Chimney Service on Long Beach Island, New Jersey

Long Beach Island runs about 18 miles, from Barnegat Lighthouse at the north tip to Holgate at the south, and it is barely a fifth of a mile wide at Harvey Cedars. Six towns share it: Barnegat Light, Harvey Cedars, Surf City, Ship Bottom, Beach Haven and Long Beach Township, the largest, which takes in Loveladies, North Beach, Brant Beach, Holgate and other sections. Route 72 and the causeway from Manahawkin to Ship Bottom is the only road on. About 10,000 people live here year-round, and the summer population swells to about 100,000.

That summer swell shows in the housing. Census figures (ACS 2024) count about four in five homes on the island as seasonal, used part of the year and shut the rest. Most are detached houses, with median build years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and 80 to 90 percent of occupied homes heat with gas. Many fireplaces here are gas units or factory-built fireboxes with a metal chimney inside a framed chase, rather than old brick stacks. Those systems need different care, and a house that sits closed all winter needs it more.

Storms that reshaped the island

The 1962 Ash Wednesday storm split the island into pieces and nearly destroyed it. Fifty years later, Sandy buried some streets under as much as four feet of sand, did more than $750 million in damage, and kept the causeway bridge closed to residents for 13 days. Holgate was hit hardest, and residents told NJ Spotlight that Holgate and Brant Beach were the worst-hit sections. Areas behind protective dunes fared much better.

After Sandy many LBI homes were rebuilt or raised. When a house is lifted, its chimney or vent has to be rebuilt or extended to match, and those new connections deserve a careful look. At the free inspection we check the chase, the chase cover, the cap and where the vent ends.

Homes that sit empty all winter

A chimney that goes unused for months is an easy home for birds and animals, and a nest can block a gas vent without anyone noticing until the first cold weekend. Rain that gets past a rusted chase cover can soak the framing around a metal chimney long before a stain shows inside. Owners who only open the house in summer, or rent it out, are the least likely to notice either problem.

A yearly check before the season is the simplest fix. Gas fireplace service typically runs $150 to $350 a year, a cap $250 to $850, a chase cover $300 to $700, and animal or nest removal $300 to $750. Everything is priced in writing at the free inspection.

Where we work in Long Beach Island

Barnegat Light · Loveladies · High Bar Harbor · Harvey Cedars · North Beach · Surf City · Ship Bottom · Brant Beach · North Beach Haven · Beach Haven · Holgate