Chimney sweep and repair in Bernards Township, NJ
Bernards Township, most of it known locally as Basking Ridge, is the least masonry-heavy town we cover in Somerset County. Over 70 percent of its housing went up after 1980, and better than half of that in named developments from the 1980s building boom like The Hills, Spring Ridge and Society Hill, where the chimney is a framed chase over a listed metal firebox.
The short answer
We inspect and service the framed chases and metal fireboxes common across Basking Ridge’s developments, handle the long dryer-duct runs typical of its townhouse rows, and cover the small pockets of real masonry around Franklin Corners and Liberty Corner.
What we find on Bernards Township jobs
Bernards Township is the most thoroughly post-1980 town we cover, and that decade did more than set the housing age, it set the chimney type. Better than half the stock went up in named 1980s developments like The Hills, Spring Ridge and Society Hill, and in nearly all of them the chimney is a listed metal firebox behind a framed, sided chase rather than a masonry stack. The recurring finds go with that construction: chase-cover seams working loose and flashing failing at the roofline. Better than 45 percent of Bernards housing is attached or multi-family, townhouses and condos where the dryer vent often has to run a long way to reach a roof or gable termination, right up against the length limit the code allows once you count the elbows. Fuel oil is nearly gone here compared to the rest of the county, so what’s left of that work is appliance replacement inside an already-converted gas system. The real masonry sits in two small historic districts, Franklin Corners and Liberty Corner, plus the old Basking Ridge village core, and nowhere else.
Where the van goes in Bernards Township
- Basking Ridge
- Liberty Corner
- Lyons
- The Hills
- Franklin Corners
- West Millington
- Mount Horeb
- Madisonville
- Hardscrabble
- Stone House
- White Bridge
- Somerset Mills
Everything we do in Bernards Township
- Chimney sweepingThe camera goes down before any brush does
- Chimney inspectionLevel 1 or Level 2, with a written report
- Chimney repairCrowns, caps, flashing and liners that let water in
- Fireplace & stovePilot lights, dampers and door gaskets
- Dryer vent cleaningThe whole run cleared, from the dryer to the outside hood
- Air duct cleaningWe tell you when cleaning will not help
- Duct repair & replacementCrushed, split or fallen duct runs repaired
What homeowners say on our Google listing
A selection of our 5-star reviews on Google.
Work was carried out by an expert who knew just what proportions of air to fuel were required for a brick fireplace system to burn cleanly.
It was no longer a strong pick. The service fixed the damper and got rid of the sticky creosote. Now it's easy to start fires and they burn constantly. Every time we light it, we can see the difference.
Top-notch service! They showed up right on time, which is rare these days. The technician took the time to explain everything and showed me exactly how much soot was clogging the flue. Fast, clean, and very reasonably priced. I will definitely be using them every year from now on!
Questions from Bernards Township
We live in one of the 1980s developments. What kind of chimney do we have?
Almost certainly a listed metal firebox inside a framed, sided chase rather than a masonry fireplace. That’s the standard setup in developments like The Hills, Spring Ridge and Society Hill, and the recurring issues are chase-cover seams and roofline flashing.
Our dryer takes forever to finish a cycle. Could the vent run be an issue in our townhouse?
It’s worth checking. A lot of Bernards Township’s housing is attached or multi-family, and a dryer vent in a townhouse row often has to travel a long way to reach a roof or gable termination. Code sets a maximum length that shrinks with every elbow in the run, and a long, restricted duct is a common cause of exactly that symptom.
Our house is in the historic part of Basking Ridge. Is that different from the rest of the township?
It usually is. The old village core, along with the Franklin Corners and Liberty Corner historic districts, holds nearly all of the township’s pre-1940 housing, and that’s genuine masonry rather than the framed chases common in the 1980s developments. Confirm any exterior work with the township before scheduling.
We still have an oil furnace. Is that unusual out here?
It’s less common in Bernards Township than almost anywhere else we cover, most of the conversion wave already happened, but there’s still a residual group on oil. When that furnace is eventually replaced, the installer verifies the flue is correctly sized for the new appliance as part of the swap.
Find us on Google
Open the map to see our Google listing, or open the listing itself to read our reviews.
Royal Chimney Sweep & Repair Readington NJ
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