When it comes to grilling foods, there’s a lot that you have to take care of. Of course, it can usually go without saying that you need to take care of your grill and the supplies you use with it.
At the same time, you are going to want to make sure you take care of the surrounding area as well. This includes making sure that you clean up after yourself if something spills.
Out of all the things that can spill out of your grill, perhaps one of the most troublesome is going to be grill grease. Grill grease, as the name might suggest, is greasy and it can cause a lot of problems when it spills onto the concrete below the grill.
Thankfully, it is relatively easy to clean up if you know what you are doing.
Why Is it Important to Clean Grease as Soon as Possible?
If you spill grease on your concrete, the first thing that you should be doing is making an effort to clean the grease up. There are many reasons for this, ranging from the fact that nobody wants hot grease on their patio to it being an eyesore.
However, no matter what your motivation is, you are going to want to clean up the grease as fast as you can to make sure that it doesn’t leave anything behind.
The biggest issue is that concrete is a porous rock. This means that the grease is going to seep into the concrete itself, especially if you don’t have a good quality sealer over the concrete.
Even if you clean up the grease stain, if you let it sit for too long, it’s going to end up leaving behind a big stain that you won’t be able to get rid of.
The best way that you can combat this from happening is by making sure your concrete driveway has a good sealer on it, and that you replace the sealer regularly.
Of course, the best way to go about making sure that the grill grease doesn’t stain is by making sure you clean it up as fast as possible.
Using Baking Soda to Clean Up the Grease
One of the ways that you can get rid of grill grease in a quick and timely manner, without leaving a stain behind, is by using baking soda.
This method is pretty simple. All you really need is baking soda, a nylon scrub brush (or a brush with similar materials and a similar structure), and dish soap.
First things first, you are going to want to put a thick covering of baking soda over the entire stain of grease. You should let this disgusting mixture sit for about 30 minutes while you continue cooking on the grill and making sure that there are no other grease stains from the grill grease.
Just before the 30 minutes are up, you are going to want to grab that scrub brush and run it under some water. This is where the dish soap will come in handy, as you drizzle it onto the brush.
From here, you are going to want to scrub the remaining baking soda into the concrete as much as you can with the brush. You should continue scrubbing until all of the grease has been removed.
When all of the grease is gone, you can simply wash down the area with water, and you should let it air dry before you do anything else. Typically, this will get the majority of the grease off your concrete, leaving you with a stainless concrete surface.
If you wait too long, you might end up with mild staining, so keep in mind that time is of the essence.
Removing Stains That Are Already There
If you have spilled grill grease on concrete in the past, and you haven’t cleaned it up properly, there’s a good chance that it has left a stain on the concrete surface. Thankfully, there are a fair few ways that you can minimize the appearance of the stains.
Depending on the type of stain and the nature of it, there’s a good chance that you could even completely remove the stain. Before you know it, you will have your gorgeous concrete patio or driveway back to the way it used to be, and you can continue grilling without an issue.
Do keep in mind that many methods that involve removing stains on concrete that have already been there for a while often involve the use of chemicals that can be harmful when they come into contact with your skin.
You should always take the proper precautions when working in these situations to make sure that only the stains are being removed during the cleaning process.
Ben has a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering. When not constructing or remodeling X-Ray Rooms, Cardiovascular Labs, and Pharmacies, you can find him at home with wife and two daughters. Outside of family, He loves grilling and barbequing on his Big Green Egg and Blackstone Griddle, as well as working on projects around the house.
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