Plumber in Dedham, MA

Local Knowledge

Dedham Housing Stock and Plumbing History

Dedham was incorporated in 1636, one of the first two inland settlements established outside Boston under the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the Fairbanks House on Eastern Avenue, built around 1637, remains the oldest surviving timber frame structure in North America. Despite that colonial pedigree, Dedham's actual housing stock reflects 20th century suburban development more than its founding era. Roughly a third of homes predate 1940, concentrated near the historic town center, along High Street, and in the Riverdale neighborhood, in a mix of cottages, Cape Cods, Colonial Revivals, and raised ranches. The town's largest single housing cohort, close to 39 percent, was built during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s postwar boom in Cape Cod, ranch, split level, and raised ranch styles, putting the median construction year at 1956. Those postwar supply and drain systems are now 60 to 80 years old. Legacy Place, a 675,000 square foot open air retail development on 37 acres, represents the newest large scale addition to Dedham's built environment, bringing with it commercial grade plumbing infrastructure, including grease interceptors and backflow assemblies, that residential neighborhoods do not need.

Water Supply

Water Quality and Supply in Dedham

Dedham is fully served by the MWRA, drawing from the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs, among the largest unfiltered surface water supplies in the country, with treatment for pH and corrosion control applied before distribution. Homes with older galvanized or copper supply lines should be tested periodically, since corrosive water chemistry from any surface water supply can accelerate interior pipe degradation over time, particularly in the town's large stock of postwar copper installed in the 1940s through 1960s. The bigger water related issue in Dedham is Mother Brook, an artificial waterway built in 1639, the first man made canal in the present day United States, that diverts water from the Charles River to the Neponset River using a nearly 40 foot drop in elevation. It once powered mills and now functions primarily as a flood control structure. FEMA's Norfolk County Flood Insurance Rate Map, dated July 6, 2021, designates Zones A and AE covering East Dedham and the Mother Brook corridor, and a modeled 2070 hundred year storm event could affect more than 50 critical facilities and up to 12,500 acres across the wider Charles River watershed without further intervention.