Carpentry Oakland

Oakland wants the termite report before the dry rot repair

In Oakland the paperwork starts earlier than owners expect. The city requires a building permit for every termite or dry rot repair, and the application wants the completed termite report uploaded with it. Building, repairing or replacing a house stairway or railing takes Planning approval before the building permit. A deck needs a permit even when it goes back exactly as it was. The wood itself is mostly porch, eave and back-step lumber.

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  • Rules on this page checked against 10 public sources, October 2026

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Free to request, and you agree the scope and price with the person you hire before work starts. In California, a job over $1,000 in labor and materials, or one that needs a building permit, must be done by a contractor licensed by the CSLB in the right class. Ask for the license number and check it at cslb.ca.gov.

Before you hire

Settle these before the first board comes off

  1. Ask who orders the termite report, since Oakland will not take a dry rot repair application without it.
  2. For back stairs or a railing, ask who files the zoning worksheet for Planning approval before the building worksheet goes in.
  3. Ask whether the new landing and steps will be treated or naturally decay-resistant wood with hot-dipped galvanized fasteners, as the city's own detail requires.
  4. In a house built before 1978, ask who writes the lead-based paint work plan once painted siding or trim is disturbed.
  5. Ask which CSLB class the bid is being written under, C-6 finish carpentry or C-5 framing, and look the number up at cslb.ca.gov.
Dry rot repair
Building permit for all of it, termite report attached
Stairways and railings
Planning approval first, then the building permit
Deck put back in kind
Still a permit; zoning review on every deck project
City's own stair detail
Treated or decay-resistant wood, galvanized fasteners
Downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt from the air
Downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt from the air. Photo: Dcoetzee, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The houses here

Porches, eaves and under-floor posts on pre-war houses

Rehab Right, the manual Oakland's planning department wrote for owners of old houses, opens its porch chapter with a flat claim: every Oakland house style has a front porch, and that porch is both the focal point of the facade and a microcosm of the design problems found on the rest of the building. Wood porches belong to the Victorian, Colonial Revival and Craftsman houses, and the manual says so few original ones survive on the city's Victorians that the survivors are an endangered species. Brown Shingle and Craftsman houses carry rafters and brackets that run well past the roof and were normally left unpainted, with no gutter above them, so water rolls off the roof onto exposed end grain. The styles the manual covers that predate the Second World War each have one or more rows of wood posts on concrete piers under the building, which is the other place soft wood turns up.

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The work

Wood that gives out first on an Oakland house

  1. A porch written up in the termite report

    Rehab Right warns that a deteriorated porch structure is a very common item in the termite report prepared before a house is sold, and that it is difficult to recognize from the outside, so it tells owners to read the causes instead: large cracks in the stucco, faulty gutters, inadequate flashing, and leaks at the corners of a flat tar-and-gravel roof. Oakland then turns that report into paperwork. A building permit is required for all termite repair projects, and the completed report is uploaded with the building worksheet. Where the scope runs into extensive structural work, plans are required too and go to plan check.

  2. Back steps and the landing at the kitchen door

    Oakland publishes its own details for this. A wood-framed exterior door landing and steps should run at least 36 inches wide with a 36-by-36-inch landing at the top and the bottom, every piece of wood pressure-treated or naturally decay resistant, and every fastener hot-dipped galvanized. The stair itself is held to a maximum riser of 7.75 inches, a tread of at least 10 inches, headroom of 6 feet 8 inches, and no more than 151 inches of vertical rise in one flight. That little platform outside the door also pulls the job out of the city's deck exemption, which excludes anything serving as a door landing.

  3. Rafter tails and brackets at the eave

    Because the rafters and brackets on a Brown Shingle or Craftsman house project past the roof and carry no paint, Rehab Right treats their end grain as the most vulnerable spot on the whole eave. Its method is to inspect the end of the member first, take off only the tip where damage is limited, graft a new section on where rot has gone through the piece, and seal the end grain afterwards. Victorian, Colonial Revival and some First Bay Tradition houses came with gutters made of redwood, often given a decorative shape that became part of the ornamentation, so a rotted length is worth repairing while the decay is still local.

  4. A few boards of siding, and what they set off

    Replacing siding is where Oakland surprises people. All stucco and siding work requires a building permit, and the city gives dry rot as one of the reasons the work comes up, alongside age, weather and appearance. A like-for-like replacement or repair may apply for exemption from Design Review, filed through the Online Permit Center with plans and a description of the work, and the Bureau of Planning's notice comes before the building worksheet. Rehab Right's siding chapter is the reminder to match what is already on the wall: drop siding on Victorians, board and batten on Stick, Brown Shingle, Craftsman and wartime tract houses.

Permits and local rules

What the city asks for, repair by repair

  • Termite or dry rot repair

    Oakland's page for this work states that termite activity or water intrusion can damage structures, framing and flooring among them, and that repairing termite or dry rot damage requires a building permit. A permit is required for all termite repair projects, and the applicant should be ready with the termite report and, where they apply, construction plans. If the project calls for extensive structural work, plans will be required and routed to the plan check team. An approved recycling plan has to be in place before the permit is issued, and a project disturbing paint on a pre-1978 structure needs a lead-based paint work plan. Permits go to the owner, or to a contractor whose state license class suits the work.

    Source: City of Oakland Planning & Building (oaklandca.gov)

  • House stairways and railings

    To build, repair or replace a house's stairways or railings, Oakland says an owner will need Planning approval and building permits, both before the project moves forward. Planning comes first, as a zoning worksheet with the Basic Application for Development Review and plans where they apply. The building worksheet follows, carrying construction plans, structural calculations where they apply, and the stairways and railings details for the project. Those details are published on the page itself, and it points to the city's Residential Construction Inspection Manual for fuller guidance and to Section R311.7 of the California Residential Code for the stair geometry.

