Plumbers in Everett, MA

Pre-1940 houses of two to four units

The 2020-2024 American Community Survey counts 18,827 housing units in Everett, 10,035 of them from 1939 or before, so even the median home falls in the census's oldest age bracket. Only about 5% of units have gone up since 2010, and Revere's housing plan notes that Everett has built about half as much housing over the past 20 years as Revere has.

The building mix stands out too. Two-unit buildings hold about 26% of homes and three- and four-unit buildings about 27%, so more than half of Everett's housing sits in small multi-family houses. Fewer than one home in five is a detached single-family house, and just 6.5% are in big buildings with 50-plus units, though new apartment buildings are rising near Route 16 on the former Exxon site.

In a three- or four-unit house of that age, the plumbing is stacked: one main drain and vent stack and one building sewer serve every floor. A leak in a top-floor bathroom can work its way down through two ceilings, and a clog in the main line overflows at the lowest fixture, usually in the basement or the first-floor apartment. Steel water piping that has rusted inside also leaves upper floors with weak pressure. Fixing any of it often means getting into several apartments, so tenants should tell the landlord about drips and slow drains early.

Lead service line replacement, phase by phase

Everett has been working through its lead water service lines with its engineering consultant, Tata & Howard, which has worked with the city since 2018. In Phases 1 and 2, from spring 2019 to fall 2022, about 580 services were replaced or had their material confirmed. The consultant's project page puts Phases 3 and 4 at about 400 more, for roughly 980 in all.

Tata & Howard also maintains the city's publicly accessible lead service line inventory map, the quickest way to see what the records say about your address. With so much of Everett's housing built before 1940, it is worth a look even if you have never had a water problem. Where the service comes through the foundation, a plumber can usually tell lead from copper at a glance; the lead service line guide covers the next steps.

Rivers, culverts and the Mystic waterfront

Water sets Everett's edges. The Mystic River runs along the south side, where Encore Boston Harbor opened on the riverbank in June 2019, and the Malden River forms part of the western boundary with Medford. The Island End River, a short Mystic tributary between Everett and Chelsea, runs largely through a culvert described as in poor condition; part of it was dredged in 2007, and in 2021 Everett began bringing sections back to the surface. Townline Brook, in a culvert of its own, runs across the borders Everett shares with Malden and Revere.

Flood risk is shaping new building as well: cleanup of the former Exxon site began by raising the land to avoid climate-related flooding. On low ground, the usual plumbing defenses for an older house are a backflow check on the building sewer and a sump pump that empties outdoors, and a plumber can tell you whether either suits your basement.