Reading chimney service: Lehigh Valley Chimney for area code 610

About homes and winters in area code 610

Area code 610/484/835 covers southeastern Pennsylvania outside Philadelphia, from Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton in the Lehigh Valley to Reading and Berks County and the Main Line and Chester County suburbs around West Chester. It is an old housing stock: of about 775,000 homes and apartments, roughly 59% were built before 1980 and 22% before 1940, and the median home dates from the 1970s. About 55% are single-family detached houses.

Reading, the seat of Berks County, had 95,112 people at the 2020 census, making it the fourth most populous city in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Allentown.

Winter here is serious. NOAA's 1991–2020 normals for Reading Spaatz Fld, PA show about 5,127 heating degree days a year, a January average of 30.8°F. Water that soaks into brick freezes, expands and thaws again many times each winter; over the years that cracks crowns and loosens mortar joints, so a cap and a sound crown are worth the money.

The most common way to heat a home here is utility gas (about 39% of occupied homes, per the Census), followed by electricity at about 30%. Wood is the main heat in about 1.5%; most fireplaces here are used for comfort rather than everyday heat. Oil heat sends its exhaust up a chimney flue as well, so the flue serving the boiler or furnace deserves the same yearly look. Energy codes place it in IECC climate zone 4A (64%), 5A (36%). NFPA 211, the national chimney and venting standard, recommends an inspection every year no matter what you burn.

Sources: Census ACS 2018–2022 (B25034, B25040, B25024); NOAA Climate Normals 1991–2020, Reading Spaatz Fld, PA (USW00014712); IECC 2021 climate zones by county (PNNL-33270); NFPA 211; Wikipedia: Reading, Pennsylvania.