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Chimney Services in Willingboro, NJ

Most of Willingboro's homes were built between the 1940s and the 1970s, and a fireplace from that period often has glass doors added years after it was built. Those doors come with operating rules that many owners have never read.

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Chimney profile
What the numbers suggest for chimneys in Willingboro
What doors and screens are for
Doors open or closed while the fire burns?
When the doors or the opening need a closer look
Local questions
Sources

Chimney profile: Willingboro

Census estimates for 11,314 housing units (10,619 occupied).

When homes were built

Before 1940 3%
1940–59 24%
1960–79 63%
1980–99 5%
2000 or later 5%

How occupied homes are heated

Utility gas 76%
Fuel oil 1%
Electricity 18%
Propane 2%
Wood 0.6%
Other or none 2%

Type of housing

Single-family, detached 87%
Single-family, attached 8%
2–4 units 1%
5+ units 4%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, tables B25034, B25040 and B25024, via Census Reporter. Estimates have margins of error; small categories are approximate.

What the numbers suggest for chimneys in Willingboro

Census estimates date about 63% of Willingboro's 11,314 housing units to 1960 through 1979 and another 24% to 1940 through 1959, with only about 10% built later. Where those houses have chimneys, the masonry has seen roughly 45 to 85 years of weather. The Brick Industry Association's maintenance note groups chimneys with sills, parapets and copings as masonry that, under harsher exposure, may need repair more often.

Utility gas heats about 76% of occupied homes and electricity about 18%. A gas furnace or water heater of that age often vented into a masonry chimney, sometimes beside the fireplace flue. Tracing which flue serves which appliance is covered in our multi-flue guide.

About 87% of units are detached homes. The figures are township estimates and leave the condition of individual chimneys unknown.

What doors and screens are for

The front of a fireplace has two different safety jobs. A screen, whether mesh curtains or a freestanding panel, stops sparks and rolling embers. USFA's tip card on fireplaces and wood stoves recommends that a metal or glass screen stand in front of the fire, so sparks and embers stay in the firebox. Glass doors add a barrier you can close once the fire is out, which limits warm room air drifting up the chimney overnight.

Doors do not replace the chimney damper. With the fireplace cold, the damper is the part meant to close the flue, and closed doors are no substitute for it. If your damper is stuck or rusted, read about the two main damper types and how each is repaired or replaced.

Doors open or closed while the fire burns?

The answer depends on the door's maker, so the manual for your doors governs. Stoll is one example: its masonry enclosures are built to run with the glass swung open and the mesh screen drawn whenever wood is burning, and its manual gives the same rule for gas logs. The manual also calls for small to moderate wood fires, says the enclosure and glass should be at room temperature before cleaning, and warns that excessive heat can damage the enclosure and cause glass to lose its temper and break.

Factory-built fireplaces are different. Their own installation manual decides which doors, if any, may be fitted, and a door made for a masonry opening may not be allowed. If you are unsure which type you have, our masonry vs. factory-built comparison helps you tell them apart.

When the doors or the opening need a closer look

Glass that is cracked, chipped, cloudy in a way cleaning will not remove, or rattling in its frame.
A frame that has warped, pulled away from the brick or left gaps at the sides.
Smoke stains on the brick above the opening, which can point to draft trouble.
Doors that stick, or a damper control you cannot reach with the doors installed.
Loose or missing firebrick or mortar inside the firebox.

Fit matters as well. Stoll's manual describes enclosures that either overlap the opening or sit inside it, with any gaps closed using the insulation supplied. An enclosure bought for a different opening size can leave gaps or block the damper handle.

During an inspection, the doors are checked along with the firebox, damper and flue, and you receive photos of the findings. Repairs to the opening, firebox or damper fall under fireplace repair.

Local questions

Can I burn a fire with the glass doors closed?

Only if the door manufacturer's instructions allow it. Some masonry fireplace enclosures are designed to run with the doors open and the screen closed, and closing them can overheat the glass.

My fireplace glass cracked. Can I keep using it?

Stop using the fireplace with that door until the door maker's specified replacement glass is installed. Ordinary window glass is not a substitute.

Do glass doors save heat?

Closed doors on a cold fireplace reduce the warm air that drifts up the chimney, but the damper does most of that work. Keep the damper closed whenever the fireplace is cold.

Are glass doors allowed on a factory-built fireplace?

Only a door the fireplace manufacturer lists for that model. The installation manual names approved accessories, and an unlisted door can change how the unit handles heat.

Sources

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