Manchester chimney sweep and inspections: Seacoast Chimney for area code 603

Chimneys and homes in the 603 area

The 603 territory covers all of New Hampshire, from Manchester, Nashua and the Merrimack Valley to Concord, the Seacoast around Portsmouth and Dover, and north to the Lakes Region and the White Mountains. It is an old housing stock: of about 641,000 homes and apartments, roughly 53% were built before 1980 and 20% before 1940, and the median home dates from the 1970s. About 63% are single-family detached houses.

Manchester, on the banks of the Merrimack River, is New Hampshire's most populous city, with about 115,600 people at the 2020 census. With Nashua it shares the county seat of Hillsborough County, the state's most populous county, and the Manchester–Nashua metro area has around 423,000 residents.

Winters are long and cold. NOAA's 1991–2020 normals for Concord Municipal Airport, NH show about 6,980 heating degree days a year, a January average of 22.3°F, and about 67.7 inches of snow. Repeated freezing and thawing is hard on brick, mortar and chimney crowns, which is why crown repair, repointing and chimney caps come up so often on older homes.

Census figures put heating oil as the main heating fuel in about 42% of occupied homes and utility gas in about 21%. Wood is the main heat in about 6%, one of the higher shares in the country, so many chimneys here see heavy use and creosote builds up quickly. Oil furnaces and boilers vent through a chimney too, and their flues need checking as well. The area falls in IECC climate zone 5A (80%), 6A (20%). Whatever the fuel, NFPA 211, the national standard for chimneys, fireplaces and vents, calls for a yearly inspection.

Sources: Census ACS 2018–2022 (B25034, B25040, B25024); NOAA Climate Normals 1991–2020, Concord Municipal Airport, NH (USW00014745); IECC 2021 climate zones by county (PNNL-33270); NFPA 211; Wikipedia: Manchester, New Hampshire.