Two disasters set the pattern of work in Santa Rosa. The 1906 earthquake wrecked downtown, so the blocks around it, now eight preservation districts, mix 1870s houses with post-quake bungalows. The 2017 Tubbs Fire destroyed 3,098 structures in the city, and Coffey Park and Fountaingrove are largely rebuilt. Old windows, ember gaps and hard-water fixtures come up most.
Burbank Gardens, Cherry Street, McDonald, Olive Park, Railroad Square, Ridgway, St. Rose and the West End are the city's eight preservation districts, and replacement windows and doors appear on Santa Rosa's list of exterior work that may need a Landmark Alteration Permit. The city's guidance for historic properties asks owners to repair rather than replace where feasible. Freeing painted-shut sashes, restringing broken sash cords, reglazing a cracked pane and planing a door that binds all keep the original material in place. Talk to the Planning Division before any window comes out. More about door and window repair
The CAL FIRE retrofit list posted on the city's website treats small gaps as the way embers get in. It calls for caulking or plugging anything wider than 1/16 inch around exposed rafters and in siding, weatherstripping garage doors with stripping that meets UL Standard 10C, and covering vents with noncombustible metal mesh of 1/16 to 1/8 inch. These are short jobs that matter most inside the city's Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Area, which was redrawn in 2026 from CAL FIRE's newest hazard maps. More about weatherstripping, caulking and sealing
Oak leaves and needles that pile up in a gutter are fuel sitting at the roof edge. The same CAL FIRE list asks owners to clean roofs, gutters, decks and the base of walls regularly, and to fit noncombustible, corrosion-resistant metal gutter covers so debris cannot collect. Fountaingrove, Skyhawk and Oakmont, where many homes were rebuilt to wildfire code, still sit among trees and grassland. Clearing the gutters before fire season and again after the first winter storms keeps downspouts flowing in the rainy months too.
The no-cost half of that CAL FIRE list asks for nothing combustible under, on top of or within five feet of a deck, no plants or stored material within five feet of windows and glass doors, and stone or gravel in place of wood mulch next to the walls. Properties inside the city's WUI fire area must also follow the weed abatement ordinance, which keeps dry grass at 4 inches or less during the declared fire season. Moving firewood, hauling debris and resetting gravel borders is straightforward labor. More about general handyman repairs
Santa Rosa Water's 2025 report puts tap water at 112 parts per million of hardness on average, which it classes as moderately hard, and the city's own wells run higher than the Russian River supply. That calcium leaves white crust on aerators, showerheads and fill valves, so cleaning or replacing them restores flow. Rental owners have a second reason to check fixtures: the city's inspection checklist for Housing Choice Voucher units fails a toilet that rocks on loose anchor bolts and any leaking pipe, sink or tub. More about faucet, toilet and fixture repair
Santa Rosa's Housing and Community Services department inspects voucher rentals to the federal NSPIRE standard, and its landlord checklist is specific. An interior hole wider than 2 inches fails, and so do holes on one wall or ceiling that add up to more than 6 by 6 inches. Mildew on surfaces fails too. In a unit built before 1978 where a child under 6 lives, every surface must be free of cracking, chipping or peeling paint before the inspector arrives, so patching and painting come as a pair. More about drywall and plaster repair
Victorian houses, Queen Anne cottages and 1920s bungalows in the downtown preservation districts; subdivisions from the city's postwar growth; Oakmont, whose first subdivision unit was filed with the city in 1963; and houses rebuilt after the 2017 and 2020 fires in Coffey Park, Fountaingrove, Skyhawk and Oakmont. The city's Housing Element counts almost a third of its homes as more than 50 years old.
Railroad Square's depot and hotels, built between 1903 and 1915, are basalt from quarries in east Santa Rosa and Kenwood, laid by Italian stonemasons, so drilling them is masonry work. In the hills, many homes were rebuilt to the Chapter 7A wildfire standards, and replacement siding or decking there should meet the same ignition-resistant rules.
July and August afternoons average about 82°F while nights drop to around 50°F, and nearly all of the roughly 30 inches of yearly rain falls from October to April, so exterior wood, caulk and paint swing hard every summer day and stay damp all winter.
Historic review covers city Landmarks, properties in a preservation district and others found historic by survey, and contributing properties in its eight preservation districts need a Landmark Alteration Permit for many exterior changes: additions, fences, landscaping, signs, replacement windows and doors. Interior work does not, though it may still need a building permit, and Zoning Code Section 20-58.060 lists exempt work. Railroad Square, listed on the National Register in 1979, became the city's first locally designated commercial historic district in 1990. Cherry Street holds the city's highest concentration of 19th-century buildings, with wide alleys where carriage houses became garages.
The Tubbs Fire of October 2017 destroyed 3,098 structures in Santa Rosa: 2,668 single-family homes, 209 multifamily homes, 190 mobile homes and 31 commercial buildings. The city then added a Resilient City combining district to the burned parcels to speed permits, covering Coffey Park, Fountaingrove, Fountainview, Montecito Heights, Oakmont and the Highway 101 Round Barn area. The 2020 Glass Fire destroyed 34 residential units and damaged 23 more inside city limits, and the district was extended to those parcels. Coffey Park was considered for the 2026 WUI map and left out.
Oakmont's Village Association runs its own Architectural Committee, and its guidelines are blunt: city or county permits do not waive the need for committee approval before construction, and committee approval does not waive the permits. Roseland was the reverse case. On November 1, 2017, about 714 acres in five county islands, Roseland, Victoria Drive, West Hearn Avenue, Brittain Lane and West Third Street, joined the city, so permits there now come from Santa Rosa rather than the county. Citywide, trimming or removing a tree on a single-family lot needs no permit unless the tree is protected or a heritage tree.
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Probably. Replacement windows and doors are on the city's list of exterior work that may need a Landmark Alteration Permit for contributing properties in a preservation district, and the Director, the Zoning Administrator or the Design Review and Preservation Board reviews it depending on scope. Repairing the existing sashes is the path the city's historic guidance prefers. Check the exemptions in Zoning Code Section 20-58.060 and ask Planning early.
It may have come out. The fire department redrew the WUI fire area from CAL FIRE's February 2025 hazard maps, adding parcels that touch a High or Very High zone and pulling the line back in parts of Bennett Valley and Skyhawk that CAL FIRE placed in no hazard zone. Look up the address on the city's Wildfire Ready map before planning defensible-space or vent work.
Before construction, yes. The Oakmont Village Association's guidelines say a city or county permit does not replace Architectural Committee approval, and the committee's approval does not replace a permit. Submit plans to the association first for anything that changes the outside of the house, and ask whether a like-for-like repair counts as construction under its rules.
The City of Santa Rosa, since the annexation took effect on November 1, 2017. Addresses and ZIP codes did not change, and land uses legally established under the county can continue. The city said it would not inspect existing homes there on annexation; its residential code enforcement works mainly from complaints. New work goes through the city's Building Division.
Not if you want the deck to stay as fire-resistant as it was built. The CAL FIRE retrofit list the city posts says that when siding or decking is replaced, it should be a noncombustible or ignition-resistant material or another product approved by the State Fire Marshal. Match the original board or ask the builder what was used, and keep the space under the deck clear.
Checked against these public sources in October 2026. Rules change: confirm anything permit-related with the city or town of Santa Rosa before work starts.
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