Question 1

My townhome's chase cover is rusting at the seams — is that something you patch, or does the whole thing come off?

Accepted Answer

It depends on what the rust has already done. A lot of the attached housing in Crestwood went up with factory-built fireboxes, Class A pipe and sheet-metal chase covers that are now 25 to 40 years old. Those covers almost always fail the same way: standing water sits on a flat or near-flat top, the seams open, and rust works outward from there. If the metal is still sound and only the sealant at the seams has given up, that can be resealed. Once the cover is perforated, staining the chase siding, or dropping water onto the top of the pipe, sealing it just buys a season and hides the real problem. In that case a new cover is the honest answer. What matters more is whether water already reached the chimney system itself. We check the pipe, the top plate and the firebox before recommending either way, because a new cover over a wet, corroded chase solves nothing.

Question 2

We back up toward the preserve and I keep hearing something in the chimney. Do you handle that?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it is one of the more common calls we get on the Tinley Creek side of the village. An uncapped or poorly capped flue is an open cavity to a bird or a raccoon, and the preserve corridor means there is no shortage of candidates. What we do first is identify what is up there and whether it is still active, because the approach is different for an abandoned nest than for an animal still using the flue. Nesting debris is a real blockage. It traps combustion gases and is combustible once it dries out, so it comes out before the chimney gets used again. After the cleanout, the fix is a proper cap with mesh sized to keep animals out while still letting the flue draft. Homes here without one tend to get a repeat visit.

Question 3

What drives the cost of a sweep on a Crestwood house?

Accepted Answer

Mostly the type of chimney and what we find inside it. The short single-flue masonry stacks on the older ranches and split-levels are straightforward work: one flue, limited height, easy access from the roof in most cases. A factory-built system in a townhome or condo takes longer, because the inspection covers the firebox panels, the Class A pipe joints, the top plate and the chase cover, not just the flue. Use pattern matters too. A mostly gas-log fireplace with a few wood fires a winter builds far less deposit than a heavy wood burner, so there is less to remove. Animal nesting, a blocked flue or a cover that has to be dealt with at the same visit add to it. We tell you what we found and what it will take before anything beyond the inspection happens.

Question 4

Can you come out same day if my fireplace is backing smoke into the room?

Accepted Answer

Often, yes. Smoke pushing into the living space is something we try to fit in the same day rather than schedule out, because you are either not using the fireplace or using it unsafely until it is sorted. Early fall is our heaviest stretch, when everyone in the village books ahead of the heating season at once, and same-day gets tighter then. Mid-winter and spring we usually have room. If we cannot get to you that day, we will tell you straight rather than hold a slot you are not actually getting, and we will walk you through what not to do in the meantime.

Question 5

Water is showing up around the chimney after a January thaw. Is that a chimney problem or a roof problem?

Accepted Answer

On the older ranch stock around here it is usually the junction of the two. Those low-slope roofs hold snow instead of shedding it, and through the January and February freeze-and-thaw swings that snowpack sits against the flashing and refreezes at the edges. Water gets driven under the flashing or into the crown and masonry, then shows up inside at the ceiling or on the chimney breast. We inspect the crown, the flashing line and the brick and mortar for open joints and spalling, which is what repeated freeze-thaw does to masonry that has absorbed water. Sometimes the answer is chimney work, sometimes we tell you it is a roofing fix. Either way, catching it before the next thaw cycle is cheaper than catching it after.

Chimney Sweep in Crestwood, IL

Chimney work in Crestwood, Illinois

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