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 North Lawndale, IL | Wexford Chimney Sweep
We provide independent DuraFlex chimney cleaning and service across North Lawndale for two- and three-flat buildings where a basement furnace and a first-floor stove often vent through the same masonry stack. That shared-stack reality is what makes our DuraFlex work here different: one clogged or mis-capped liner doesn’t just affect one unit, it can push flue gases through upper-floor apartments. We’re chimney specialists who sweep, inspect, and repair DuraFlex liners with professional-grade components, not hardware-store substitutes. Call (866) 361-2607 for a free estimate.
Why North Lawndale Residents Choose Us for DuraFlex Service
Most chimney companies can sweep a fireplace. Far fewer know how a DuraFlex stainless flexible liner behaves when it’s been pulled through the offset interior flues of a 1910 brick two-flat off Douglas Boulevard. We’ve worked on DuraFlex liners in North Lawndale, IL shared masonry chimneys for years, and we understand what the alloy, the insulation wrap, and the top-plate hardware do inside a century-old stack that’s seen coal conversion, gas retrofits, and decades of Chicago freeze-thaw cycles.
Norm Sulecki, our owner, grew up a few blocks from the Hawthorne Race Course in Cicero and has been working on chimneys in this part of Cook County for going on two decades. When he walks onto a North Lawndale property, he’s looking at the same housing stock he’s seen his whole career, which means he knows where these chimneys fail before he even gets on the roof.
We buy and install DuraFlex OEM top plates, caps, and appliance adapters where fit and listed compatibility matter, and we pair them with quality aftermarket stainless connectors where OEM isn’t practical. If you live in a North Lawndale greystone or brick three-flat, you want someone who knows how a shared flue actually works. That’s us.
Styles & brands we work with
Common DuraFlex Chimney Cleaning Problems We Solve in North Lawndale
- Torn or bunched insulation wrap. North Lawndale’s shared interior flues often have offsets where the masonry doglegs between units. When a DuraFlex insulated liner gets pulled through those offsets, the insulation wrap tears or bunches, leaving uninsulated gaps. That invites condensation, which turns into creosote glazing on furnace stacks. We see it regularly on the brick two-flats along Lawndale Avenue.
- Loose top plates and rain caps on spalled brick. Chicago’s hard freeze-thaw winters crack mortar crowns and spall chimney brick. When a DuraFlex top plate or deluxe rain cap is mounted on that spalled surface, the hardware loosens and water runs down the annular space between the liner and the clay tile. We re-set top plates and replace caps before water works its way into upper units.
- Corroded appliance connectors at the basement furnace. In North Lawndale’s unrenovated buildings, the DuraFlex adapter at the furnace or first-floor stove corrodes or pulls loose over time. That’s especially common where a rear kitchen stove shares a stack with a gas furnace, a classic North Lawndale layout. We replace those connectors with correctly sized stainless fittings.
- Spalled clay tile behind or around the liner. The original clay tile liners in 1890s to 1920s North Lawndale buildings have often spalled or cracked. When tile fragments fall, they can block the flue or crush the lower section of the DuraFlex liner. A camera inspection tells us whether the liner is still sound or needs replacement.
- Missing cleanout doors and uncapped stacks. The classic North Lawndale job is an unlined or clay-tile-lined chimney serving a basement furnace and a first-floor stove on the same stack, often with no cap and a missing cleanout door in the gangway. Soot falls into a rear kitchen when the furnace kicks on. We fix the whole termination, not just the liner.
