Old Poway runs along Midland Road, from Twin Peaks Road down to Hilleary Place. That’s how the City describes it. Old Poway Park sits in the middle, with its steam train, Templars Hall and the Nelson House.
The park’s buildings were moved there and restored. The houses on the streets around it weren’t. They’ve been sitting on the same ground for a long time, and many of them have been added onto, patched and re-patched.
If you own one, here’s what to know about what’s under it.
How old is old here
The City’s history page says real growth didn’t start until the late 1950s, when the first subdivision opened. Poway didn’t incorporate until December 1980.
So the area has a mix. A few homes go back to the farm years. More date from the postwar decades. Plenty were remodeled or expanded later, sometimes more than once.
That mix matters. A single house can have a 1950s core, a 1970s addition and a 1990s garage. Each part may sit on a different kind of foundation.
Raised floors are common in the older cores
Many older homes in the valley were built with raised wood floors. That means a short concrete perimeter wall, a crawl space, and posts and piers holding up the middle of the floor.
Our post on raised foundations in older Poway homes explains how those parts work. This one is about what tends to go wrong in houses like the ones near the park.
What to look for under the floor
You need a flashlight and old clothes. If the crawl space is tight, wet or has signs of animals, don’t go in. Look through the access hatch and take photos.
Check for:
- Posts that lean, have pulled off their piers, or sit on loose blocks or bricks.
- Shims stacked on shims. That’s a sign someone chased a sag more than once.
- Wood that’s dark, soft or crumbly, especially near plumbing.
- Damp soil, standing water or a musty smell.
- Cracks in the perimeter wall, especially ones with an offset.
- Bolts, or no bolts, where the wood sill sits on the concrete.
Where the add-ons meet
This is the spot to watch in older Old Poway houses. Where an addition joins the original house, two foundations meet. They’re different ages and often different types. One might be a raised floor. The other might be a slab.
They don’t always move together. Signs include:
- A crack in the wall right at the seam.
- A step or slope in the floor at a doorway between old and new.
- A roof leak where two rooflines join.
- A door at the seam that drags.
Most of the time, that’s minor. Sometimes it means one side is settling. Measure and photograph it, and watch it over a few months.
The seismic piece
The California Residential Mitigation Program points out two weak spots in older raised-floor homes. The first is a sill plate that isn’t bolted to the foundation. The second is a short wall between foundation and floor, called a cripple wall, that isn’t braced.
Older homes built before modern bracing rules often have one or both. If yours does, ask about bolting and bracing. Our seismic retrofit page explains the work.
Things people do that make it worse
Don’t jack up a sagging floor yourself. Lifting too much too fast can crack plaster, pop tile and break pipes.
Don’t stack more blocks under a sinking post. Find out why it’s sinking first.
Don’t close up every crawl-space vent to keep critters out. Air needs to move.
Don’t let a sprinkler or a downspout dump water next to the foundation.
Don’t patch a crack in the perimeter wall before someone reads it.
Water around older lots
Older lots weren’t always graded the way new ones are. Soil next to the house may be flat, or it may slope the wrong way after decades of gardening. Downspouts may empty right at the wall. Some older homes never had gutters at all.
Under a raised floor, that water ends up in the crawl space. Wet soil softens under the piers. Wood stays damp. Mold and rot follow.
Here’s the fix list, in order:
- Make sure the ground slopes away from the house on every side.
- Add gutters if there are none, and run downspouts away from the foundation.
- Keep planter beds and mulch from piling up against the siding.
- Aim sprinklers away from the walls and vents.
Do those first. A lot of crawl-space problems shrink once the water stops.
Trees that came with the house
Old Poway has big, old trees. That’s part of the charm. Some of them sit close to houses. Roots look for water, and they’ll find leaky pipes and damp soil under a crawl space. In some soils, a big tree can also dry the ground out near a footing.
Don’t cut down a tree on a hunch. Just note which trees are close to the foundation, and mention them when someone evaluates the house.
Records may be thin
Older homes often have incomplete permit files. Additions from decades ago may have been built before the City existed, when the area was unincorporated county land. Ask Poway’s Building Services what’s on file. Expect gaps.
That’s normal. It just means the house itself is the best record. An evaluation fills in what the paperwork doesn’t.
Repairs that fit older homes
Common fixes for older raised floors near the park include:
- Replacing failed posts and piers with new ones on proper footings.
- Adding support under sagging girders.
- Repairing or replacing rotted sills.
- Bolting the sill to the foundation and bracing cripple walls.
- Improving drainage and ventilation so the crawl space stays dry.
- Underpinning a section of perimeter footing that’s settled.
Not every house needs all of that. Some need one small piece. A good evaluation tells you which.
What to expect from an evaluation
Someone should look at the crawl space, the perimeter wall, the floors above, the seam between old and new sections, and the drainage around the house. If the findings point to a structural fix, they should coordinate with licensed engineers as needed.
What it costs depends on what’s found: how much of the floor needs support, access in the crawl space, the condition of the wood, whether seismic work is included, and permits. Ask for those factors in writing.
Read more on our raised foundation repair page and foundation inspection page. We work across all of Poway. Want someone to take a look? Request a Free Quote.