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.
Gelco Chimney Cleaning in Cicero, IL | Wexford Chimney Sweep
We provide independent Gelco chimney cleaning and repair across Cicero, and the thing that sets our work here apart is simple: we know where the cleanout doors are hiding. In this town, they’re routinely drywalled over, sided over, or buried behind a 1960s remodel, and a sweep that skips that access point leaves years of packed soot against your firebox. Wexford Chimney Sweep handles Gelco flues, inserts, dampers, and caps with OEM parts where they’re still made, and honest guidance when they’re not. Call (866) 361-2607 for a free estimate from a crew that works these alleys every week.
Why Cicero Residents Choose Us for Gelco Service
Norm Sulecki grew up a few blocks from the Hawthorne Race Course and has been on rooftops in this stretch of Cook County for close to twenty years. That matters when the chimney you’re standing on was built for coal in 1923 and now vents a gas furnace, a water heater, and sometimes a wood stove through the same clay flue. We’re independent, which means we’re not here to sell you a brand, we’re here to tell you what your Gelco chimney actually needs. If the liner’s cracked, we’ll show you the camera footage and say so. If it’s just dirty, we’ll say that too. Homeowners around Cermak Road, Cicero Avenue, and the side streets in between call us because we don’t turn a cleaning into a pitch. We carry OEM-compatible Gelco caps, dampers, and insert components, and when a part’s been discontinued since the Johnson administration, we fit quality aftermarket replacements that actually hold up. Our Gelco sales & service work runs on the same principle: use what works, replace what’s failed, explain everything in plain English.
Styles & brands we work with
Common Gelco Chimney Cleaning Problems We Solve in Cicero
Nearly every Gelco chimney in Cicero shares a set of problems tied directly to the housing stock and the weather. Here’s what we find when we open up a flue in a two-flat or bungalow:
- Undersized coal-era liners glazing over with creosote. Gelco clay tile liners in 1900-1930 brick homes were sized for coal, not for gas or modern wood stoves. Cicero’s cold winters push homeowners to burn longer and hotter, and the narrower flue diameter means deposits build up fast. A flue that would go two years in Naperville might glaze in one season here.
- Furnace and gas water heater sharing one flue. This is the big one in Cicero, especially off Cermak Road. When a mid-century remodel tied the water heater into the furnace’s flue, the shared draft changes how moisture and corrosive gases move through the Gelco liner. Mortar joints eat themselves from the inside, and the creosote picks up moisture from the water heater’s exhaust, making it stickier and harder to remove.
- Freeze-thaw spalling on the Gelco brick stack. Lake-effect moisture from the east, humid summers, then hard freezes. Face brick on older Gelco stacks pops off in sheets after enough cycles. We see it on nearly every block in the older sections of Cicero, and once the brick face is gone, water gets into the mortar bed and accelerates the damage.
- Buried cleanout doors, usually behind drywall. A 1950s or 1960s remodel would rather hide the cleanout door than look at it. The result is a firebox and lower flue packed with years of soot and creosote that the homeowner didn’t know existed. We locate these doors by tapping walls and following the flue path, then cut an access panel if needed.
- Dampers and firebox cracks in Gelco inserts. Decades of over-firing warps cast-iron dampers and cracks firebox panels in Gelco heat-circulating fireplaces. In Cicero, where winters are long and fires are regular, we see this failure mode on a significant share of the original Gelco units still in service.
Gelco Service in Cicero: What Local Conditions Mean for Your Equipment
The thing you’ll only hear on a page like this one, the detail that would not be equally true in Berwyn or North Lawndale, is the buried cleanout door in Cicero’s alley-facing two-flats and workers’ cottages. The original Gelco clay tile flues in these homes run from the basement cleanout up through the interior masonry wall, and a mid-century remodel often covered that cleanout access with drywall or siding to make the room look finished. Which means the bottom of the flue hasn’t been swept since the Eisenhower years, and all that pack sits there against the firebox, holding moisture, feeding creosote buildup, and throwing off the draft. Add in the gas water heater tied into the same flue and you’ve got a system that needs more than a brush through the top. We inspect that shared-flue setup before we touch the fireplace. On a brick two-flat off Cicero Avenue, our tech found the Gelco cleanout door drywalled over during a 1960s remodel, with the furnace and gas water heater sharing one undersized clay flue. We cut an access panel, swept out packed soot and glazed creosote, and repointed the deteriorated mortar joints in the Gelco stack. The draft improved immediately and the homeowner could finally see the cleanout. That’s the kind of job you don’t get from a pole-and-brush outfit.
