The short answer
Yes, GoldenFlue serves Kensington, Brooklyn (11218) from our Bay Ridge office about 3 miles away. We handle chimney sweeping, inspections, repairs, liners, rebuilding, waterproofing, caps, fireplace and damper work, plus dryer vent and air duct cleaning.
GoldenFlue Chimney Services works in Kensington, Brooklyn (ZIP code 11218), about 3 miles northeast of our Bay Ridge office. Our certified technicians clean, inspect and repair chimneys, fireplaces, liners, dryer vents and air ducts in the neighborhood's detached homes, rowhouses and pre-war apartment buildings. You might burn wood in a living-room fireplace or rely on a boiler that vents through an old masonry flue. Either way, we focus on what your system actually needs and explain what we find in plain terms.
Chimney Work for Kensington's Mix of Homes
Kensington's housing ranges from detached homes with their own fireplaces to attached rowhouses and larger pre-war apartment buildings, and each comes with different chimney concerns. A detached house may have one or more working fireplaces plus a separate flue for the furnace or boiler. Rowhouses often share walls and rooflines with neighbors, so a deteriorating chimney can affect more than one home. Apartment buildings typically have one tall flue serving a central boiler that runs hard all winter.
- Chimney sweep to remove soot and creosote from wood-burning flues
- Chimney inspection at the level your situation calls for
- Chimney repair for mortar joints, crowns and flashing
- Chimney rebuilding when masonry is too far gone to patch
- Fireplace and damper repair
- Chimney liner installation for oil, gas and wood systems
- Chimney cap and chase cover installation
- Chimney waterproofing
- Dryer vent cleaning and air duct cleaning
How Brooklyn Weather Wears on Chimneys
Brooklyn winters swing above and below freezing, sometimes several times in a week. Water that soaks into brick and mortar freezes, expands and slowly pushes the masonry apart. Over a few seasons that shows up as crumbling joints, cracked crowns and flaking brick faces. Humid summers and heavy rain, including wind-driven coastal storms, keep moisture coming back.
The best defenses are simple. You need a sound crown and a cap that keeps rain and animals out of the flue. Flashing should be tight where the chimney meets the roof, and the brick should have a breathable water repellent. We check each of these and tell you which need attention now and which can wait.
Oil-to-Gas Conversions and the Heat Season
Many older Kensington buildings were set up to heat with oil. When a New York City building converts its boiler from oil to gas, the chimney has to be evaluated as part of the work. A new liner is often needed because gas exhaust produces acidic condensate that can corrode a masonry flue.
Timing matters. New York City's heat season runs from October 1 through May 31. During that period, building owners must keep apartments heated to the city's minimum temperatures. Scheduling inspections, liner installation and repairs in the warmer months helps keep a boiler from being taken offline when tenants need heat.
Annual Inspections and What Each Level Means
The NFPA 211 standard calls for chimneys, fireplaces and vents to be inspected once a year. Chimney professionals use three inspection levels:
If you're buying a home in Kensington, a Level 2 inspection before closing tells you what you're taking on.
- Level 1: a routine check when nothing about the system has changed
- Level 2: a more detailed inspection when you add a new appliance, switch fuels, or buy or sell a home
- Level 3: opening part of the chimney or building to reach a suspected hidden hazard
Dryer Vents and Air Ducts
According to the U.S. Fire Administration, failure to clean is the leading factor contributing to clothes dryer fires in homes. In rowhouses and apartments, dryer vents often run a long way to an exterior wall, which gives lint room to build up. If clothes take longer to dry or the laundry area feels unusually hot, the vent likely needs cleaning.
For air ducts, we follow the U.S. EPA's guidance. Cleaning makes sense when there is substantial visible mold growth, vermin, or excessive dust and debris. The EPA says duct cleaning has not been shown to prevent health problems, so we won't claim it does. The EPA also advises researching the process before responding to very cheap advertised offers and being careful with chemical treatments. We explain exactly what we plan to do before we start.
Serving Kensington and Nearby Neighborhoods
From our Bay Ridge office, Kensington is a short trip for inspections, sweeps and follow-up repair visits. We also serve Borough Park, Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge.
ZIP codes we serve
- 11218