Sweep & inspection
Caps & crowns
Flue relining
Masonry repair
Gas fireplace serviceLevel 1 sweep and inspection to the NFPA 211 annual standard - flue, crown, cap, and flashing checked and photographed
Chimney sweep logs do not sweep chimneys. They loosen some creosote - which then falls where a brush and vacuum still have to collect it.
DuraFlex Chimney Cleaning in New City, IL | Wexford Chimney Sweep
We’re Wexford Chimney Sweep, and we provide independent DuraFlex chimney cleaning and relining service throughout New City (ZIP 60609). We’re not authorized by DuraFlex, but we know their stainless steel liner systems better than most because we’ve pulled them apart, inspected them, and reinstalled them in the exact bungalow-belt conditions New City throws at them. New City’s housing stock was built before DuraFlex existed, which means a lot of those liners were retrofitted into coal-era flues that still shape how they fail today. Call (866) 361-2607 for a free estimate.
Why New City Residents Choose Us for DuraFlex Service
Norm Sulecki started Wexford after years of hands-on chimney work across Cook County, and he’s built the company around one thing: honest inspections that tell you what you actually have, not what generates the biggest ticket. We’ve serviced hundreds of DuraFlex installations in New City’s brick bungalows and two-flats, where the liner’s job is rarely glamorous. Most of these chimneys never saw a working fireplace. They vent furnaces, boilers, and water heaters, and they’ve been doing it for decades.
Our crew understands the difference between a DuraFlex liner that needs cleaning and one that needs section replacement. We stock OEM DuraFlex components for critical connections and terminations, and we run DuraFlex sales & service support that doesn’t disappear after the job ends. When we’re in New City service area neighborhoods, we’re looking at original clay tile flues with spalling mortar crowns and no caps, and we know what that means for the liner inside.
Styles & brands we work with
Common DuraFlex Chimney Cleaning Problems We Solve in New City
- Cracked or separated liner joints from freeze-thaw cycling. New City’s uninsulated exterior chimneys take the full brunt of Chicago winters. Water gets into tiny gaps, freezes, expands, and pries DuraFlex lap joints apart. You might notice a faint rattling or a furnace that vents poorly on cold mornings. We find these during routine cleaning and can usually repair the isolated joint without a full reline.
- Corrosion at the liner-to-appliance connector. Missing caps are everywhere in New City. Summer storms drive rain straight down the flue, and it lands right where the DuraFlex liner meets the furnace or water heater connector. That lower joint rusts through before anything else does. We inspect it every time we sweep, because that’s where the problem lives.
- Premature liner failure from improper sizing in repurposed coal flues. Many New City chimneys originally vented coal-fired appliances. A DuraFlex liner sized for an open fireplace gets stuffed into a flue that later serves a water heater, and the condensation has nowhere to go. The liner rusts from the inside out. We see this pattern constantly on bungalow blocks.
- Mechanical damage from foreign objects and improper sweeping. Flues with no cap collect debris, animal nests, and worse. We’ve found everything from tennis balls to roofing nails inside liners. If someone before us ran a brush through with something hard lodged in there, the DuraFlex wall can get gouged. Our cleaning process includes a full visual check for this kind of damage.
- Sulfur-induced corrosion that looks like freeze-thaw damage. This one’s specific to New City and the surrounding bungalow belt. Coal exhaust leaves sulfur residue on clay tiles. When a flue was later converted to gas and a DuraFlex liner installed, that old sulfur can create an acidic environment that eats at stainless steel in ways plain moisture never would. Diagnosing it requires knowing the chimney’s fuel history, not just its current setup.
DuraFlex Service in New City: What Local Conditions Mean for Your Equipment
New City sits in Chicago’s heavily Polish and Latino Southwest Side bungalow belt, and the dominant housing type is the early-20th-century Chicago bungalow with its original or replaced brick chimney. Most of these homes never had a working open hearth. The chimney’s job is venting a forced-air furnace or an old boiler, and many flues were converted from coal service decades ago. That conversion history matters because the original clay tiles often show spalling from sulfur-rich coal exhaust, and that spalling gets misdiagnosed as freeze-thaw damage. It isn’t. It’s a chemical problem, and the repair strategy is different. If you’ve got a DuraFlex liner in a coal-era flue and you’re seeing flaking or corrosion, standard waterproofing won’t fix it. We have to treat the chemistry, not just the weather. On the bungalow blocks around New City, this is the difference between a liner that lasts twenty years and one that rusts through in five.
A while back, near 47th and Damen in the DuraFlex in Brighton Park area, we responded to a call about a water heater venting poorly. Our tech discovered a DuraFlex liner installed directly into a deteriorated coal-era flue without insulation. The clay tiles behind it were spalling, and the liner’s bottom joint had corroded through. We replaced the damaged section with a new DuraFlex Pro liner, added a proper cap, and sealed the crown. The water heater vented cleanly after that. That’s New City chimney work in one visit.
