# Repiping Ridgewood | Mathews Flats & Rowhouses | NYC Repipe & Repair

> Repiping Ridgewood Mathews flats, yellow-brick rowhouses and two-families: building-wide galvanized supply replaced in Type L copper. Call 24/7.

URL: https://nycrepipe.com/boroughs/ridgewood/

The Ridgewood report

# Repiping Ridgewood Rowhouses and Mathews Flats

Most of Ridgewood was built between 1905 and 1915 as six-family brick flats. Nearly every building on a block went up within a few years of the next.

[☎ Call (929) 659-6658](tel:+19296596658) Free Ridgewood estimate →

69

water-line permit filings since Jan 2023 in the Ridgewood NTA (broad filter)

DOB NOW LAA data

990

buildings in the Central Ridgewood Historic District, built 1906–1915

NYC LPC

1905–1915

when most of Ridgewood's housing was built

Wikipedia: Ridgewood

6

apartments in a typical three-story Mathews flat

National Register of Historic Places

Three-story yellow-brick Mathews flats with matching cornices along a Ridgewood block. Illustrative.

[NYC Repipe & Repair](https://nycrepipe.com/) handles repiping Ridgewood buildings need, from three-story Mathews flats with six apartments to curved Stier two-family rowhouses and the brick rows of Stockholm Street. Most were built between 1905 and 1915 on galvanized steel supply, and many began as cold-water flats with hot water added later. Each job replaces that piping in Type L copper with tenants kept on water, filed in DOB NOW with an LPC Certificate of No Effect inside the historic districts, and priced in writing first.

## What repiping in Ridgewood actually involves

Ridgewood was built nearly all at once. Masonry construction became mandatory in 1905, the Queensboro Bridge opened in 1909, and most of the neighborhood's housing went up between 1905 and 1915 in amber and yellow face brick. Builders like the G.X. Mathews Company, with architect Louis Allmendinger, produced the three-story Mathews flats, with two apartments per floor. Louis Berger & Co. designed more than 5,000 buildings in the area. The city has since landmarked big pieces of it: Stockholm Street (2000, 36 rowhouses on the neighborhood's last brick-paved street), Ridgewood North (2009, 96 buildings built 1908–1914), Ridgewood South (2010, 210 buildings) and Central Ridgewood (2014, 990 buildings) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridgewood,_Queens)). Many Mathews flats began as cold-water tenements, with hot water added later, so one building can hold supply piping from two different eras, each failing on its own schedule.

A Mathews flat is a small multifamily job, not a house job. One service line and one set of risers feed six apartments over three floors, all under street pressure with no roof tank, so a corroded riser shows up as weak flow and brown water on the top floor across the whole stack. Patching a pinhole in one apartment rarely holds when the riser behind it is the same age. The work is planned as a [riser replacement](https://nycrepipe.com/riser-replacement/) plus new branches, done stack by stack so each apartment is normally back on water at the end of the day. Because these are three-plus-family buildings, DOB's LAA fee is $195 up to $3,000 of work plus $10.30 per $1,000 after that. Unpermitted work carries a penalty starting at $6,000, compared with $520 for a one- or two-family house. Inside the landmark districts, the filing also needs an LPC Certificate of No Effect. Two-family Stier and Ring-Gibson houses follow the [two-family](https://nycrepipe.com/two-family-house-repiping/) approach instead.

The Price Report

## What the work costs in NYC

Published ranges. Every number names its source.

<table class="ledger mt-4 text-[1.02rem]"><tbody><tr><td><a href="/water-leak-detection/" class="no-underline hover:underline">Leak detection, standard visit</a><span class="cite">Yelp cost guide</span></td><td class="fig">$175–$350</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/apartment-repiping/" class="no-underline hover:underline">Co-op apartment repipe</a><span class="cite">The Plumber NYC</span></td><td class="fig">$3k–$8k</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/whole-house-repiping/" class="no-underline hover:underline">2–3 story house repipe</a><span class="cite">A Good Plumber</span></td><td class="fig">$12k–$30k</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/brownstone-repiping/" class="no-underline hover:underline">Brownstone repipe</a><span class="cite">The Plumber NYC</span></td><td class="fig">$15k–$35k</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/lead-service-line-replacement/" class="no-underline hover:underline">Lead service line, private</a><span class="cite">NYC DEP replacement plan</span></td><td class="fig">$5k–$10k</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/answers/repiping-permit-nyc/" class="no-underline hover:underline">DOB permit, 1–3 family, $30k job</a><span class="cite">DOB LAA fee chart</span></td><td class="fig">$195</td></tr></tbody></table>

Sources last reviewed Oct 19

**PEX is not on Table 605.4** of the NYC Plumbing Code. National "average repipe" figures quote PEX, which is why NYC prices run higher.

