Did I get your attention? :-)
OK…I might be exaggerating a little bit (a lot?), but it really did go a long way towards easing some of the strain caused between me and the hubster after I did THIS to our back steps. :-(
A few months ago I did a post on how to make your own firestarters using egg cartons, lint and wax. MELTED wax. Melted wax that I thought I could EASILY pour into the egg carton without making a mess! hahahaha. I crack myself up sometimes. However, the hubster was NOT laughing about the aftermath. :-(
This is the sort of thing that drives him crazy! lol. I really shouldn’t laugh…but I can’t help it. The stuff that upset that man compared to the stuff that upsets me really is comical sometimes. :-) I was actually proud of myself for deciding to do it outside on the step instead of INSIDE on the kitchen table! hehe. Poor guy.
Anyway…I really DID feel bad about making such a mess, so when I heard that Drano can get stains off concrete, I was all over it! However, I really had my doubts, because I was dealing with WAX, and I had tried everything I could think of when it first happened with no luck. But I always have HOPE! :-)
So I poured some of this $3.49 bottle of Drano Max Gel on the offending stains, including a small GREASE stain from the nearby gas barbecue. I let it sit for several minutes while I watered the plants in the backyard, then using an old grill brush that I only use for dirty jobs like this, I put in some elbow grease. Then I hosed it all off (making sure it didn’t run off into anything sensitive…like my plants).
So….what do you think???? It actually came out a lot better than I thought it would! I predict the hubster will be pleased. :-) Oh, and the little grease spot? Didn’t stand a chance! I BARELY had to scrub it at all and it was COMPLETELY gone.
Well, you know me….(or at least I hope you are beginning to after all we’ve been through this past year! lol)…I couldn’t stop there! When I get a taste of success…I need more! Can you say obsessive personality? :-)
So I searched around for some more spots to work on. But, to the hubster’s credit…there just wasn’t much to choose from! I finally managed to track down these two small grease (I assumed) spots on the driveway.
And then this spot in the garage.
I was running out of Drano and about to perish from heat stroke, so I decided to call it quits after that last one. Besides, the results really do speak for themselves. I tried this trick on TOUGH STAINS and was very pleased with the results. Imagine what it could do for mold and mildew stains.
Thanks Drano for saving my marriage! (Or at least the hubster’s nerves!) ;-)
You seriously save my LIFE with your awesome cleaning tips! I have ONE spray bottle under my sink right now (filled with YOUR glass cleaner, no less) that I use to clean with and for everything else I use something natural :) thanks for being so awesome.
Thank you so much! I have some spots on our patio that are driving me crazy. I’ve power washed, bleached, CLR’d. Nothing was working. I will try the Drano today.
BTW, love all your tips and your stories!
Hmm, I wonder if it will work on a transmission fluid stain? I know I’m going to find out today!
YOU SOUND SO MUCH LIKE ME!!! I DO THIS KIND OF STUFF ALL THE TIME, CLEAN UP MY MESS, AND CLEAN UP EVERYTHING ELSE TOO….I LOVED THIS
I would NEVER be so careless as to drip candle wax on my porch steps! The Hubster must put up with A LOT from you…poor, poor man :-P
Okay, now we’re even for you calling me a dork in public! hehe
LOL
You were doing this outside??? in Arizona???in the summer??? you are crazy girl! But that’s a great tip and I’m going to try it on some stains on our garage floor. In Texas. In the summer. It’s like Arizona but, with humidity.
Ok now that I have picked my self of the floor from laughing so hard, did you try boiling water!!!!???????
Only for wax, not for the stains – and i don’t know that it would work on concrete (and you’d probably need an extension cord), but for what it’s worth, there is a magical solutions for getting wax out of clothing, perhaps it is transferable. just lay a paper towel over the wax and then iron it. the wax melts again, soaks into the paper towel instead of the cloth, and the iron is protected by the paper from getting waxy (but i’d suggest you test that on scrap fabric or more paper towel – a waxy iron is doom for clothing).
Is that a carabiner on the end of your grill brush?? That is such a good idea! Thanks for all your tips – love your blog!!
What an excellent idea. I am a bit accident prone. So often I make silly mistake on our front porch I try your tip. Thank you so much.
Drano’s great stuff — but don’t use it if you have a septic tank unless you want to pay for a pumping so you can flush again. It kills all the bacteria. Please do not ask me how I know.
Lets see now. Soap is made from lye (Older types of Draino were lye only lye) and OIL. No wonder it removed the stains. You made soap out of it! lol (wouldn’t try washing with it as it may be lye heavy and burn you.) TOO COOL! I would never have thought to use it. Instead I spent about 10 hrs total trying to remove some transmission fluid stains from my parking space or be evicted. I used everything I could think of to remove it and nothing worked very well (from Dawn to Bleach to commercial concrete cleaner). I faded it enough to pass inspection. But next time I break out the lye I use for soap making. (WHY didn’t I think of this??!!)
What do you think it would do to terra cotta tiles in the backyard? I know terra cotta tiles suck up grease like nobodies business! I have the grease stains from hubby’s BBQ to prove it! Think the drano would make it worse?
Maybe trade one kind of stain for another?
AWESOME info!!! My hubby has been lamenting over my old car dripping on our new cement driveway, and will be SO pleased to know there is a way to clean it up! esp now that we have a new(er) non-dripping car!! :D
When making wax and lint fire-starters I use an old turkey baster to pour the wax over the lint. It is much less messy then trying to pour the wax from the tin.
Thank you so much. When we were on vacation the person that was watering my potted flowers got a little crazy and overfilled all of the pots and left horrible, nasty looking stains on our front steps. Our house is only two years old so I was very upset. I tried drain-o last night and it worked perfect! I’m so happy. Thanks again.
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I have stained concrete floors in my house. The previous owners left a lot of stains on the kitchen floor. Do you think this would be ok for stained concrete?
Btw, I love your tips. I recently subscribed to your blog and I love, love it!