Cleaning oil from brownstone

I recently had bird suet (fat-based) melt onto my brownstone windowsill and the stain is not budging. Any suggestions? Has anyone had success getting stains out themselves?

maynarddonita

in Exteriors 3 years and 11 months ago

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andriywww1990 | 3 years and 11 months ago

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so urbandad, that may be the best way to go. i did know that muriatic does something to the mortar (it reacts) but i did not know why – it is alkali. i also knew if someone puts too much acid on concrete it will errode it (which is why i say “brush”).

in my uses, the lye does not emit fumes. for that reason i like it. in my uses.

i know that acids and alkalis react; i once took a cup of hydrochloric and a cup of sodium hydroxide (mixed with water to about a ph 14) and poured them together in a 5 gallon pail. just to see what would happen.

hkapstein | 3 years and 11 months ago

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Try base before an acid. Cement is alkali and will react destructively with muriatic acid. But sodium hydroxide would saponify fats and help wash them out.

andriywww1990 | 3 years and 11 months ago

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you might also try an acid such as muriatic. but there are a lot of safety what ifs and questions (that i cannot answer) about how the acid might interact with the dyed mortar or brownstone (i use it on metals and have cleaned concrete and bricks with it). i would run test in a corner. don’t let it sit too long. do not pour it on, brush a little on with a chip brush as you do not want to flood a porous stone or mortar with it as it will soak in and interact deeper in the stone. it will emit fumes so step back. rinse it with water. i don’t let anyone come near me when i am using the stuff.

my thinking is the acid will work better than the base lye. the acids, full strength muriatic (hyrdrochloric) are used to break down fats in commercial kitchens and when converting restaurant waste oil into bio diesel.

muriatic is a go to cleaner for us here. i find the fumes to be the most worrying and skin contact less of a worry. the acids seem to react with the skin slower and with less pain than the lye urbandad mentions. once the acids begin to burn, w ater will quickly rinse them; the lye takes repeated washings to make it go away.

since there is a little element of experimentation in some of this, do a little reading first.

andriywww1990 | 3 years and 11 months ago

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I spilled an oil on some stone porous stone once and got a poultice from a stone guy. not sure what it was made of and maybe it is that diatomaceous earth. the poultice goes on like a clay and must be taped over to keep it moist. left for days. i seem to think that HD or Lowes might have had it on their website but i ended up finding a tiles supply that had it.

hkapstein | 3 years and 11 months ago

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Yeah I’ve dealt with this kind of thing. I’m assuming you tried to clean it with simple green or another degreaser already. Next thing to try is baking soda or diatomaceous earth. You put it on and try to let it soak out the stain. Repeat as needed.

Now if that doesn’t work, this likely will. Take a propane torch to the stain and vaporize it. There a risk it could crack the stone or stucco, I’ve not had that happen, but it could. I’d want the surface to be as dry as possible, a few days at least no rain. Also, you don’t want to set anything on fire, so think about whether the location is suitable for this techinique, whether any materials need to be protected with heatshields, and how you will extinguish a fire in an emergency. Also, I’d wear eye protection in case something breaks off and spits back. When I did this I moved the torch around to avoid heating the cement to a higher temperature than necessary. It does need to get pretty hot though. I had no ill ef fects to the cement that I can see and it’s a been a few years.

Other things I considered but not yet tried:
-Brake Cleaner
-Lye(be careful)