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Jamaica Plain mixes 1890s Victorians on Sumner Hill, brick rows near Hyde Square, and a steady stream of condo conversions — housing that rewards a plumber who respects old buildings. IS Plumbing repairs and repipes these homes, modernizes their heating, and keeps the character intact while bringing the mechanicals up to today's code, with every permit filed through Boston ISD.
JP's Victorians hide their plumbing history in plain sight: clawfoot tubs on original drum traps, radiators piped in iron, brass and lead-jointed drains behind wainscoting nobody wants opened. We work carefully in these houses — preserving fixtures worth preserving, replacing what has failed, and running new supply and waste lines along routes that spare the plaster and trim. Around Hyde and Egleston Squares the stock shifts to triple-deckers and multi-families with the usual shared-line headaches, and near the Pond it is larger single-families with big radiator systems. Condo conversions are a specialty: clean rough-ins, separated services, and documentation your inspector will like.
JP receives MWRA water through BWSC mains, and its drains tell an older story: the neighborhood grew up along the Stony Brook, which now runs in a conduit beneath the Southwest Corridor, and low basements near that valley can see backups when storms surcharge the system. Original clay laterals and lead water services still turn up in pre-1930 homes, and both are replaceable without major disruption.
Like the rest of Boston, Jamaica Plain permits through the Inspectional Services Department, and condo work often adds an association sign-off on top — we handle the filings either way. A common project in these houses is heating modernization: retiring a tired steam or gravity hot-water boiler in a Sumner Hill Victorian for a compact high-efficiency system without losing the original radiators.
Based in Millbury, MA, we cover all of Jamaica Plain and the surrounding towns. Don't see your street? Call +1 (774) 486-0909 and ask.
Usually, yes. We re-trap and re-pipe antique tubs to current code — drum traps get replaced with accessible P-traps — and refit period-style exposed supplies, so the tub stays while the plumbing behind it is new.
Most conversions separate them — per-unit heaters and shutoffs are what buyers and inspectors expect. We design per-unit systems for conversions around Hyde Square and Sumner Hill and file all the ISD permits.
Sometimes. If water is coming up the drains rather than through the walls, a backwater valve and a sump can protect the space. We camera the lateral first so you fix the actual entry point.
Yes — cast-iron radiators pair well with modern condensing boilers when the system is piped and controlled correctly. You keep the even, quiet heat and lose the fuel waste of a worn-out boiler.
We do. New ranges, relocated lines and pressure tests are all permitted gas work in Boston; we run the pipe, test it, and meet the ISD gas inspector for sign-off.
From our shop in Millbury, MA we serve Jamaica Plain and the surrounding towns across the Worcester area, MetroWest and Greater Boston. Don't see your town listed? Call and ask.
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