st13phil]

I'm no chemist, but I do know that most solvents will react with and soften the tarmac / asphalt so I'd recommend a detergent of some sort - either washing up liquid or washing powder - plus a dose of water and a stiff broom. Chances are some staining or discolouration will remain, but that's not going to be anything other than an aesthetic problem. Depending on the age and type of surface a pressure washer may actually do more harm than good (don't ask how I know).

Frankly it's probably more of a perceived problem than a real one anyway. Unless it's an oil slick and the little ones bathe in it I can't actually see it doing any harm, so as long as any surface spillage is cleaned up then that should be an end to it.

 

[stevesey]

pressure washer plus correct detergent= sorted http://www.karcher.co.uk/acsearch.php?type=1

Go a bit wild with a pressure washer and the result is likely to be a hole + some (clean) gravel.

 

[Ade B]

I imagine the issue might also be related to the old liability conundrum - I guess a lot of powerful detergents are not vary kiddy friendly and no one will give a definitive answer because the cleaning product may leave a residue/ degrade the surface and small child could trip on the broken surface and lick the radioactive (albeit diluted) tarmac/oil/cleaning solution and then go mental or something...

Having said that, I don't think that asphalt does you any good if you eat it..

Is there also an issue with sweeping an oil/detergent solution down a rainwater gulley?

As said above, I'd start with a mild detergent (washing up liquid) and see what happens before trying anything more extreme..

Obviously the above cannot be construed to be professional advice and its not my fault.


Ade