Appleton Mill, Toxaway, Riverside, Orr Mill, Gluck, Equinox, Brogan, Rock Mill

Anderson had eight mill villages and they followed the power rather than a single river, which is why they ring the city instead of lining one creek.

What we usually find

The mill villages were built fast and cheap for mill workers, sold off to those workers in the 1950s, then modified by owners for seventy years with no coordination. The other early neighborhoods on this list were not company built, but they went up the same way and they behave the same way. Structurally they are true pier and beam: isolated brick piers, often with little or no real footing under them, no continuous perimeter wall, and floor framing that was undersized when it was new. We usually find piers that have settled or rotated, joists sistered and shimmed from decades of DIY correction, added rooms and enclosed porches sitting on even shallower foundations than the original house, and bare dirt crawlspaces with no vapor barrier. Termite, powderpost beetle, and rot damage are common in this vintage.

What actually fixes it

Proper footings under new piers, or helical piles where the soil calls for it. Correct girder support. Encapsulation to stop the moisture cycle that caused half the movement in the first place. These houses are almost always worth repairing. The framing is old growth lumber and the bones are better than the piers holding them up.

North Anderson, Edgewood, Blair Street, Central, Boulevard

The North Anderson Historic District and the Boulevard homes share construction with the mill houses but were built to a different budget, with better framing and deeper footings.

What we usually find

Deep crawlspaces, brick or stone perimeter walls, shallow footings by modern standards, and often a partial basement that was dug later. Many of these homes have been renovated two or three times, and each renovation added load the original foundation was never sized for. A second floor addition, a kitchen bump-out, a heavy tile floor. What shows up is differential settlement where an addition meets the original structure, bowing or leaning basement and crawlspace walls, and moisture coming through unsealed masonry.

What actually fixes it

Underpinning at the settled section, carbon fiber or steel reinforcement on walls that have moved laterally, and drainage correction. These are high value homes and the repair has to be done in a way that survives scrutiny at resale.

Centerville, Concord, Hopewell, Homeland Park

Anderson ranches spread toward the water. A great many of them sit on ground that drains toward a lake or a pond, which changes what is moving underneath them.

What we usually find

Block perimeter crawlspaces on continuous footings, some slab on grade, and the first generation of cut-and-fill lot grading in the Upstate. The construction itself is generally sound. The issue is where the house sits on the lot. Settlement concentrates on the fill side, garage slabs and carports drop away from the structure, and the crawlspace carries sixty years of accumulated moisture damage.

What actually fixes it

Targeted underpinning on the settled quadrant, not the whole perimeter. Most of these houses need work at one corner, not all four. Anyone quoting a full perimeter pier system on a 1960s ranch should be asked to justify it.