Short Hills, Millburn & the Essex hills

Chimney restoration for the houses of Short Hills and Millburn

Tudor stacks, slate roofs, multiple flues and hundred-year-old masonry. We inspect with a camera, restore with matched materials, and document every step in writing.

Historic masonry experienceLevel 1 & 2 inspectionsFull written reportsLicensed & insured NJ
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Get your estimateTakes 30 seconds — a real person replies.

We reply to every enquiry. No call centre, no automated runaround.

  • CSIA-trained & fully insured
  • Camera inspection on every visit
  • Written photo report
  • Quoted before we start
The problem with grand chimneys

Bigger stacks, more flues, more that can quietly go wrong

The chimneys in Short Hills and Millburn are frequently multi-flue, often over eighty years old, and regularly serving three appliances that were installed decades apart. Any one of those flues can be blocked, cracked or wrongly shared without a single symptom downstairs.

  • Every flue in the stack scanned individually — not just the one you use
  • Shared and cross-connected flues identified and corrected
  • Repointing with lime-based mortar matched to original historic work
  • Slate, copper and tile roof flashing handled without damaging the roof
Serving Short Hills, Millburn & the Essex hills
  • Short Hills
  • Millburn
  • Summit
  • Springfield
  • New Providence
  • Berkeley Heights
  • Livingston
  • South Orange
  • West Orange
  • Madison
  • Florham Park
  • Chatham Township
  • Union
  • Mountainside
  • Westfield
What we do

Chimney services in Short Hills, NJ

Every job starts with a camera and ends with photographs. Anything beyond the agreed scope gets quoted before it happens.

Level 1 & Level 2 Inspections

Each flue in the stack scanned with a camera and documented separately. The report is written for homeowners, realtors and insurers alike.

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Masonry Restoration

Repointing, brick replacement and crown rebuilding using lime-based mortar matched to the original — critical on pre-war masonry, and routinely got wrong.

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Chimney Sweeping

Containment, HEPA extraction and drop cloths on every surface between the door and the firebox. Photographed before and after.

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Liners & Relining

Stainless liners for wood, gas and oil appliances, sized properly per flue. Essential where a modern boiler now vents into a Victorian-era chimney.

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Crowns, Caps & Waterproofing

Cast crowns, custom multi-flue caps and breathable waterproofing that keeps water out without trapping it inside the masonry.

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Firebox & Damper Repair

Cracked firebrick, failed dampers and deteriorated smoke chambers rebuilt so the fireplace drafts as it was designed to.

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Why homeowners call us back

No theatre, no scare tactics, no invented emergencies

Every flue, not just one

A multi-flue stack gets a multi-flue inspection. That is the only way to find a shared or blocked flue.

Matched materials

Modern hard mortar destroys soft historic brick. We match the mix to the masonry we are working on.

Documented properly

Written reports with images — the kind that hold up with an insurer or at a closing.

Respectful on site

Covered floors, protected roofs, tidy exits. These are not houses you leave footprints in.

How it works

Four steps, no surprises

Describe the property

Number of fireplaces, age of the house, what is venting into the stack. A short note is plenty.

Schedule the survey

We book a proper window, confirm the day before, and text before the tech arrives.

Camera survey of each flue

Every flue documented on its own, with the footage kept as part of your record.

Report, then a scoped quote

You get findings and photos first, and a priced scope of work second — with priorities marked.

Questions we get every week

Straight answers

My house has three fireplaces and one chimney. Do they all need inspecting?
Yes — each flue is effectively its own chimney and can fail independently. It is common in Short Hills to find one flue in a stack fully blocked by debris or a collapsed tile while the others draft fine. It is also common to find two appliances improperly sharing a flue, which is both a code issue and a genuine carbon monoxide risk. Our inspection covers each flue separately.
Can repointing damage a historic chimney?
Yes, and it frequently does. Modern Portland-heavy mortar is harder than pre-war brick, so when the wall moves, the brick face spalls off instead of the mortar giving way. On older Short Hills and Millburn masonry we use a lime-based mix matched to the original, which is softer than the brick by design. It is more work and it is the only correct way to do it.
Do you provide reports for a home sale?
Yes. A Level 2 inspection with a written report and images is the standard for a property transfer, an appliance change or after a chimney fire. Buyers, sellers, attorneys and insurers all accept it, and we write it to be readable rather than cryptic.
Will you damage a slate or tile roof?
Not if the job is done properly. Slate and tile need roof ladders and hooks and someone who knows where to put their weight. We plan roof access before the visit rather than improvising on the day, and we will say so upfront if a particular roof needs a specialist alongside us.
How often should these chimneys be swept?
The inspection is annual regardless of use. Sweeping depends on how much you burn: a regularly used wood-burning fireplace typically needs an annual sweep, a rarely used one may not. On a large multi-flue stack, though, most of what we find each year is masonry and water related rather than creosote.
Are you insured for this kind of property?
Yes — fully insured, with the certificate available before we come out. Our techs are CSIA-trained and work to NFPA 211.

Book a Short Hills chimney visit

Tell us what is going on and we will come and look properly.

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Get a Free Estimate