Is my lot in the landslide hazard area?

More than half of South Burlingame is inside the city's mapped potential landslide hazard area, so there is a good chance. We look up the address before any design is paid for.

Does a kitchen remodel need a slope evaluation?

Not usually. Portland excepts interior alterations that do not enlarge the footprint. It is additions and work on the foundation that bring the evaluation in.

Is Burlingame the same as South Burlingame?

Yes. The City of Portland recognizes the neighborhood as South Burlingame. It was once called Carson Heights.

Could there be an oil tank in the yard?

Many houses built before 1960 were first heated with oil, and the tank can still be under the yard. A tank taken out of use is decommissioned by a DEQ licensed service provider.

Creston-Kenilworth dining room with a period pendant and the original window run

Galley kitchen with gray Shaker cabinets and a subway tile backsplash

Long living room with a cased opening and refinished hardwood

Subway tile shower and tub in the Creston-Kenilworth bungalow

Remodeling a house in Burlingame

Remodels for Burlingame's 1940s and 1950s houses on the hillside above I-5, with the slope checked first.

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Craftsman living room with a box beam ceiling and refinished hardwood

Laid out in 1910, mostly built in the 1940s and 1950s.

The City of Portland calls the neighborhood South Burlingame. It was laid out on June 7, 1910 by B.M. Lombard with the Fulton Park Land Company, on ground once called Carson Heights that had been platted three different ways before anything was built.

The neighborhood association describes older homes from the 1920s and 1930s through the 1960s, and more than half the houses on the county's records date from the 1940s and 1950s. It is one of Portland's smallest neighborhoods, with 729 households.

The front of a house stripped to the sheathing with water damage showing — SW Portland, stripped to the sheathing

A kitchen wall opened with insulation and wiring exposed — Walls opened on a kitchen job

A kitchen stripped to the framing with the subfloor exposed — Down to the framing

A slate tile deck over a garage before the work — The leaking deck before the work

What is behind the walls of your house.

The age of the house moves the price more than anything you can see. This is what is typical for a Portland house of that age. The site walk confirms what yours has.

Your house was built in1948

8 of 8 are likely on a 1948 house.

Knob and tube or early cloth wrapped wiring is common in houses of this age, and it is live in more rooms than the panel suggests.
Electrical service and panel: $2,000 to $12,000
What DWV does: Full electrical replacement with a service upgrade, as on the Foster-Powell bungalow.
Ask Don about this
Galvanized steel supply lines narrow with age. On the Foster-Powell bungalow they were replaced from the meter through every fixture.
Part of the electrical, plumbing and heating line
What DWV does: New plumbing from the meter through every fixture.
Ask Don about this
The waste lines in these houses are often the original cast iron, out of sight under the floors.
Part of the electrical, plumbing and heating line
What DWV does: Replaced with the plumbing where they have failed.
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Brick chimneys of this age are unreinforced masonry, which matters as soon as the structure around them changes.
Priced on the estimate after the site walk
What DWV does: Looked at with the structure before any wall around it moves.
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The walls are usually uninsulated and the windows are single pane wood. Insulation comes up to energy code once the walls are open.
Part of the structure and envelope line
What DWV does: Insulation to current energy code while the walls are open.
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Many of these houses were first heated with oil, and the tank can still be under the yard. A tank taken out of use is decommissioned by a DEQ licensed service provider.
What is behind the walls: $8,000 to $60,000
What DWV does: Decommissioned by a DEQ licensed service provider.
Ask Don about this
Paint applied before 1978 is treated as lead paint under the renovation rule, and work that disturbs it follows lead safe practices.
A line item, priced before demolition
What DWV does: Lead safe practices, priced before demolition.
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Oregon DEQ requires a survey by an accredited inspector before a house built before 2004 is renovated. Older duct wrap and sheet flooring get tested before anything is disturbed.
A line item, priced before demolition
What DWV does: Surveyed first, then handled the way the survey says.
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Same spot, before and after.

The brown bungalow before the work, from the homeowner's own photo — A pre-1920 Craftsman restored from the original framing out.
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The same bungalow restored in navy with a rebuilt porch, from the homeowner's own photo — A pre-1920 Craftsman restored from the original framing out.
See the project

Finished white kitchen in the Foster-Powell bungalow

The work Burlingame houses ask for.

The photographs are from our own jobs in Portland.

Walls opened on a 1940s house

Galvanized water lines and cast iron drains are common in houses built before 1960, and many were first heated with oil. Paint from before 1978 is treated as lead paint.

Creston-Kenilworth kitchen with a view through to the dining room

Kitchens opened to the next room

Portland requires a building permit to move or remove a wall. Interior work like this, with no change to the footprint, can be excepted from the slope hazard evaluation.

New concrete stem walls with the anchor bolts set beside an older house

Additions on the hillside

More than half of South Burlingame is inside the city's mapped potential landslide hazard area. An addition on a sloped site needs a slope hazard evaluation.

View through a doorway into a bath with a white vanity

Bathrooms

Tiled showers are built on a new pan, and every square foot of waterproofing is photographed before the tile goes on.

Dining room with a period pendant and a view through to the remodeled kitchen

City of Portland permits, on a hillside with a slide history.

Most of the neighborhood has been inside Portland city limits since 1885, and permits come from Portland Permitting & Development. No historic district or landmark is recorded inside its boundary.

More than half of it is in the city's mapped potential landslide hazard area, and landslides were a problem here as early as the 1890s trolley line to the cemeteries. Portland requires a slope hazard evaluation for additions and alterations on sloped sites, with an exception for interior alterations that do not enlarge the footprint.

Part of the neighborhood also carries an environmental overlay, where an addition has to minimize its impact and may need an Environmental Review.

Check which permits your job needs

Jobs on this site

Our jobs near Burlingame.

Our closest job is the deck over a garage in Southwest Portland. Tap a pin to see the job.

SW Portland

A leaking deck over the garage, rebuilt with new cedar siding.

See this job

Next door: Hillsdale, Collins View, Multnomah Village

Questions from Burlingame homeowners.

More than half of South Burlingame is inside the city's mapped potential landslide hazard area, so there is a good chance. We look up the address before any design is paid for.
Not usually. Portland excepts interior alterations that do not enlarge the footprint. It is additions and work on the foundation that bring the evaluation in.
Yes. The City of Portland recognizes the neighborhood as South Burlingame. It was once called Carson Heights.
Many houses built before 1960 were first heated with oil, and the tank can still be under the yard. A tank taken out of use is decommissioned by a DEQ licensed service provider.

Talk directly to Don about your project.

Request a quote (503) 805-5762

Or pick a time for Don's site walk