Chimney sweep and repair in Ridgewood

Ridgewood is a village of older single-family homes. Census figures put 37.9 percent of its housing before 1940 and another 12.6 percent in the 1940s, so about half the houses in the village are more than 75 years old. Nearly eight in ten are detached houses, and in a prewar house that usually means a masonry chimney, often with two flues: one for the fireplace in the living room and one carrying the furnace and water heater exhaust from the basement.

That second chimney is where a lot of our Ridgewood work starts. About 85 percent of homes in the village heat with natural gas, and gas exhaust is full of water vapor. In an old clay-tile flue, or one with no liner at all, that moisture soaks into the mortar and slowly breaks it down from inside. We look at both flues at the free inspection, take photos, and give you a written price before any work is done.

Prewar houses, aging clay tile and the fireplace chimney

A chimney built in the 1920s or 1930s usually has clay tile liners laid in mortar, and after 90 years of heat, rain and frost, those tiles crack and their joints open. New Jersey's fire code says an unlined chimney with open mortar joints shall be repaired or relined. A cracked tile is not always an emergency, but it is a reason not to use the fireplace until we know how far the damage goes. If we suspect a hidden problem, a camera scan is priced at the inspection.

On the roof, the usual findings in Ridgewood are a cracked crown, loose top courses and worn flashing where the chimney meets the shingles. A crown repair typically runs $600 to $2,200 and repointing $500 to $2,500. The village also has older landmarks, including the Westervelt-Cameron House from about 1767 and the Ackerman House on Lincoln Avenue from about 1810, both on the National Register.

Replacing a furnace or water heater in the village

When a furnace, boiler or water heater is replaced in New Jersey, the town's construction office needs a chimney verification on form F-370 before the job is approved, and a homeowner can't sign it. In many Ridgewood houses the old flue is far too big for a new, more efficient appliance, and the fix is a stainless liner sized to it. A furnace or water-heater liner typically costs $625 to $2,250, and the liner paperwork goes in with the permit.

Ridgewood has its own Historic Preservation Commission. If your house is a designated landmark, ask the village before you change the look of a visible chimney. Like-for-like repairs are the norm for us on older homes in any case.

Where we work in Ridgewood

Upper Ridgewood · The Heights · Brookside · The Lawns · Salem Ridge · Floral Park · The View · Scrabbletown · The Old Country Club · Downtown