Rewiring and Repiping Fairmount’s Historic Houses

Bungalows, Four Squares and the Rules on the Outside

In a historic district, the city’s review is about the outside of the house. The city’s Historic Preservation program says any change to the exterior of a historic property requires a Certificate of Appropriateness before permits are issued or construction begins. Most of what we do in a Fairmount house happens inside, in the attic, the walls and the panel. When a job does show on the outside (a new outdoor condenser location, a relocated meter base, a line set running down a front wall), check with the city’s Historic Preservation office first, and we will plan the routing with that answer in hand.

Under the street, the city plans to replace old pipe of its own. Fort Worth Water’s Magnolia Avenue and Fairmount project replaces cast iron water mains on streets including West Magnolia Avenue, 5th Avenue, Washington Avenue and Hemphill Street, plus sewer mains in the alleys between 5th Avenue, Henderson, Adams, College and Alston. The project page lists it in design and says it will affect the Fairmount Neighborhood Association. The city started its cast iron program to cut down on water main breaks, and its water managers have committed to replacing at least 20 miles of cast iron pipe a year.

The private line from the meter to your house is not part of that work. Fort Worth Water’s service line inventory makes the owner responsible for that stretch, and its address map shows what the city has on file. If the map shows your line as galvanized requiring replacement, the label means your galvanized pipe sat, or is presumed to have sat, downstream of a lead line on the city’s side, and replacing it falls on the owner.