Water Damage Restoration in the Old North End

Updated November 12, 2026

The Old North End runs north from Colorado College, with Monument Valley Park and Monument Creek along its west side. Most of the houses went up fast in the 1890s, when Cripple Creek gold money poured into town, and North Nevada Avenue still holds the city's best row of Victorians from roughly 1890 to 1910. Later decades filled in bungalows, Spanish Revival homes and a few ranches. The district has been on the National Register since 1982, in the 80903 and 80907 ZIP codes.

How a Victorian takes on water

A two or three story frame house with a turret, porches and a steep, complicated roof has more ways to leak than almost anything built since. What crews see most often in this neighborhood:

• Ice dams at roof valleys, dormers and porch tie-ins after a snow followed by a sunny day. The melt backs up under shingles and stains the plaster below.
• Built-in gutters hidden inside the cornice that rust through and send water into the wall.
• Cast iron drain stacks running two or three floors, which crack and leak inside walls for months before a stain appears.
• Clay sewer laterals under mature street trees, the usual source of backups into a cellar floor drain.
• Stone or brick foundations with a partial cellar, where snowmelt seeps through mortar joints every spring.
• Bathrooms and kitchens moved upstairs or remodeled several times, with old and new pipe joined in odd places.

If ceilings stain after every storm, start with the roof leak water damage page and the guide to ice dams on Colorado Springs roofs.

What to do while you wait

Shut off the main. In many of these homes it is in the cellar near the front wall, sometimes hidden behind shelving or stored boxes. Turn off power to a room where water runs near a light fixture. Lay towels and buckets under drips, and move rugs, books and furniture out of the way. If water is coming up from a floor drain, stop running water anywhere in the house. In many cases a crew is on the way within the hour and on site the same day, since central addresses are a short drive for most local pros.

Drying a house that breathes

Plaster on lath, old-growth fir and thick wood trim tolerate water better than drywall and particleboard, but they hold moisture longer, so the drying plan is slower and more careful. Crews aim for steady, controlled drying with dehumidifiers rather than blasting heat that can crack plaster and check wood. Hidden pockets inside balloon-framed walls can carry water from the attic to the cellar, so moisture mapping covers every floor below the leak, not just the room with the stain. Our water damage restoration page covers the steps, and mitigation versus restoration explains why drying and rebuilding are often billed separately.

What drives the cost

Expect the total to depend on how many floors the water crossed, whether it came from a clean supply line or a drain, how much original plaster and trim can stay, and whether rebuilding requires matching historic profiles. Tall ceilings and tight cellars slow the work. When water reaches a cellar furnace, an old electrical panel or a boiler, you may also need an HVAC tech or electrician to clear the equipment before drying can finish, and they bill on their own. Ask the crew to flag that early so nothing waits. The restoration company writes its estimate after inspecting the house, before work starts.

Insurance and local details

A cracked supply pipe that suddenly sprays is usually treated as sudden and accidental; a stack that dripped inside a wall for a year often is not, so report new damage right away. Sewer backup needs its own endorsement on most policies. Colorado Springs Utilities provides water and sewer service here, and PPRBD issues repair permits. For homes with rental units, see water damage between landlord and tenant. Nearby Patty Jewett shares many of the same older-home issues.