Foundation Repair for Manitou Springs Historic Homes

Older Foundations on Manitou Springs Hillsides

Manitou Springs sits about 6 miles west of Colorado Springs, right at the foot of Pikes Peak. It is a historic town, and many of its homes are Victorian-era houses perched on steep hillsides. Those houses were built long before modern footings and drainage, and a lot of them still stand on their original stone or brick foundations. Many of them have small cellars or partial basements dug into the slope, and some have been altered several times over the past century.

Old stone and brick foundations can last a very long time, but they age in their own ways. Mortar washes out and softens, stones shift, and walls can lean where the hillside pushes against them. Porches, additions and retaining walls built in later decades often rest on different footings, so movement tends to show up where old and new work meet. Repairs here usually call for a lighter touch and materials that suit the original structure. We avoid hard, modern mortar on soft historic stone and brick, since it can trap moisture and speed up damage to the original material.

Water is the other big factor in Manitou Springs. Fountain Creek runs through town, and after the 2012 Waldo Canyon fire left a burn scar above it, the area dealt with repeated flash floods. Runoff on steep lots moves fast and can scour soil from around foundations or soak into cellars. We look at how water reaches your home from uphill and plan drainage along with any structural repair. Where a home sits on a steep or unstable slope, we recommend bringing in an engineer before planning major work, so the repair fits the hillside as well as the house.