Water Damage Restoration in Manitou Springs

Updated November 12, 2026

Gravity is the main character in any Manitou Springs water story. The town sits at the mouth of Ute Pass where Fountain Creek, Williams Canyon and Ruxton Creek all come together, and the houses climb the slopes on every side. Rain that falls on a hillside lot here does not soak in politely. It runs across rock, down stairs and driveways, and straight toward whatever foundation sits lowest.

Old houses built on rock and slope

The Manitou Springs Historic District, listed on the National Register in 1983, includes about 1,000 buildings at the historic core of town. Many are 19th century Victorian frame houses, Queen Anne homes, stone cottages and cabins set on the hillsides around Manitou Avenue. Lovely to look at. Tricky to keep dry.

Here is what crews run into most often in these homes:

• Stone and rubble foundations that let groundwater through every spring and after heavy rain.
• Lath and plaster walls that hold water longer than drywall and can lose their bond to the lath.
• Old supply and drain lines. Galvanized steel, cast iron and clay sewer laterals are still found in many older Manitou houses, often mixed with newer repairs.
• Additions on different levels, where a roof meets an older wall and flashing has been patched many times.
• Crawlspaces and partial basements dug into the hillside, with little room to work and no floor drain.

When drying a home like this, the goal is to save original materials when they can be saved. That means careful moisture readings, slower drying for plaster and old-growth wood floors, and honest calls about what has to go. The guide on saving hardwood floors applies to a lot of the old fir and oak floors in town.

2013: the summer the hillsides came down

The Waldo Canyon fire in June 2012 burned the slopes north and west of town. With the ground cover gone, ordinary summer storms began producing flash floods. On July 1, 2013, a storm sent mud, debris and high water down Fountain Creek and Williams Canyon, and about 20 homes were damaged. On August 9, 2013, roughly 1.5 inches of rain on the burn scar sent a wall of water and debris out of Williams Canyon below Cave of the Winds and onto US-24 and into town. One person died, several houses were destroyed and dozens more were damaged. Canon Avenue took some of the worst of it.

A lot of mitigation work has been done since, including drainage improvements and flood barriers up the canyons. But the lesson stuck: in Manitou, flood risk is not only for houses next to the creek. Water can arrive down a side canyon or a street. Our post on burn scar flash flooding covers how to prepare, and storm and flood damage in Manitou Springs explains what cleanup involves when mud is part of the job.

Everyday water problems

Floods get the headlines, but most calls in Manitou are smaller:

• A frozen pipe in an uninsulated exterior wall or a crawlspace that dipped below freezing overnight.
• A water heater tucked into a closet or under the stairs that finally rusts through.
• An upstairs bathroom leak that drops through plaster ceilings below.
• Hail or wind damage on an older roof, and the slow ceiling stain that follows.
• A sewer lateral cracked by tree roots or ground movement on the slope.

For split lines see burst pipe cleanup in Manitou Springs, and for water coming in at the lowest level see basement flooding in Manitou Springs.

Working on a steep lot

Access shapes a lot of Manitou jobs. Some houses sit above long flights of stairs, on narrow streets with little parking, or with a crawlspace entrance tucked under a deck on the downhill side. Crews may need to carry extraction gear and dehumidifiers by hand, run hoses a long way and plan where a truck can safely park. Mention any stairs, tight access or parking limits when you call, so the right equipment comes on the first trip.

Water service in town

The City of Manitou Springs runs its own water treatment plant, with Colorado Springs Utilities pipelines serving as a link to some of its supply. For a break at the street or meter, call the city. Everything on the house side of the meter is the owner's to repair.

Before the crew gets there

Shut off the water at the main. In older homes the valve may be in a crawlspace, a basement corner or an exterior meter box near the street, so find it ahead of time. If floodwater is rising, get to higher ground first and worry about the house later. Once it is safe, turn off power to wet areas, photograph everything and move what you can upstairs.

What shapes the cost

Older homes take more judgment, and that affects the estimate. The main factors are the water category, how many rooms and how much square footage got wet, plaster versus drywall, original wood floors, how long the water sat, access to crawlspaces on steep lots, and whether rebuild work must match historic materials. Expect the inspecting company to walk the house first and hand you a written number for your Manitou job before anyone starts tearing out plaster.

Permits, location and nearby

Manitou Springs building permits and contractor licensing run through the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department. Exterior rebuilds on contributing buildings in the historic district may also need to follow the city's historic district design guidelines. Manitou is about 6 miles west of downtown Colorado Springs on US-24. Crews here also work Old Colorado City, Cascade up the pass and the west side of the city. For the full process, read water damage restoration in Manitou Springs.