Free Chimney Inspections Across Chicago and the Suburbs

In an older Chicago house the chimney usually does more than serve the fireplace. Census figures for 2020 to 2024 show about 77.5% of city homes heat with gas, and 38.8% of the city's housing, close to 496,000 homes, was built before 1940. In a house that old, the boiler or furnace and the water heater often still send their exhaust up the same brick stack as the fireplace. So we trace every flue in the chimney, including the ones that start in the basement.

There is no charge for the visit. We check the crown, cap, brick, mortar and flashing outside, then the firebox, damper, smoke chamber and flue inside, and you get the photos plus a written list. Anything that needs work has its price next to it before a tool comes out. If something looks wrong deeper in a flue than a light can reach, a camera scan is priced at the inspection and the choice is yours.

Signs you need this

• No one knows when the chimney was last looked at
• You just bought a bungalow, two-flat or older brick house
• Pieces of clay tile or mortar are turning up in the firebox
• A new furnace or boiler went in and the water heater still vents into the chimney
• The top of the stack looks cracked, leaning or patched from the sidewalk

How we do it

1. Choose a windowPick a 3-hour window, Sunday to Friday. We phone ahead to confirm before we drive over.
2. Roof and stackWe check the crown, cap, flue tile, mortar joints, loose brick and the flashing where the chimney meets the roof.
3. Fireplace and basementInside, we look at the firebox, damper, smoke shelf and flue, then follow any furnace, boiler or water-heater pipe into the base of the chimney.
4. Photos and a written listYou keep the photos and a plain-English list of findings, with a price beside anything that needs fixing.

What a free inspection covers

It is a visual check from top to bottom. On the roof we look for cracked crowns, open joints, brick faces flaking off, a missing cap and gaps in the flashing. Indoors we open the damper, light the flue, and look at the smoke chamber and firebox walls. In the basement we note every appliance tied into the chimney and how its pipe enters the brick.

The one Chicago chimney company we found that publishes prices charges $69 just for an inspection. Ours costs nothing, and the written list is yours to show to anyone else for a second opinion.

How often the city and the standards say to check

NFPA 211, the national standard CSIA quotes, calls for chimneys, fireplaces and vents to be inspected at least once a year. The City of Chicago's carbon monoxide page goes a step further for wood burners: if you have a vented fireplace, have your chimney cleaned every year. Nicor Gas tells customers to have gas appliances inspected at least once a year.

The weather here backs that up. NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals put about 121 nights a year at or below freezing at O'Hare, and the top of a chimney feels every one of them.

Chicago's carbon monoxide rules and your flue

Illinois law (430 ILCS 135) requires a CO alarm within 15 feet of every room used for sleeping in any home with a fireplace, a fossil-fuel heater or an attached garage. The City of Chicago adds two more spots: inside any bedroom that has a fireplace or fuel-burning appliance, and in the same room as every furnace, boiler and water heater. The Department of Buildings lists owner fines of $500 to $2,000 per day.

The owner provides the alarms and the occupant tests them. Our part is the flue the alarm is backing up. A cracked liner or a blocked water-heater flue is exactly what those alarms are there to catch, and we look for both.