Our Newark house was built in 1972. Could the ceiling texture contain asbestos?

It could. The CPSC says asbestos may be present in textured paint and in patching compounds used on wall and ceiling joints, and that their use was banned in 1977, after a 1972 house was finished. For a home of four or fewer units, the Air District requires a sample before acoustic ceiling material or a textured wall surface is disturbed. Leave the ceiling alone until the lab result is back.

Do I need a Newark permit to replace a section of drywall?

Ask the Building Inspection Division first. Its brochure exempts painting, papering and similar finish work and lists alterations to bearing and non-bearing walls as permit work, but it never mentions drywall on its own. A patch that is part of replacing kitchen or bath cabinets, a shower enclosure or concealed piping falls under items the brochure does list, so the permit question is usually settled by the rest of the job.

Should we pay for a mold test before the wet drywall comes out?

The state health department says no. CDPH's guidance is that it is not helpful to find out which kinds of mold are in a house, and that such tests are not needed to know there is a mold or moisture problem. Visible mold, water damage or a musty smell is reason enough to act: stop the moisture, then remove moldy porous material such as drywall, which cannot be completely disinfected.

Drywall Repair in Newark, CA: Old Ceilings and Wet Walls

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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.

Permits and local rules

The Newark and state rules a wall repair runs into

What the Building Inspection Division lists
The division's Building Permit Requirements brochure says that apart from its listed exemptions nearly all construction needs a permit. It names additions and alterations to existing buildings, specifying both bearing and non-bearing walls, along with replacing kitchen and bathroom cabinets, shower enclosures and existing piping. Painting, papering and similar finish work are exempt. The brochure, last updated in March 2008, does not mention drywall itself, so ask the division before a section of wall comes out, and expect a wall that moves to need a permit.
Source: City of Newark Building Inspection Division (newarkca.gov)
Dampness and mold in the housing code
CDPH explains that dampness of habitable rooms has long made a home substandard under the Health and Safety Code, and that since January 1, 2016 visible mold growth, as determined by a health officer or code enforcement officer, does as well, minor mold on surfaces meant to get wet excepted. An owner cited by a local code inspector must repair the condition, and since January 1, 2022 landlords must hand prospective tenants the state's mold booklet. Newark's Housing Element plans a rental inspection program that names mold among the issues it would report.
Source: California Department of Public Health (cdph.ca.gov)
Emergency renovations under Regulation 11, Rule 2
The Air District's asbestos rule defines an emergency renovation as one that is not planned but follows a sudden, unexpected event, and it names renovations due to fire, water or earthquake damage. Such a renovation has to be approved by the Air District before work begins, and the approval covers only the abatement of the immediate hazard. The rule's sampling step for houses of four or fewer units still applies to the ceilings and textured walls involved, and joint compound is on its list of friable asbestos materials.
Source: Bay Area Air Quality Management District (baaqmd.gov)
Recycling the broken board
Newark's waste management plan form explains that the city ordinance requires construction and demolition debris to be recycled on projects covered by the construction waste sections of the state green building code, at no less than 65 percent, with all asphalt and concrete recycled. Drywall and gypsum board get their own line on the form. Smaller jobs outside that rule still keep the debris out of the carts: Republic Services excludes construction debris from all three, and its three free on-call cleanups a year accept up to 3 cubic yards of it.
Source: City of Newark Building Inspection Division (newarkca.gov)

State license for this work: C-9 Drywall, C-35 Lathing and Plastering, C-22 Asbestos Abatement. Look up a contractor's license on the CSLB website (cslb.ca.gov).

The work

What usually brings someone to a Newark wall

Scraping or patching a textured ceiling
The CPSC warns that sanding, scraping or drilling patching compounds, textured paints and sprayed ceiling material can release asbestos fibers, and the ban on such compounds came only in 1977, late in Newark's building boom. For a house of four or fewer units, the Air District's Regulation 11, Rule 2 does not ask for a full survey, but it does require a sample before such a surface is disturbed. Cal/OSHA's certification covers the consultants and technicians who take asbestos samples or plan and oversee removal projects of 100 square feet or more.
Cutting out board around a leaking shower or sink
California's Department of Public Health says you do not need a mold test to know you have a mold or moisture problem, and that porous materials such as drywall cannot be completely disinfected once moldy and must be removed. Its booklet adds a warning for older houses: painted drywall or plaster in a home built before 1978 might contain lead or asbestos, and material that does must go to a household hazardous waste program rather than the trash.
Patches that come with new cabinets or a shower
Newark's permit brochure is stricter than many about kitchens and baths. It lists replacing existing kitchen or bathroom cabinets as permit work, exempting only new cabinet doors and drawer fronts, and does the same for replacing a shower enclosure. So the drywall patched behind a new vanity often belongs to a permitted job. If a leak behind the wall means a concealed drain, water or vent pipe has to be replaced, the brochure treats that as new work needing a permit too.

