Painting Newark

Repainting a Newark house, from first scrape to the last rinse

Most Newark houses were built before 1980, more than half of them between 1960 and 1979, so a repaint here usually means working on pre-1978 paint under the EPA's lead rule. The Building Inspection Division puts painting on its list of work that needs no permit, and the city's design review is about scale and privacy, not color. Where Newark gets specific is cleanup: its storm drain handout sends latex rinse water to the sanitary sewer and keeps brushes out of the gutter.

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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

Ask a Newark painter these before the job starts

  1. How will latex brushes be cleaned? Newark's handout sends that water to a sink on the sanitary sewer, never the gutter.
  2. For a house built before 1978, is the firm certified by EPA, and how will scrapings be collected?
  3. If a window gets replaced along the way, who applies for the permit Newark requires for that swap?
  4. Who takes the leftover cans? The county's household drop-off refuses business waste, so a painter's own surplus goes through its small-business program.
  5. Past $1,000 in labor and materials, what is their C-33 license number to check at cslb.ca.gov?
Permit to repaint
None; painting is on the city's list of exempt finish work
Design review
Tied to building permits; its 2007 guidelines never mention color
Latex rinse water
To the sanitary sewer, never a street or storm drain
PaintCare sites in Newark
None; the nearest stores are across the line in Fremont
The Silliman Activity and Family Aquatic Center in Newark
The Silliman Activity and Family Aquatic Center in Newark. Photo: LPS.1, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The houses here

A city of single-family tracts, finished within twenty years

Newark is overwhelmingly a city of houses. Its 2023-2031 Housing Element counted 10,385 single-family homes in 2020 against 659 homes in two-to-four-unit buildings, with attached single-family homes making up 9.5 percent of the stock, and it notes that most of that housing went up before 1980. So the coats on a typical Newark street were first rolled on when lead paint was still sold for homes, a practice the federal government banned in 1978. The oldest blocks, in Old Town and Mirabeau Park, are where the Housing Element's code enforcement map clusters substandard conditions. Newer subdivisions are the exception, and the year on the county assessor's record settles which side of the line a house is on.

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The work

What a repaint involves on a Newark tract house

  1. Eaves, fascia and siding on a 1960s house

    Outside, the work is mostly wood: fascia under the roof edge, trim around windows and doors, and whatever siding the tract builder used. EPA estimates that about three-quarters of U.S. homes built before 1978 still have some lead-based paint, and its rule requires anyone paid to disturb painted surfaces in such a home to hold EPA certification and training in lead-safe practices. Ask how the painter will contain scrapings on a flat lot where the next yard is close.

  2. Window sash, glazing and trim

    Painters often meet failing putty and cracked panes on the original windows. Newark's permit brochure makes a clear distinction here: replacing broken glass in an existing window needs no permit, but installing a new window or replacing an existing one does. Painting the sash and trim needs nothing from the city. A job that grows from repainting into new windows therefore crosses into permit work, and under the EPA rule window replacement is covered at any size.

  3. Cleaning tools at the end of each day

    The city's storm drain handout spells out the cleanup. Brushes are painted out as far as possible first. Water-based paint is then rinsed into the sanitary sewer, never into a street, gutter, storm drain or stream. With oil-based paint, thinners and solvents are filtered and reused, and the spent liquid and residue are handled as hazardous waste. Leftover water-based paint should be recycled or used up rather than poured anywhere.

  4. A unit you rent out, inside or out

    The EPA rule generally does not cover homeowners working on their own pre-1978 homes, but it does apply if you rent out all or part of the house. Newark's Housing Element adds program H1.2, a citywide inspection program for rental properties meant to keep living conditions safe and healthy. Peeling interior paint in a rented room is precisely what lead-safe prep exists for, whether a pro does it or the owner.

Permits and local rules

Three city documents and one county program behind a repaint

  • Newark's Building Permit Requirements brochure

    The Building Inspection Division's brochure sorts common jobs into those that need a construction permit and those that do not. Painting, papering and similar finish work are on its exempt list. So are wood fences up to seven feet and movable partitions up to 5 feet 9 inches. New or replacement windows need a permit, though new glass in an existing window does not. The brochure was last updated in March 2008, so call the division if a job sits near one of its lines.

