Chimney Service in Passaic County

Passaic County has some of the oldest housing in the state. The Census Bureau's 2024 survey puts 27 percent of its homes before 1940 and the median build year at 1957. Paterson, built around the 77-foot Great Falls that Alexander Hamilton picked for a planned industrial city, has 33 percent of its homes from before 1940. In Clifton the figure is 31 percent, and its median home dates to 1951, mostly detached houses with one brick chimney.

Passaic is a gas county: 81 percent of homes heat with utility gas, 84 percent in Clifton and 82 percent in Paterson. Most of the chimneys we see there now vent a gas furnace or boiler. Gas exhaust carries water vapor, and in an old unlined or poorly lined chimney that moisture soaks the brick from inside. Crumbling mortar at the attic level and white staining on the outside of the stack are the usual signs.

Clifton and Paterson: liners for gas appliances

When a furnace, boiler or water heater is replaced, New Jersey requires a chimney verification on form F-370 before the town approves the job, and a homeowner can't sign it. In a 1950s Clifton chimney the existing flue is often too large for a modern appliance. A liner sized for the new furnace or water heater typically runs $625 to $2,250.

Wayne, Little Falls and West Milford

Wayne and Little Falls have more postwar colonials and split-levels, many with a fireplace that gets real use in winter. Here the work is usually creosote, damper and crown related: a damper repair typically runs $150 to $450 and a crown $600 to $2,200. Where a wood stove or insert is used for heat, its liner needs cleaning every season, priced at the free inspection.