Mold Removal in Oregon City, OR: Historic Houses and the Bluff

Historic houses on the bluff and in Canemah

The American Community Survey (2020 to 2024) counts 14,651 housing units in Oregon City with a median build year of 1992, but 1,552 homes, 10.6 percent, were built before 1940 and 3,182 before 1970. Federal lead-safe work rules cover housing built before 1978, and Oregon requires an accredited asbestos survey before demolition or renovation of residential buildings built before 2004.

Canemah, the old riverboat town above Willamette Falls, was listed as a National Register district in 1978, with 101 inventoried structures including 89 single-family homes. The city annexed it in 1928 and requires review of exterior alterations on most homes in the district. The McLoughlin Conservation District, on the bluff, is a local district. A moisture repair that changes siding, windows, or roofing in either district may need city review before work starts, and the city can say whether it applies.

Rainfall and the 1996 storm

NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals record 44.8 inches of precipitation a year at the Oregon City station, against 36.9 at Portland International Airport, mostly between November and March. During the storm of February 6 to 9, 1996, Oregon City received 7.51 inches in four days, above its previous four-day record of 7.29 inches from 1964, according to the Oregon Climate Service. The same storm set a record flood crest on the Tualatin River (see Hillsboro).

The bluff and the 2013 landslide study

The upper city sits atop a bluff of Canemah basalt. Oregon City, Lake Oswego, and Happy Valley helped fund the state's 2013 landslide study of northwestern Clackamas County, which mapped 2,885 existing landslides and which DOGAMI describes as suited to regional screening rather than site-specific evaluation. Across the river, West Linn maps its own steep slopes.

For a house on or below the bluff, drainage is the first place to look. See our gutters and drainage and crawl space and subfloor pages.

Newer neighborhoods

A third of Oregon City's homes, 4,879, were built in 2000 or later, and another 3,012 in the 1990s. Thirty-five percent of households rent, and 2.1 percent of homes are mobile or manufactured, among the highest shares of any city we serve. The city recognizes twelve neighborhood associations, including McLoughlin, Canemah, Hazel Grove, and Gaffney Lane. We also serve Beavercreek and the surrounding unincorporated Clackamas County.

How the work is planned for Oregon City homes

Eleven percent of Oregon City homes were built before 1940 and 41 percent before 1980, so the written scope includes the lead-safe and asbestos-survey steps and notes any historic-district review before exterior work is planned.

Oregon City areas we serve

• McLoughlin
• Canemah
• Hazel Grove
• Gaffney Lane
• Park Place
• Beavercreek (unincorporated)

Services for Oregon City homes and buildings

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