Gelco Models & Products We Service in Cicero
Our sweep and repair equipment covers the full range of what Cincinnati’s Gelco used to ship into the Chicago market. That means factory-built masonry fireplaces and heat-circulating units from the mid-century remodel era, the clay tile liner systems still running in coal-era interior chimneys, fireplace inserts and damper assemblies, and chimney caps including multi-flue cap arrangements. When a Gelco damper is warped or an insert firebox is cracked, we fit OEM Gelco components where they’re still available. When a part’s discontinued, we reach for aftermarket liners and caps that meet or beat the original spec, not hardware store substitutes. Our Gelco sales & service experience means we know which parts interchange and which don’t, and we keep common caps and damper assemblies in stock for faster turnaround on Cicero jobs.
See the difference
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AfterGelco Service Pricing in Cicero
Expect a standard Gelco chimney sweep in Cicero to run roughly $220 to $340, depending on the flue condition, the roof access, and whether we’re dealing with shared flues or buried cleanout doors. If the job needs a Level 2 inspection, creosote removal beyond routine brushing, or mortar repointing on the Gelco stack, those are quoted separately and honestly before we do anything. You’ll see the camera footage yourself before we recommend work. Nothing gets recommended without proof you can see. The free estimate includes the full scope: sweep if that’s what’s needed, inspection if the flue’s shared or hidden, repointing if the brick’s spalling. Call (866) 361-2607 for an exact quote. Estimates don’t cost you anything, and we won’t manufacture a problem to pad the ticket.
Serving Cicero, IL — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Cicero area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage — if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs – Gelco Chimney Cleaning in Cicero
A Level 2 inspection, which includes video scanning the full flue interior, is necessary when the flue has been changed, the home’s been sold, the fuel type’s been converted, or when a shared-flue setup is suspected. In Cicero, where gas water heaters are often tied into the same Gelco flue as the furnace, and where cleanout doors are routinely hidden, the Level 2 is the only way to see whether the liner’s cracked, the mortar’s deteriorating, or the shared draft is creating a hazard. A basic sweep just removes deposits; an inspection tells you whether those deposits are a symptom of something worse. Call (866) 361-2607 to schedule one before burning season.
Yes, we’ll locate the cleanout door by tapping the wall and tracing the flue path, then cut an access panel and fit a proper door so it’s accessible again. This is one of the most common jobs in older Cicero two-flats and it makes a real difference: that cleanout gives us access to the packed soot and creosote that’s been sitting at the base of the flue for decades. You don’t want us sweeping from the top only and leaving all that material in place.
Yes, and for many Cicero homes, that’s the better decision. When the Gelco clay liner is cracked or undersized, repeated sweeping is just maintenance on a failing system. We’ll show you the camera footage and then talk through whether relining with a proper stainless liner or repairing it with HeatShield is the right move for your flue. Sometimes a sweep is genuinely enough. Sometimes it’s not, and we won’t kick that can down the road without telling you.
Cicero’s humid summers pull moisture into the brick through the lake-effect air, and when that water freezes during the winter, it expands and pops the face off the brick. It’s a freeze-thaw cycle that hits older chimneys hard, especially stacks without proper caps or with cracked crown mortar. Gelco brick stacks are just as vulnerable as any other. The fix is usually repointing with a breathable mortar and replacing the crown if needed. Once the face brick is gone, water accelerates the damage, so it’s worth addressing early.
If the damper’s hard to move, the insert’s been over-fired over decades, or you’re hearing the fire draw differently than it used to, then yes, get it checked before burning season. Warped dampers and cracked firebox panels don’t fix themselves, and running a compromised insert means smoke and carbon monoxide risk you can’t see. We can service Gelco inserts, fit replacement dampers, and inspect the firebox. Call (866) 361-2607 to get on the schedule before the first freeze.
Service Areas Near Cicero
We run Gelco chimney cleaning and repair across Cicero and into the surrounding neighborhoods and towns. That includes Gelco service in Berwyn, Gelco service in North Lawndale, plus South Lawndale, Stickney, and West Garfield Park. If you’re just outside Cicero, we’re likely already working within a few blocks of you. Our Cicero service area page has the full map.
Book Your Gelco Service in Cicero Today
Before the first hard freeze, before the fire department has to make a run on your block, give us a call. We’ll get eyes on your Gelco chimney, show you what’s actually there, and do what actually needs to be done. One call: (866) 361-2607.
Written by Norm Sulecki, Owner at Wexford Chimney Sweep, serving Cicero since the early 2000s.