Chimney Repair Lyndhurst NJ

What Weather and Age Do to Lyndhurst Chimneys

Lyndhurst is an old township, first set up as Union Township in 1852 and given the Lyndhurst name in 1917, and a great deal of the housing went up in the decades that followed. That means a lot of original masonry, much of it about seventy years old or more.

Some of these stacks vent modern furnaces they were never sized to handle, which damages the flue and the crown from the inside. Caught early, most problems on a Lyndhurst chimney can be repaired.

Most Lyndhurst Chimney Leaks Begin at the Seam

A lot of what gets called a chimney leak in Lyndhurst actually begins where the chimney meets the roof.

When the step flashing along that joint fails, rain gets in behind it and the stain shows up on the ceiling next to the brick. People often blame the brick.

If the flashing is the cause, the answer is a flashing and waterproofing fix. If the brick truly is the issue, the photos show that.

When Repointing Is Just Stalling

Open joints and flaking brick on a Lyndhurst chimney call for an assessment of the masonry and the cause. Repointing cannot fix a water-entry or movement problem that is still there.

Ask us to explain what needs repair and what needs more evaluation. Any rebuild discussion should follow those findings, with a written scope.

Doing the Roof and the Chimney on One Visit

Chimney flashing has to be woven into the shingles around it. Doing the roof and the chimney on one visit builds the seam as a single system, and you pay for one setup.

If your Lyndhurst roof has work coming anyway, ask us about a combined look. The roofing and masonry sides are handled by the same licensed team.

A Built-Out Township of Pitched Roofs

Lyndhurst homes sit close together, with more than 1,900 housing units per square mile in the 2010 count, and most of those are older single- and two-family houses with pitched roofs and brick chimneys.

The Kingsland section and the blocks down toward South Rutherford have plenty of these stacks.

We work the whole township, from the streets near Riverside County Park over to the ones backing up toward the Meadowlands. The eastern edge of town runs into the wetlands around DeKorte Park, but the houses sit on the dry western side.

How a Chimney Fails, Top to Bottom

A Lyndhurst chimney fails from the top down, in order, and the cap goes first because it is metal.

Next the crown cracks under freeze-thaw and lets water into the stack, and then the flashing at the roofline fails, which is the real source of most so-called chimney leaks.

Last comes the masonry itself, with joints washing out and brick faces spalling after water has been inside the structure for years. How far along your chimney is decides whether the fix is small or big.

The Freeze-Thaw Calendar in Bergen County

Freeze-thaw does most of the damage here. Water that soaks into the brick during the fall rains freezes solid in January and spalls the faces off by March. That is why a Lyndhurst chimney can look fine in October and damaged by spring, and why fall waterproofing is worth doing.

Nor'easters and summer thunderstorms add damage too. Get the crown and the flashing checked before the snow comes.

Lyndhurst Chimneys Built for Fireplaces Now Vent Furnaces

A good share of the old chimneys in Lyndhurst no longer serve a fireplace at all and vent furnaces and water heaters instead. Newer high-efficiency units send wetter exhaust up flues not built for it, and that damages the liner, joints and crown from inside.

If the furnace was swapped in the last decade and nobody looked at the chimney afterward, get one inspection, even with nothing visibly wrong.

Roads That Bring Us In

Route 3 runs just over the northern border and provides access, while Route 17, County Route 507, and the NJ Turnpike Western Spur all serve the township too. We use these routes to serve Lyndhurst properties from our Clifton base.

The Mix of Chimneys Around Town

Lyndhurst chimneys vary with the age of the block. The older pitched-roof houses have tall solid-masonry stacks that usually fail at the crown and flashing.

The newer single- and two-family homes tend to have shorter chimneys. Often the furnace flue is in daily use and the fireplace flue rarely is, so the liner's condition matters more than the look of the brick.

The later prefab metal fireplaces in wood chases are not masonry and usually fail at the chase cap.

We handle all three, and we start by identifying which one you have, because the correct fix depends on it.

Does a Lyndhurst chimney still need looking after once the last owner has sealed off the fireplace? Yes. A sealed flue is still exposed to weather on the outside, and an unused stack with a cracked crown lets water into the wall underneath it for years. Capping the flue and sealing the crown deals with it.

Can you line the chimney work up with a roof job in Lyndhurst? Yes, and the timing is ideal, because the staging is already up and the flashing is already open.

Doing both together avoids a second setup, and the flashing joint gets handled once.