Exterior painting in Oakland

Oakland's old exterior paint and the lead work plan

Oakland states that projects disturbing paint on pre-1978 structures require a Lead-Based Paint work plan. With 76.7% of the city's 191,713 units built before 1980 and 37.2% in 1939 or earlier, that covers most exterior jobs, since scraping and sanding are how loose old paint comes off. The build year is the first thing we ask.

West Oakland's Oakland Point, today's Prescott, was built up by the end of the 1870s with Italianate, Stick and Queen Anne houses, all wood trim and siding. Up in the hills, many homes step down the slope, so ladder setup is part of the estimate. The Oakland Museum station averages 22.6 inches of normal precipitation, so exterior jobs wait for dry weather.

Worth knowing about Oakland

• In the hills that burned in 1991, many homes were built on platforms over canyon walls or in levels stepping down the slope, often with the garage at street level.
• Oakland lies between the active Hayward and San Andreas fault zones, and the City notes that many of its buildings may predate modern seismic codes.
• The Oakland Museum station, 0.7 miles from City Hall, records 22.6 inches of precipitation in a normal year, a summer high of 72.1°F and a winter low of 45.8°F.