Roslindale Plumbers, Boston, MA | Village to Cummins Hwy

Where

Roslindale Village · Roslindale Square · Adams Park · Belgrade Avenue · Washington Street · Cummins Highway · Parkway · Arnold Arboretum (south of Bussey Street)

ZIP 02131

Water & sewer

In Roslindale, as across Boston, water and sewer service belongs to BWSC, which buys its water wholesale from the MWRA. Day or night, call (617) 989-7900 if a main has broken, the street is flooding from a pipe, or the house has no water at all.

Official page

Permits & inspections

Need a permit for plumbing work? In Boston only a licensed contractor can get one, from the Inspectional Services Department. It costs $20 plus $5 a fixture, and your plumber has to be there when the inspector comes.

Official page

Pre-1960 multi-families and condo conversions

Census estimates put about 13,360 homes in Roslindale's 02131. Of those, 54% were built in 1939 or earlier and 70% before 1960, compared with 58% before 1960 for Boston overall; the median year built is reported only as 1939 or earlier. The mix of buildings is broad: 34% detached single-family houses, 10% attached single-family, 21% two-families and 17% in three- and four-unit buildings. A little under 60% of homes are owner-occupied, and about 11% are still heated with oil.

Condo conversions change who owns the pipes. Once a two- or three-family is split into units, a drain stack or supply line that served one owner may now be a common element run by the association, while the fixtures and branch lines inside each unit belong to that unit's owner. Before booking a plumber for a ceiling stain or a backed-up shared drain, read the master deed or bylaws to see which side of that line the problem is on and who has to approve the work.

A buried branch of Stony Brook

Roslindale has its own share of Boston's hidden waterways. The Roslindale Branch of Stony Brook was put into a conduit as far as Roslindale Square around 1921, and the last open sections in Roslindale and Hyde Park were enclosed between the 1930s and the 1950s.

Above ground, the city's 2016 Climate Ready Boston study found no coastal flood risk here but projected that about 170 acres, roughly 7% of Roslindale, would flood in a 10-year, 24-hour storm by the 2030s to 2050s. If your basement takes on water during heavy rain, a plumber can tell whether it is coming back up through the drains, which a backwater valve can stop, or seeping in through the foundation, which is a drainage problem rather than a plumbing one. Our drain cleaning page covers slow and backed-up drains.

Service pipe leaks: BWSC's Leak Up To Owner option

In Boston, the water service from the property line into the house is the owner's to maintain and repair. For the small residential buildings that make up most of Roslindale, BWSC offers an alternative to hiring a contractor for that buried pipe. Under its Leak Up To Owner program, a one- to three-family home with a service pipe two inches or smaller and an active, non-delinquent account can have BWSC repair a leak on the private service, usually a one-day job with minor digging. The owner pays either in one payment or in 24 equal installments added to the water and sewer bill. Apply through BWSC Operations at 617-989-7900.

Leaks inside the house, behind walls or under floors are still a job for a private plumber; see our leak detection page. And if the service turns out to be lead, which BWSC says is possible for exterior connections made before 1950, ask about its free private-side replacement instead by calling the Lead Hotline at 617-989-7888. Our lead pipes guide explains how to tell.

What Roslindale callers usually need

Plumbing in Roslindale: questions

Will BWSC repair a leak in the water service pipe at my Roslindale house?

It can, through Leak Up To Owner, if the building has one to three families, the service is 2 inches or less, and the account is active and not delinquent. The owner still pays, but can spread the cost over 24 installments on the water and sewer bill. Call BWSC Operations at 617-989-7900.

Who owns the sewer pipe that runs from my Roslindale home to the street?

You do, from the basement all the way to the BWSC main. When that pipe is blocked, collapsed or leaking, BWSC's Sewer Lateral Financial Assistance Program can cover part of a repair once a decade, after the commission verifies the problem and you collect three estimates.

Are there lead pipes in Roslindale?

BWSC doesn't publish lead counts by neighborhood, but it warns that exterior connections made before 1950 may contain lead, and 70% of Roslindale homes were built before 1960. Check your address on BWSC's water service map or call 617-989-7888; eligible private-side replacements now cost the owner nothing.

Plumbers in Roslindale