On Mar 3, 10:58*am, (MICHELLE H.) wrote:
Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the helpful responses so far, I really do appreciate it!!
Someone asked me if I "SCRUBBED the dish soap into the oil spot". No,
when I used the Dawn dish soap, I DIDN'T scrub it in. I just swept up
all of the oil soaked kitty litter, and then put some Dawn dish soap
over the oil spot, when it was raining.

Also, I DIDN'T "mash" the kitty litter in with my foot, as another
poster suggested. I just poured the kitty litter over the puddle of oil,
let it sit for a few hours, and then swept it up, and disposed of it in
the trash. I will have to try "mashing it in with my foot" next time.

I am not sure if the kitty litter is what turned the soil Grey, because
I used a bag of "Johnny Cat" kitty litter which is White in color.

But I will follow your suggestions and keep putting kitty litter there,
and "mash it in with my foot", to try to dry the oil spot up, so that
when it rains, there is no more "rainbow colored" water.

Hopefully I can just topdress the lawn with some compost or even organic
topsoil, when the weather warms up ( its in the 40's in my area ), and
reseed, and hopefully the grass will come back!?


Before doing anything, I'd wait and see if the existing grass is
really dead. It's dormant now and maybe it just got some oil residue
and dirt on it. It may start growing in Spring just fine. If not,
then I'd remove a few inches of the topsoil and apply replacement.

Regarding the oil spill, you did everything I would have done. At
this point, the easiest thing to do with the driveway is nothing.
The small remaining residue will diminish over time, especially with
increasing temp and sun. In a few months the rainbow effect will be
gone. If you want to try to fix it immediately, there are products
meant to clean oil stains off of asphalt. Look for them in the
section of Home Depot or similar where they sell sealcoat products for
driveways. How much more effective that is than liquid soap, I can't
tell you. You could also put down a thick slurry of your liquid soap
and just leave it there for a few days, instead of washing it right
off. That may give it more time to penetrate and work on the oil.