Franktown home remodeling is rural remodeling. Franktown is an unincorporated community in eastern Douglas County, centered where State Highways 83 and 86 cross, with 409 residents at the 2020 census and homes spread across acreage served by private wells and septic systems. There's no town government, no municipal water and no town building department. This page is intentionally shorter than our suburban city pages. It covers the agencies that review a Franktown remodel, how wells and septic shape the scope, and the parts of the area that set its character. For Douglas County soils and radon, see our Douglas County remodeling guide.
Three Agencies Review a Franktown Remodel
A remodel on a well and septic system answers to more than one office:
- The Douglas County Building Division issues building permits, because Franktown is unincorporated.
- The Douglas County Health Department regulates septic systems and requires a use permit for any addition of bedrooms. When a basement remodel adds a bedroom, the county wants the Health Department's approval letter as part of the building permit.
- The Colorado Division of Water Resources issues well permits, and each permit states the uses the well is allowed to serve.
Septic Systems Decide How Many Bedrooms a House Can Have
A septic system is sized for a specific design flow, and on a house that's tied to bedroom count. That is why the Health Department cares about a basement remodel at all.
Wells, Water Quality and the Mechanical Room
Most Franktown homes draw water from private wells, and water quality varies with the aquifer a well taps. Before a kitchen or bath design specifies a tankless water heater, a steam shower or high-end fixtures, test the water for hardness and minerals. Hard water shortens the life of heat exchangers and stains finishes, and the answer may be a softener or filtration system that needs its own floor space, power and a drain.
If you're finishing the basement where the pressure tank and treatment equipment live
Then keep that room accessible and ventilated, with space to service the well equipment without demolition.
If the remodel adds a second kitchen or a separate living suite
Then read the well permit's allowed uses first, since some permits limit service to a single household.
Done right, basement finishing on a Franktown acreage works with the well and septic equipment, not around it as an afterthought.
Remodeling Homes Across Franktown's Countryside
Franktown doesn't divide into named suburban neighborhoods the way Parker does, and we won't pretend otherwise. It reads as a few settings: the crossroads at SH 83 and SH 86, the old center of a community that served as an early Douglas County seat and is home to the Pike's Peak Grange No. 163, listed on the National Register of Historic Places; the Cherry Creek valley running north toward Parker; and acreage to the south toward Castlewood Canyon State Park. On larger rural lots, a whole-home renovation in Franktown often has to coordinate the house with the systems spread across the property. Our Parker remodeling page covers the suburban side of the line, and our Castle Rock remodeling page covers the county seat to the west.
Planning a remodel on well and septic? Start your Franktown remodel with a systems check