Arapahoe Acres and South Englewood: Mid-Century Lower Levels

Basement with flood-cut walls drying. Shown to illustrate the work described; not a job for this site or at any address named here.

South Englewood at a glance

Era: Largely late 1940s through the 1960s
Arapahoe Acres: A neighborhood of mid-century modern homes listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places
Typical construction: Modernist houses often on slabs or with partial lower levels; nearby ranches with full basements
Older materials: Mid-century flooring, adhesives and pipe insulation are frequent candidates for asbestos testing

When there is no basement to flood

Many mid-century modern houses were designed low to the ground, with floors on a concrete slab and sometimes radiant heating tubes cast into the slab. Water damage in these houses usually starts with a supply leak, a water heater, or water entering at a door or low window, and it spreads across the floor instead of collecting in a basement. If your house has heat in the slab, tell any cleanup provider before they drill, cut or nail into the floor, and ask a heating technician to check the system if water reached the boiler or manifold.

Some of these homes have partial lower levels on sloped lots, with one side at grade and the other below it. Those rooms behave like basements on the uphill side and like ground floors on the downhill side, so seepage tends to appear on one wall only.

The ranch homes elsewhere in south Englewood are more conventional: full basements, often poured concrete or block, finished in the 1970s or later with paneling, drop ceilings and carpet over vinyl tile. Those layers are where the asbestos questions come in, and a flood is often the first time anyone looks under the carpet.

Before work on a mid-century house

Find out whether the floor has radiant heat and where the tubing runs.
Locate the main water shutoff and the boiler or water heater shutoffs.
Plan to test old floor tile, adhesive and pipe wrap before removal.
Note original materials, such as wood paneling or built-ins, worth saving if possible.
Photograph the original details before anything is removed.

Questions for this area

City of Englewood: does the historic district listing, or any local designation, affect exterior drainage changes, window replacements or regrading?
Cleanup provider: have you worked on slab floors with radiant heat, and how will you dry around it?
Heating technician: did water reach the boiler, pumps or manifold, and is the system safe to run?
Insurer: how are original materials that cannot be matched handled in a claim?

Map of Arapahoe Acres. It shows an area, not an office or a job site.

General information for Englewood, not a quote or professional advice. In an emergency, call 911.