Chimney inspection and repair in Bay Shore: Seacoast Chimney for area code 631

About homes and winters in area code 631

Area code 631/934 covers Suffolk County on Long Island, from Huntington, Babylon and Islip through Brookhaven, Smithtown and Port Jefferson to Riverhead, the Hamptons, the North Fork and Montauk. It is an old housing stock: of about 543,000 homes and apartments, roughly 70% were built before 1980 and 9.5% before 1940, and the median home dates from the 1960s. About 80% are single-family detached houses.

Suffolk County is the easternmost county in New York State and makes up the eastern two-thirds of Long Island. It is bordered by Nassau County to the west, Gardiners Bay and the open Atlantic to the east, Long Island Sound to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south.

Winter here is serious. NOAA's 1991–2020 normals for Shirley Brookhaven Airport, NY show about 5,346 heating degree days a year, a January average of 31.6°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 heating oil (about 46% of occupied homes, per the Census), followed by utility gas at about 41%. Wood is the main heat in fewer than 2 in 100 homes, so most fireplaces here are for cool evenings, and gas fireplaces and inserts are common. 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. 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, Shirley Brookhaven Airport, NY (USW00054790); IECC 2021 climate zones by county (PNNL-33270); NFPA 211; Wikipedia: Suffolk County, New York.