    Source: City of Newark Building Inspection Division (newarkca.gov)

  • Single Family Design Review

    The Planning Commission adopted these guidelines in April 2007 to carry out Municipal Code Section 17.16.206. Review applies to new houses, second-story additions and exterior modifications, including changes at the front or the street side of a corner lot, and it must be finished before a building permit is issued. The guidelines speak to scale, materials, neighborhood compatibility and privacy and say nothing about paint color, so a repaint, which needs no permit, is not what triggers review.

    Source: City of Newark Planning Division (newarkca.gov)

  • The Storm Drain Pollution Prevention handout

    Newark's handout begins with the problem: here, as across the Bay Area, storm drain water flows to local creeks and San Francisco Bay without treatment, and paint products poured or spilled into a street are among the usual pollutants. Its painting rules cover brush cleaning and leftover paint, and it asks that containers of paint and solvents be stored in garages or sheds with double containment during rainy periods. The city's stormwater page adds that toxic dumping seen in progress is a 911 call.

    Source: City of Newark Building Inspection Division (newarkca.gov)

  • Alameda County's four drop-off facilities

    Newark residents can take household hazardous waste to any of the county's four facilities, in Fremont, Hayward, Oakland and Livermore, free and without an appointment, showing ID with an Alameda County address. Each container may hold up to 5 gallons or 50 pounds, with 15 gallons or 125 pounds in all per trip. Latex and oil-based paint, stains, varnishes, thinners and spray paint are accepted; construction materials and business waste are not.

    StopWaste (Alameda County Waste Management Authority) (opens in a new tab)

State license for this work: C-33 Painting and Decorating. Look up a contractor's license on the CSLB website (cslb.ca.gov).

Timing

Plan around the rain and the drop-off days

The city's storm drain handout treats the rainy months as their own risk: paint and solvent containers belong in a garage or shed with double containment while storms are coming through, and materials should be kept out of the rain. The end of a job has its own calendar. Fremont's facility on Boyce Road opens Wednesday to Saturday and Hayward's on West Winton Avenue Thursday to Saturday, and all four county facilities close Sunday through Tuesday, so leftovers from a Monday finish wait in the garage for a few days.

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

Questions

Newark painting questions, answered from city and county papers

Does Newark require a permit to repaint my house?

No. The Building Inspection Division's permit brochure lists painting, papering and similar finish work as exempt. The exemption covers only the painting: replacing a window during the same job needs a permit, even though swapping broken glass in an existing window does not. On a house built before 1978, the EPA lead rule applies to paid prep regardless of permits.

Will Newark's design review look at my new exterior colors?

Not on a repaint alone. Single Family Design Review covers new houses, second stories and exterior modifications, and it must be completed before a building permit is issued; painting needs no permit. The 2007 guidelines discuss scale, materials, neighborhood compatibility and privacy without mentioning color. If paint is part of a larger change at the front of the house, ask the Planning Division.

Where does leftover paint go from a Newark house?

PaintCare lists no drop-off inside Newark. The nearest are just over the line in Fremont, including Sherwin-Williams on Farwell Drive and Ace Hardware on Thornton Avenue, each taking up to 15 gallons a visit in labeled cans of 5 gallons or less, but no spray paint. Spray cans and thinners go to the county's Fremont or Hayward facility, no appointment needed.

Can latex rinse water go down the sink in Newark?

Yes, according to the city's storm drain handout: paint brushes out as far as possible, then rinse water-based paint into the sanitary sewer. What it forbids is rinsing brushes or paint containers into a street, gutter, storm drain or stream. Oil-based cleanup is different: filter and reuse the thinner, and take the spent liquid and sludge to hazardous waste.

We rent a room in our Newark house. Does the lead rule apply if we scrape the old paint ourselves?

It can. EPA says its renovation rule generally does not apply to homeowners working on their own pre-1978 homes, but it does when you rent out all or part of the home. In that case the work needs certification and lead-safe practices, whoever holds the scraper.

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.

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