Chimney Repair and Sweeping in Elgin, Illinois

James and Hezekiah Gifford founded Elgin in 1835 where the stagecoach road from Chicago to Galena crossed the Fox River. The Elgin Watch Company employed three generations of the town until it stopped production in 1965, and many of the big houses near downtown were built for its executives. Sears catalog homes arrived here as kits from 1908 to 1940, and Elgin was once believed to have more cobblestone houses than anywhere outside Rochester, New York.

In the Census Bureau's 2020–2024 survey, about 19 percent of Elgin's 40,500 homes were built before 1940, and the median year built is 1977. Gas heats about 86 percent of homes, and about 4.4 percent of units are in two-unit buildings. That is a lot of older brick chimneys still venting gas furnaces and water heaters, which is where most of our Elgin work is likely to be.

Historic district chimneys

The Spring-Douglas Historic District and the streets around Gifford Park hold Elgin's oldest houses; the Gifford Park Association runs a yearly house tour. Chimneys here are often tall and corbelled, with lime mortar that should be matched with mortar softer than the brick, as the National Park Service advises. We check what the city requires before any work in a historic district and help you prepare the photos and scope for a review.

Typical ranges: tuckpointing $500–$2,500, top few feet rebuilt with a new crown $600–$1,000, rebuild above the roofline $1,000–$3,500.

Old flues, new furnaces

In an older Elgin house the chimney often still carries the furnace and water heater. When the furnace is swapped for a side-venting high-efficiency unit, the water heater is left alone in a clay flue sized for both, and its cooler exhaust condenses inside. An aluminum liner (gas appliances only) typically runs $625–$2,250 and a stainless liner $900–$3,800.

Elgin also sits inland, where winters run colder than at the lake: Rockford's NOAA normals show about 86 freeze-thaw days a year (derived) against about 78 at O'Hare.

• One chimney serving two units in a two-flat
• Spalled brick at the top courses
• Water stains near the fireplace after a thaw

Where we work in Elgin

Spring-Douglas Historic District · Gifford Park · Downtown along the Fox · East side · West side · Northeast Elgin in Cook County