Drywall sheets on a wood floor with a roll of mesh joint tape and several taping knives. Photo: Timothyjosephwood, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The houses here

Two decades of tract building on former ranch and marsh land

Newark had barely 5,000 residents at the start of the 1950s and incorporated in September 1955 as the first new city in Alameda County in 47 years. The Housing Element then counts 7,737 of its housing units built between 1960 and 1979. The Lake shows the pace: Transamerica Development Co. filed its plan in March 1965, and the first ranch-style houses were occupied by Thanksgiving 1966. Walls of that era are gypsum board taped with joint compound, and the CPSC's guide to asbestos in the home lists patching and joint compounds, textured paints and sprayed decorative or soundproofing coatings on ceilings among the places to look. The city's oldest housing stands in Mirabeau Park and Old Town/Central Newark, where its repair program focuses its outreach.

Timing

Winter storms that arrive with a high tide

City crews patrol storm drains during heavy rain, and Newark says floodwater generally does not reach homes. The exception is a downpour that coincides with a high tide, when the system cannot drain to the Bay and streets flood locally. The lake at Lakeshore Park doubles as a stormwater detention basin and can rise over its retaining wall. Residents may pick up to 10 sandbags at the Service Center on Filbert Street to protect doorways. If water still gets in, look at the bottom of the walls the morning after, not at the next repaint.

Before you hire

Ask these before a Newark wall is opened

If the ceiling or walls are textured and the house dates from the 1960s or 1970s, will a sample go to a lab before any scraping or sanding?
Does the job include new cabinets or a shower enclosure, which Newark's brochure lists as permit work, and who will apply for the permit?
After a leak or storm water, will you cut the board back above the wet line and let the cavity dry before patching?
Where does the old board go: a Republic on-call cleanup we book, or your load to a recycler with receipts if the job falls under the city's recycling rule?
In a rental, will the repair fix the moisture source a code inspector would cite, not just the stain on the paint?

Still deciding?

Water came in under our back door in a storm. How much wall has to come out?

After flooding, CDPH advises removing drywall to a level above the high-water mark, then looking inside the wall space and throwing out insulation that is wet, moldy or smells moldy. Porous materials wet for more than 24 to 48 hours are likely to grow mold. Do not run the furnace or air conditioning if the system or its ducts took on water, since that can spread mold through the house.

I rent in Newark and the landlord painted over mold. What are my options?

California's Health and Safety Code has treated visible mold, as determined by a health officer or code enforcement officer, as a substandard condition since 2016, and CDPH explains that an owner cited by a local code inspector must repair it. Since 2022 landlords must also give prospective tenants the state's mold booklet. Newark's Housing Element plans a rental inspection program listing mold among reportable issues, so contact the city's code enforcement staff.

Keep exploring

More on drywall work and Newark

Drywall and plaster in other cities

Other trades in Newark

Guides and smaller jobs

Where this page belongs

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.

static1.squarespace.com: Newark+2023 2031+Housing+Element compliant December 2023
history.newarkca.gov: newark s roots (history.newarkca.gov)
history.newarkca.gov: the lake 717 (history.newarkca.gov)
newarkca.gov: 636504125213900000 (newarkca.gov)
newarkca.gov: 638357339261370000 (newarkca.gov)
newarkca.gov: flooding and sandbags (newarkca.gov)
newarkca.gov: storm season is here (newarkca.gov)
republicservices.com: Newark Resi Service Guide Fall 2023
cpsc.gov: asbestos home (cpsc.gov)
cpsc.gov: Asbestos (cpsc.gov)
baaqmd.gov: rg1102 (baaqmd.gov)
dir.ca.gov: asbestos (dir.ca.gov)

Newark walls from the boom years, where the ceiling texture comes first

Newark drywall questions, from ceiling texture to storm water

Get quotes for drywall work in Newark

The Newark and state rules a wall repair runs into

What the Building Inspection Division lists

Dampness and mold in the housing code

Emergency renovations under Regulation 11, Rule 2

Recycling the broken board