Woonsocket, Rhode Island
Roof replacement in Woonsocket
A mill city on the Blackstone, shaped by French-Canadian families and the triple-deckers they lived in.
From company housing to triple-deckers
Around 1864 and 1865 the Harris Woolen Company built 80 brick housing units for workers at its Privilege Mill, and the company recruited workers from French Canada, part of the wave that made Woonsocket a French-Canadian city. Two-family houses were the norm until the triple-decker appeared around 1885. In Rhode Island the form became most common in Woonsocket and Central Falls.
Families often filled all three floors, with grandparents upstairs helping raise children while parents worked in the mills. The Museum of Work and Culture in Woonsocket recreates a triple-decker parlor from the 1920s and 1930s.
Roofs on Woonsocket’s housing
Triple-deckers
Mostly low-slope roofs behind a cornice, covered with membrane, plus stacked porch roofs. See triple-decker roof replacement for what the work involves.
Brick mill housing
Brick row and duplex housing has pitched roofs that meet masonry walls and party walls. The flashing where roof meets brick, and where one owner’s roof meets the next, is where leaks usually start.
Two-families and postwar houses
Gable-roofed two-families and later Capes and ranches are shingle replacements, often with two old layers to remove.
Woonsocket triple-decker or house due for a roof? Call a roofer who works in the city.
Mon–Fri 8:30 am–7 pm · Sat 9 am–4 pm (Eastern)
Woonsocket roof questions
+Is a triple-decker roof replacement a big job?
Bigger than a single-family roof mainly because of height and access. The roof area is often modest, but staging, debris handling and porch roofs add time. Most are completed in a few days, weather permitting.
+Can I live in my unit while the roof is replaced?
Yes. The work is done from outside. Expect noise, and clear the top-floor attic access if the roofer asks for it.