Asphalt Parking Lot and Driveway Stain Removal Tips

Any place where cars, trucks, and heavy equipment sit idle for a while, you will most likely see small puddles of grease.

When you notice grease stains on your pavement, blot up as much as possible. Use a simple cleaning solution such as Dawn dish soap, scrub with a stiff-bristled brush, and rinse.

If the stain persists, try the oil spot cleaning tips above.

Food and beverage stains are a common sight in parking lots that serve restaurants and grocery stores.

Generally, you can remove these stains by using a cloth to absorb the excess liquid. Then, scrub with Dawn dish soap or powdered laundry detergent to remove the stain.

Marks left from a car’s tire treads are more common in parking lots than driveways. Tire tread marks are usually caused by the occasional young rebel, or individuals stopping too fast, accidentally dropping a gear, or avoiding a collision.

Depending on how deep the tire tread marks are, you may be able to remove the stains using minimally abrasive methods.

Try scrubbing the marks with water and vinegar, or water and powdered laundry detergent, rinse and repeat.

Stains from paint mishaps can be difficult to remove without leaving scratch marks or causing discoloration due to asphalt’s porous nature.

Applying sealcoat to the asphalt can hide most paint stains from the pavement surface. But, if you’re parking lot or driveway isn’t yet due for sealcoating, your best bet would be using heated pressure washing.

We use specialized water blasting equipment to remove old pavement markings and line striping, which might be perfect for your specific paint stain circumstances.

Colored/dyed mulch can be an attractive addition to your property’s landscaping. However, leaving colored mulch on your pavement surface quickly leads to parking lot stains when rain comes.

Unfortunately, power washing won’t be very effective at removing mulch stains, and might even push the stain deeper into your parking lot or driveway.

Instead, apply Dawn dish soap or white vinegar and scrub with a brush in circular motions on the discolored areas, and rinse the solution away with a hose. If the stain persists, try the circular scrub motion using a mixture of bleach and water — one capful of bleach with one gallon of warm water. Let the bleach/water solution sit on the stain for 30 minutes, and then wash away with warm water.