[Ridgewood, QueensOpen in Google Maps →](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=Ridgewood%2C%20Queens%2C%20NY)

In Ridgewood

## Leak repair and repiping services in Ridgewood

-   [Galvanized Pipe ReplacementRust-clogged galvanized steel replaced with copper, the fix for brown water and weak pressure in prewar houses.](https://nycrepipe.com/galvanized-pipe-replacement/)
-   [Water Riser ReplacementBuilding riser projects for co-op and condo boards and managing agents, sequenced line by line to keep apartments on water.](https://nycrepipe.com/riser-replacement/)
-   [Two Family House RepipingTwo units, one service line: repiping attached and semi-detached two-families while tenants stay in place.](https://nycrepipe.com/two-family-house-repiping/)
-   [Water Line ReplacementThe service pipe from the street to your meter: leaking, galvanized or too small. Replaced in Type K copper to DEP standards.](https://nycrepipe.com/water-line-replacement/)

Around Ridgewood

Landmarks we work around: Stockholm Street · Vander Ende-Onderdonk House · Ridgewood Theatre · Ridgewood Savings Bank (Myrtle and Forest Avenues) · Fresh Pond Road. Part of our [Queens](https://nycrepipe.com/boroughs/queens/) coverage, served from 286 Hamilton Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11231.

The Ridgewood report

## Repiping in Ridgewood, answered

How much does it cost to repipe a six-family Mathews flat?

Price it per apartment plus the risers. Published NYC figures run about $3,000 to $7,000 per unit for copper supply replacement, and $5,000 to $12,000 per floor per line for risers. A three-story, six-unit building with two riser stacks adds up quickly, so the itemized estimate breaks out each stack, each apartment and the service line separately.

Sources: [Handyman New York City](https://handyman-new-york-city.com/guides/cost/pipe-replacement-costs-nyc/)

Can my tenants stay during a Ridgewood repipe?

Yes. Work goes one riser stack at a time, with new copper installed beside the old pipe, so only the apartments on that stack are affected and they're normally back on water at the end of each working day. Each tenant gets the dates when work happens inside their unit. Hot water is restored on the same schedule as cold.

Is my Ridgewood building in a historic district?

Quite possibly. The LPC has designated Stockholm Street, Ridgewood North, Ridgewood South and Central Ridgewood, which together cover more than 1,300 buildings. Inside them, DOB-permitted plumbing work also needs an LPC Certificate of No Effect. For interior copper that's routine, but it adds weeks before the start date. Ridgewood also has National Register districts, which don't add a city filing on their own.

Further reading

## Reading for Ridgewood owners

-   [Brown Tap Water: Why Is My Water Brown in NYC?](https://nycrepipe.com/answers/brown-tap-water/)
-   [What Is the Cost to Replace Galvanized Pipes in NYC?](https://nycrepipe.com/answers/galvanized-pipe-replacement-cost/)
-   [Does Repiping Require a Permit in NYC?](https://nycrepipe.com/answers/repiping-permit-nyc/)

Nearby

-   [Bedford-Stuyvesant1870s–1900s brownstone rows, often split into rental floors.](https://nycrepipe.com/boroughs/bedford-stuyvesant/)
-   [Forest HillsForest Hills Gardens Tudors and 1930s apartment buildings.](https://nycrepipe.com/boroughs/forest-hills/)
-   [QueensInterwar brick rowhouses and two-families on galvanized supply.](https://nycrepipe.com/boroughs/queens/)

Free Ridgewood estimate

A written repipe or leak-repair price for your Ridgewood house.