    Source: City of Oakland Planning & Building (oaklandca.gov)

  • Deck permits, with repair named in them

    The deck page covers repairs as plainly as new work: building permits are required to construct a new deck, expand an existing one, or repair or replace one in kind, and zoning review applies to all deck projects. Design Review enters above 30 inches from the ground to the platform, or 6 feet from the ground to the top of the railing, and all zoning regulations then have to be met. Exempt from Design Review are like-for-like replacements in exactly the same place, at the same level and with the same dimensions as the original, and any new or expanded deck under 30 inches above grade whatever its size.

    Source: City of Oakland Planning & Building (oaklandca.gov)

  • Stucco and siding work

    Stucco and siding are applied to outdoor surfaces, the city's page notes, and the need to repair or replace them can come from age, weather, dry rot or an owner's taste. All of that work requires a building permit and may require Design Review. The like-for-like route runs through the Design Review Exemption, submitted with project plans, a description of the work and a notarized letter of agency where an agent files for the owner. Then the same two conditions as on any Oakland permit: the Green Halo recycling plan approved before issue, and a lead-based paint work plan where paint on a pre-1978 structure is disturbed.

    Source: City of Oakland Planning & Building (oaklandca.gov)

State license for this work: C-6 Cabinet, Millwork and Finish Carpentry, C-5 Framing and Rough Carpentry, B General Building. Look up a contractor's license on the CSLB website (cslb.ca.gov).

Timing

The order the documents go in, not the season

For this trade in Oakland the sequence matters more than the calendar. A dry rot repair cannot be applied for until the termite report exists, so the inspection belongs ahead of the permit rather than after a carpenter has opened the wall. A stairway or railing waits on Planning approval before the building worksheet can be submitted. A deck or siding patch going back like for like wants its Design Review Exemption from the Bureau of Planning first. And each of those permits waits on an approved recycling plan, written for debris the job has not yet produced.

Free, no obligation. Next, add your details in the request form.

Questions

Oakland wood-repair questions, answered from the city's pages

Does a dry rot repair really need a permit in Oakland?

Yes. The city's own page says repairing termite or dry rot damage requires a building permit, and that a permit is required for all termite repair projects. Expect to upload the completed termite report with the building worksheet, plus construction plans where they apply; extensive structural work means plans and a plan check review. An approved recycling plan comes before the permit is issued, and disturbed paint on a pre-1978 house adds a lead-based paint work plan.

We are putting the same deck back. Is that still permit work?

Under Oakland's deck rules, yes. Building permits are required to construct a new deck, expand an existing one, or repair or replace one in kind, and zoning review applies to all deck projects. What a genuine like-for-like job buys is the shorter planning route: a deck replaced in exactly the same place, at the same level and with the same dimensions as the original is exempt from Design Review.

Which decks escape a building permit here entirely?

One narrow case, and it has to satisfy all six of the city's conditions at once: the deck serves a house or a duplex, covers 200 square feet or less, stands no more than 30 inches above the ground at any point, is not attached to the dwelling, does not serve a required exit door, and does not serve as a door landing. Miss any one of them and the building permit applies. Zoning review applies either way.

Why does rebuilding our back stair need Planning approval too?

Because Oakland routes stairways and railings through both desks. Its page says that to build, repair or replace a house's stairways or railings you will need Planning approval and building permits, and the application order puts the zoning worksheet and the Basic Application for Development Review first. Only after that notice arrives does the building worksheet go in, with construction plans, structural calculations where they apply, and the city's stairways and railings details.

How do I judge how far the rot has gone before getting a bid?

Rehab Right gives a field test. Prod the wood with a sharp tool in an inconspicuous place: sound wood loosens one or two long slivers and the breaks are splintery, while wood whose toughness is gone breaks squarely across the grain and lifts out easily. On a porch the manual says look at step treads and deck surfaces worn concave enough to trap water, at joints in railings, at post bases that sit flat on the porch floor, and at the underside of the deck and framing.

Can I find out whether our porch or steps were ever permitted?

Through the Report of Residential Record, the 3R report, which Oakland's Planning & Building records staff prepare to give a residential property's permit history. It is issued only to the owner or to someone carrying the owner's notarized authorization, and a recorded property deed must come with every request as proof of ownership. The city asks 15 business days to review the application and describes a two-month turnaround, so it is worth starting well before a repair, not during one.

Where these facts come from

Checked against these public sources in October 2026. Rules and programs change: confirm permit requirements with the city before work starts, and a contractor's license on the CSLB website.

  • oaklandca.gov: Termite or Dry Rot Repair (oaklandca.gov)
  • oaklandca.gov: House Stairways and Railings (oaklandca.gov)
  • oaklandca.gov: Deck Permits (oaklandca.gov)
  • oaklandca.gov: Stucco Siding Work (oaklandca.gov)
  • oaklandca.gov: Work Exempt from a Building Permit (oaklandca.gov)
  • oaklandca.gov: Report of Residential Record 3R Report (oaklandca.gov)
  • oaklandca.gov: residential inspection manual version 2 2.2.2021 (oaklandca.gov)
  • oaklandca.gov: Rehab Right (oaklandca.gov)
  • salinas.gov: rehab right how to rehabilitate your oakland house without sacrificing (salinas.gov)
  • cslb.ca.gov: Licensing Classifications Detail (cslb.ca.gov)

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