Is our house on sewer or septic?

Check before planning a new bathroom. The 1998 neighborhood plan recorded about 37 properties between Bryant and Boones Ferry Road on septic tanks, some of them outside city limits, that would have to annex before getting sewer.

Do we need a permit to take down a tree?

For any tree six inches or more across at breast height, yes. Lake Oswego's updated tree rules took effect October 1, 2026.

Is Lake Grove a historic district?

No. The city's landmark list is individual properties. The Carl House on Boones Ferry Road, from 1925, is one of them.

Kitchen with white cabinetry, a teal island and exposed beams

Rock waterfall running into a finished pool

Remodeling a house in Lake Grove

Kitchen, bath and whole home remodels in Lake Grove, with Lake Oswego's lot coverage and tree rules worked out first.

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Farmhouse kitchen with French doors to the yard

Lake View Villas, sold from 1913.

Lake Grove grew out of the Oregon Iron & Steel Company's Lake View Villas, whose lots went on sale in 1913. A 1914 advertisement offered a bungalow and a one acre tract for $1,600. The Red Electric trains arrived by 1914, and the Lake Grove Station gave the area its name.

It began as a picnic and camping spot more than a year round place to live. The Ladd Estate Company took over the marketing in 1923. Part of Lake Grove was annexed in 1960, the year the city's name changed from Oswego to Lake Oswego, and wanting sewers was one reason.

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 in1950

6 of 8 are likely on a 1950 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.
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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.
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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 pool before, green water and a cracked deck — A pool that had turned green, brought back with new tile, a stamped concrete deck and a cedar fence.
See the project

The finished pool with new tile, a stamped concrete deck and a cedar fence — A pool that had turned green, brought back with new tile, a stamped concrete deck and a cedar fence.
See the project

New lawn and cedar fence beside the finished pool, from the homeowner's own photo

The work Lake Grove houses ask for.

The photographs are from our own jobs around Portland.

White kitchen with a stainless range wall

Kitchens

You review the kitchen in 3D before a cabinet is ordered. The appliances can be your own, as they were on the five week kitchen on this site.

Green tile bath with the glass shower and the soaking tub beyond

Bathrooms, with the sewer checked

The 1998 neighborhood plan says the sewer system in much of Lake Grove is old relative to the rest of the city, and it counted about 37 properties still on septic tanks.

Additions under the 50 percent rule

In the Lake Grove overlay no more than 50 percent of a lot may be covered by structures, patios, paving or impervious walks. The coverage is added up before an addition is drawn.

Primary baths

A primary bath takes four to six weeks. Custom frameless glass is measured after the tile is up.

Design rendering of a renovated pool with a cedar fence and a rock waterfall

Lake Oswego permits, the Lake Grove overlay and the trees.

Building permits come from the City of Lake Oswego Building Department. City code has a Lake Grove R-7.5/R-10 Overlay District that sets its own yard setbacks and prevails over the base zone rules.

The neighborhood plan calls the tree canopy the defining feature of Lake Grove. Removing any tree with a trunk six inches or more across needs a city tree removal permit.

The 1998 plan recorded some properties outside city limits. Development outside the limits but inside the Urban Services Boundary is reviewed under an agreement between the city and Clackamas County, so the address is checked first.

Check which permits your job needs

Jobs on this site

Our jobs near Lake Grove.

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: Lake Oswego, Westlake, Palisades

Questions from Lake Grove homeowners.

Inside the Lake Grove overlay, no more than 50 percent of the lot may be covered by structures, patios, paving or impervious walks. We add up what is there before an addition or a patio is drawn.
Check before planning a new bathroom. The 1998 neighborhood plan recorded about 37 properties between Bryant and Boones Ferry Road on septic tanks, some of them outside city limits, that would have to annex before getting sewer.
For any tree six inches or more across at breast height, yes. Lake Oswego's updated tree rules took effect October 1, 2026.
No. The city's landmark list is individual properties. The Carl House on Boones Ferry Road, from 1925, is one of them.

Talk directly to Don about your project.

Request a quote (503) 805-5762

Or pick a time for Don's site walk