Plumbers in Jamaica Plain

Triple-deckers and Victorians: JP's housing in numbers

Census estimates for ZIP 02130 count about 19,120 homes. Almost 58% were built in 1939 or earlier and two-thirds before 1960, so old that the Census reports the median year built only as 1939 or earlier. A third of units (33.5%) are in buildings of three or four units, the category that holds triple-deckers, and 14% are in two-families. Roughly one in five is in a building of 20 or more apartments.

Triple-deckers first appeared in JP in the 1870s and spread quickly through the 1890s. Parley Vale and Robinwood Avenue date from the 1880s, Moss Hill became the most exclusive corner, and the South Street area filled with modest working-class homes. In a triple-decker the kitchens and bathrooms are typically stacked one above another and drain into a shared stack, so water from a third-floor problem can surface as a stain two ceilings down. Tracing it before anyone opens a wall saves money; our leak detection page explains how plumbers do it.

Heating is mostly gas (60.5% of homes) with about 9% on oil. Only 44.5% of homes are owner-occupied, so tenants should report leaks and lost hot water to whoever manages the building rather than hiring a plumber themselves.

Stony Brook, storm drains and rain-driven backups

Stony Brook runs underneath Jamaica Plain in a conduit alongside the Northeast Corridor rail line. During a storm its flow can climb to more than 100 times the normal dry-weather volume. A $45 million Stony Brook project between 2000 and 2006 laid 14 miles of storm drains and cut storm-time sewage flows by 99.7%.

Climate Ready Boston, the city's 2016 study, found no coastal flood exposure anywhere in JP. It did project that about 170 acres, or 8% of the neighborhood, would flood in a 10-year, 24-hour storm in the 2030s to 2050s, a little above the 7% figure for Boston as a whole. In a building with a basement apartment or laundry, ask a plumber whether there is a backwater valve; the owner, not BWSC, is responsible for installing and maintaining one.

BWSC's 2026-2027 street work and JP's lead services

Under contract 24-309-003, BWSC is scheduled to replace water mains and replace or rehabilitate sewer and drain lines on about 25 streets in Jamaica Plain and Roxbury from September 2026 to December 2027. Newbern Street and Armstrong Street are getting new water mains and sanitary sewers, and Gurney Street a new sewer. The city's side ends at the property line, though: the water service from there into the house, and the entire sewer lateral, belong to the owner.

In housing this old, lead deserves a look. BWSC notes that exterior connections made before 1950 may contain lead, and in fall 2025 testing of Boston homes with known lead service lines, the 90th-percentile result was 22.5 parts per billion, above the 15 ppb action level. BWSC's lead program now swaps an eligible private-side pipe for free; its Lead Hotline is 617-989-7888. Our lead pipes guide shows how to identify the pipe where it enters your basement.