Chimney and fireplace service in the southwest suburbs and Will County

Will County has the newest housing in the area we serve. The Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 survey dates its median home to 1992, with only 6.9 percent built before 1940. Orland Park is much the same, with a 1989 median and 2.0 percent pre-war. Gas is the main heat for 89.1 percent of Orland Park homes and 87.9 percent across Will County, against 46.5 percent nationally, and most fireplaces here are factory-built gas units or prefab wood-burners with a metal flue in a framed chase.

Joliet is the exception. About 15.7 percent of its homes, roughly 8,460, predate 1940 and another 14.2 percent come from the 1940s and 1950s, and 5.1 percent of homes are in two-unit buildings. Closer to the city, Oak Lawn and the inner southwest suburbs sit near Midway, where NOAA 1991 to 2020 normals show about 106 nights a year at or below freezing and roughly 67 freeze-thaw days (derived), fewer than O'Hare's 78 but plenty to crack a crown.

Gas fireplaces and direct vents

Most service calls in Orland Park, Tinley Park, Mokena, Frankfort and Plainfield are gas fireplaces that won't light, won't stay lit or light with a delay. The usual culprits are a worn thermocouple or thermopile, a dirty pilot or a failing igniter. Typical parts: igniter $90 to $150, pilot assembly $100 to $350, thermocouple $150 to $350, thermopile or gas valve $150 to $300.

A direct-vent unit breathes through the wall, so the vent outside matters as much as the fireplace. Nicor Gas warns that snow or ice covering a gas vent can cause carbon monoxide to build up, and advises clearing it by hand or with a broom. NFPA 211 calls for vents to be inspected once a year, and we price yearly gas fireplace service at the free inspection.

Chase covers and prefab chimneys

On a house from the 1980s or 1990s, the chimney is often a wood-framed box with a metal flue inside and a metal chase cover on top. When that cover rusts or sags, water pools on it and runs down into the chase. We see the result as stained drywall beside the fireplace, swollen trim or rust on the firebox top. A prefab metal cap typically costs $200 to $650 and a custom cap or chase cover $425 to $850. Factory-built fireplaces are repaired with the maker's parts and kept to their listing.

Brick chimneys in Joliet, Lockport and Oak Lawn

Older brick chimneys here have the same issues as in the city: crowns that were never more than a mortar wash, joints opened by freeze-thaw and clay flues now venting gas boilers, furnaces and water heaters. When a new high-efficiency furnace vents out the side wall, the water heater is often left alone in a flue far too big for it, and a liner sized to it is the fix. Typical prices:

• Aluminum liner, gas appliances only: $625 to $2,250
• Stainless steel liner, installed: $900 to $3,800
• Stack tuckpointing: $500 to $2,500
• Leak sealing: $150 to $500; flashing repair: $300 to $1,800