Water Damage Restoration in The Point, RI

The Point is Newport's oldest neighborhood, laid out by Quaker families in the early 1700s on the flat ground north of Long Wharf along the harbor. Its streets run in a grid with the cross streets named for trees, from Elm and Poplar to Willow and Walnut, and Washington Street runs along the water with Hunter House from 1748 at one end. Hundreds of houses here date from the 1720s to the 1820s, on rubble stone cellars, four or five feet above sea level.

That elevation is the whole story. The harbor comes over the curb on Washington Street on a nor'easter high tide, runs down the side streets, and finds every bulkhead and cellar window. Houses here were raised on new foundations after the 1938 hurricane, and the Newport Restoration Foundation has recorded cellar flooding on the Point from high tides alone, with no storm at all.

This site puts Point homeowners through by phone to an independent local water damage provider who knows what a 1730 cellar looks like with a foot of salt water in it.

Water damage on the Point when the harbor comes up Washington Street

Salt water in the cellar is a storm surge and coastal flood cleanup, with the porous material removed and the stone and sill metered afterward. The spring groundwater that comes through the joints every April is a stone cellar flooding cleanup. Anything standing on the ground floor starts with water extraction.

Neighbors who have watched the tide for a long time

The Point Association has worked on preservation and flooding in the neighborhood for decades, and its members know which corners go under first. Exterior repairs after a flood, including a new bulkhead door or clapboards, need a certificate from the Historic District Commission before the work starts.

Call (401) 560-5802 and tell us how deep the water is and whether it is salt. An independent local water damage provider serving the Point takes it from there.