DuraFlex Models & Products We Service in New City
We work with four DuraFlex product lines: DuraFlex Pro, DuraFlex Custom, DuraFlex SmoothWall, and DuraFlex FlexGuard. DuraFlex Pro is what we install most often in New City retrofits because it handles the tight bends and coal-era flue dimensions typical of these bungalows. SmoothWall comes up when a homeowner wants easier cleaning and better draft on a furnace vent. FlexGuard shows up on high-efficiency appliance conversions where corrosion resistance matters more than flexibility.
We use OEM DuraFlex components for critical connections and terminations, but we don’t automatically default to OEM for everything. Caps and insulation kits from quality aftermarket manufacturers meet or exceed the DuraFlex spec in many cases, and we’ll tell you when that’s true. The point is compatibility and safety, not brand loyalty. We also stock parts for DuraFlex repair in McKinley Park and keep common New City repair parts in the truck: connector sections, cap adapters, and insulation wraps so we’re not making you wait for a second visit.
See the difference
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AfterDuraFlex Service Pricing in New City
DuraFlex chimney cleaning in New City typically runs between $180 and $340 depending on flue condition, roof access, and what exactly is inside the liner. If we’re doing a Level 2 inspection with camera work alongside the sweep, that’s usually $250 to $500. Cap installation adds $150 to $450 depending on the cap style and whether custom fabrication is needed at the termination point. Chimney waterproofing runs $350 to $800 for a typical two-story bungalow chimney in New City.
What drives cost here is access. New City bungalows have steep roof pitches, and many chimneys are on party walls shared between two flats, which affects staging and safety. A free estimate means we come out and look at the actual flue, not just a photo. Then you get a number before any work starts. Call (866) 361-2607 for that estimate. We’ll tell you what’s actually wrong and what can wait.
Serving New City, IL — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the New City area and know this community well, including nearby West Englewood DuraFlex service calls. Use the map below to see our service coverage — if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs – DuraFlex Chimney Cleaning in New City
You know by watching condensation and rust patterns at the appliance connection, not by guessing from the liner’s age. If the liner’s lower joint keeps corroding or you see moisture wicking up from the connector, the flue size is probably wrong for the BTU load. We check this during any cleaning visit because it’s the leading cause of premature DuraFlex failure in New City. Call (866) 361-2607 and we’ll inspect it properly.
Rust staining at the cleanout door or around the base of the chimney, along with a furnace or water heater that doesn’t vent as strongly as it used to. On New City bungalows, that’s frequently the lower joint giving out after years of condensation from undersized or uninsulated installation. If you see water marks or smell flue gas, call (866) 361-2607 before you run the appliance again.
Yes. A missing cap is the single fastest way to destroy a liner in New City because Chicago rain runs straight down into the flue. We install DuraFlex-compatible caps sized to your liner diameter and termination type, including custom caps when the crown is irregular or the tile doesn’t match standard dimensions.
Watch for flaking and rust at the lower third of the liner, especially if the original clay tiles behind it are spalling from sulfur-heavy coal exhaust. That sulfur chemistry can accelerate corrosion in ways moisture alone doesn’t. If you see discoloration or the liner sounds brittle when tapped during a cleaning, it’s worth an inspection rather than waiting for a full failure. Call (866) 361-2607 and we’ll camera-inspect it for you.
Freeze-thaw cycles are the biggest factor. Water enters through cracks in the crown or missing caps, freezes inside the flue, and pries open the liner’s lap joints. Over a New City winter — and we’ve seen the same during DuraFlex repair in Gage Park — those joints can separate enough to leak flue gas or moisture back into the chimney chase. We see it every spring when homeowners fire up the boiler and get draft problems. Annual inspection catches it early. Call (866) 361-2607 to schedule.
Service Areas Near New City
Beyond New City, we run DuraFlex service through Cicero, Berwyn, North Lawndale, South Lawndale, Stickney, and West Garfield Park. If you’re just across the border in DuraFlex service in Chicago Lawn or DuraFlex service in Elmwood Park, the same crew and the same truck stock come out to you. The bungalow-belt pattern doesn’t stop at the ZIP code.
Book Your DuraFlex Service in New City Today
Call (866) 361-2607 and we’ll schedule a free estimate for your New City home. Spring and fall are when these liners fail, so the sooner we look, the more we can prevent. Norm’s crew will walk you through what’s actually going on with your flue, no pressure and no guesswork.
Written by Norm Sulecki, Owner at Wexford Chimney Sweep, serving New City since 2006.