Custom home builder and remodeler in Golden, Colorado

Golden's older blocks and newer edges

Golden dates to the 1859 gold rush and is the county seat of Jefferson County, so it has a deeper stock of old houses than most west metro suburbs. The blocks around downtown and Washington Avenue include late 1800s and early 1900s cottages, Victorian-era houses and small brick homes, many on narrow lots. The 12th Street Historic District is one designated concentration of them.

Streets near the Colorado School of Mines campus mix owner-occupied houses with student rentals. Farther from downtown, postwar and later subdivisions fill the north and south sides of town, often on sloped lots with walkout basements.

What older Golden houses need

Houses from the 1800s and early 1900s were built before modern foundations, insulation and wiring. Common findings are stone or brick foundations with no waterproofing, porches pulling away from the house, soft masonry joints that need repointing and add-ons from several decades that don't tie in well. Careful repairs and renovations often come before any remodel.

Golden permits, historic review and the Clear Creek floodplain

Inside city limits, building permits come from the City of Golden. Many properties with a Golden mailing address are unincorporated Jefferson County, and those go through the county. Check the parcel before anything else.

Historic status takes two forms. National Register listing, by itself, generally does not restrict what a private owner does with private money. Local designation is what brings design review of exterior changes. If your house is in or near a historic district, ask the city which applies before drawing an addition.

Clear Creek runs through the middle of town, and lots near it can fall inside a mapped floodplain. That can mean a floodplain permit and elevation requirements for new homes and for large remodels or additions. Check the FEMA flood map for the parcel early, because it can change what can be built and where.

Soils, slopes and wind on the west edge of the metro

Golden sits at the western edge of the metro, and the ground there is less predictable. In parts of western Jefferson County, layers of claystone bedrock tilt steeply, and where they contain swelling clay, heave can be severe and uneven. Jefferson County maps a designated dipping bedrock area for that reason. Any new home or addition here starts with a soils report and a foundation designed by an engineer for the specific lot.

Sloped lots add retaining walls, drainage and walkout details to the plan. Strong downslope winds are also common on this side of the metro in winter, so the city's wind design requirements, roof fastening and siding attachment deserve close attention. Our roofing, siding and windows page and our notes on where houses leak cover the details that keep weather out.

Projects Golden homeowners ask about most

Small older houses on narrow lots lead to home additions, often a rear addition or a carefully scaled second story that respects the street. Infill and replacement lots lead to new custom homes designed around slope, floodplain and setback limits.

Nearby Lakewood and Arvada have mostly younger housing and their own permit offices, so their pages read differently.