Chimney Sweep in Lafayette, NJ
Chimney sweep service in Lafayette, NJ for the nineteenth-century houses of the village and the farms and homes along Routes 15 and 94.
Photo: Mr. Matté, contact me , Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
A mill village that kept its old houses
Lafayette grew up around a mill on the Paulins Kill. Its village centre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013, with forty-two buildings counted as part of the district. One of them, the foundry, went up in 1836. Lafayette Township was formed nine years later.
Houses of that period were heated room by room, first by fireplaces and then by cast-iron stoves. Their chimneys reflect it. Many have several small flues, thimble openings for stove pipes that were later bricked or plastered over, and brickwork laid in lime mortar.
Away from the village the township is open farmland, where a wood stove or a fireplace insert is a common way to take the load off the furnace.
Care with a historic chimney
Before brushing an old flue, the sweep checks where it goes and what else is connected to it. A forgotten stove thimble behind a wall is a real fire risk if the flue is put back into use.
Soft old brick and lime mortar are swept with brushes that clean without gouging. The aim is to remove the soot, not the inside of the chimney.
If a historic chimney turns out to be unlined or damaged, it can usually be made safe with a stainless liner run inside it. The outside, which is what gives the house its character, stays untouched.
Chimney services for Lafayette homes
Lafayette, New Jersey
Service takes in Lafayette village and the homes along Routes 15 and 94. The map shows where sweeps are booked, not where an office stands.