Chimney Sweep in Stillwater, NJ
Chimney sweep service in Stillwater, NJ for stone farmhouses, converted lake cottages around Swartswood and homes along the Paulins Kill.
Photo: JackTheVicar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Stone houses from the 1700s, cottages from the 1900s
Stillwater was settled in 1741 by German immigrants who farmed the valley and built in stone. Some of their houses and mills are still standing. Stillwater Township stayed a dairy and farming community for two centuries, with Kittatinny Mountain rising along its western side.
A second wave of building came with the lakes. Swartswood Lake drew summer visitors in the early 1900s, and Paulins Kill Lake was created by a dam in the 1920s. The cottages built around them were meant for warm weather, and over the years many were turned into year-round homes.
So a sweep here might be working on a massive stone chimney with a fireplace wide enough to walk into, and an hour later on a small cottage flue that was never designed to carry a wood stove through January.
Very old flues and very small ones
Early stone chimneys were built without liners, and their flues are wide and irregular. They are swept with larger brushes and inspected closely, because gaps between the stones can let heat and smoke through to the house.
Cottage chimneys have the opposite problem. They are often short and narrow, which makes for weak draft, and a stove added later may be too large for the flue it was connected to.
After the sweep you are told what was found. For an old or converted house, that plain report is often the most useful part of the visit.
Chimney services for Stillwater homes
Stillwater, New Jersey
Swartswood, Middleville and Stillwater village are all on the route, along with homes around Paulins Kill Lake. The map shows coverage, with service coming out from Newton.