DuraFlex Service in North Lawndale: What Local Conditions Mean for Your Equipment
Here’s the thing about North Lawndale that shapes every DuraFlex job we do here: the housing stock is dominated by early-1900s two- and three-flat brick apartment buildings, and many still vent a basement furnace and a first-floor stove through the same interior masonry chimney. That means DuraFlex service in McKinley Park or nearby is rarely a single-appliance installation. When we arrive to clean or inspect a DuraFlex liner on Kedzie or Douglas, we have to account for every appliance tied to that stack before we can even start the sweep, because a liner serving the furnace often shares the flue with an appliance we can’t see from the roof. In a newer single-family home, that’s not a concern. Here, it’s the whole job. Summer downdrafts in the dense low-rise blocks push flue gases back into upper units when caps are missing, and humid summers accelerate corrosion on the connectors. A clean flue isn’t a luxury; it’s just how the thing is supposed to work.
DuraFlex Models & Products We Service in North Lawndale
We work on the full DuraFlex product range you’ll find in North Lawndale buildings: DuraFlex Stainless Flexible Chimney Liners (round, single-wall), DuraFlex Insulated Flexible Liner Kits, DuraFlex Top Plates and Deluxe Rain Caps, and DuraFlex Appliance Connectors and Relining Adapter Kits. We stock DuraFlex repair in West Garfield Park and nearby with OEM top plates, caps, and appliance adapters for fast turnaround, and we use quality aftermarket stainless connectors where OEM isn’t practical or available. Our approach is simple: repair the cap or top plate if the liner is sound, and tell you honestly when a liner is too crushed, torn, or glazed to clean and reuse. No one should be sold a full reline they don’t need.
See the difference
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AfterDuraFlex Service Pricing in North Lawndale
DuraFlex chimney cleaning in North Lawndale depends on a few things: how many appliances are on the stack, how much creosote or soot has built up, whether the cap or top plate needs replacement, and how easy the roof access is. A standard single-flue cleaning runs less than a multi-story shared-stack inspection and sweep, but every job here starts with a Level 2 inspection when we suspect a shared flue or damaged liner. We give you a flat price before any work begins, and we show you the camera footage so you know exactly what you’re paying for. Estimates are free. Call (866) 361-2607 for an exact quote for your North Lawndale building.
Serving North Lawndale, IL — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the North Lawndale area and know this community well, including DuraFlex repair in Lower West Side. Use the map below to see our service coverage — if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs – DuraFlex Chimney Cleaning in North Lawndale
A single DuraFlex liner cannot safely serve two separate appliances on the same stack. Each fuel-burning appliance needs its own correctly sized vent, so in North Lawndale buildings where a furnace and a stove share a chimney, we typically find this setup was already improper from the start, or one appliance was added later without the right connector. A Level 2 inspection tells us exactly what’s on the stack and what needs to change. Call (866) 361-2607 and we’ll schedule an inspection for your building.
Soot falling into a rear kitchen when the furnace kicks on means the flue serving that appliance is partially blocked, uncapped, or has a broken cleanout door somewhere in the stack, a pattern we see often on the two- and three-flats near Douglas and Lawndale where a first-floor stove shares a chimney with a basement furnace. The fix is a Level 2 inspection and a proper sweep, plus cap replacement if the termination is missing. Call (866) 361-2607 and we’ll trace the problem to its source.
Not necessarily. Spalled clay tile around a DuraFlex liner is common in North Lawndale’s older buildings, and the liner can remain sound if the tile fragments haven’t crushed or torn it. We run a camera inspection to see the liner’s condition directly, then tell you whether a cleaning and cap repair solves the problem or whether a section of liner needs replacement. Call (866) 361-2607 for a camera-based inspection.
Yes. Multi-Flue Caps are often the right solution for a North Lawndale two- or three-flat that has more than one flue terminating at the same chimney crown, because a single cap spans the entire crown and protects every flue from water and downdraft at once. We install them on shared central chimneys throughout North Lawndale. Call (866) 361-2607 for a free estimate on a Multi-Flue Cap for your building.
A Level 2 inspection is a full camera survey of the flue interior, including every appliance connector, the liner condition, the cap and top plate, and the cleanout access. On an unrenovated North Lawndale greystone, expect us to find missing cleanout doors, uncapped flues, spalled tile, and sometimes a liner that was never properly sized for the furnace it serves. We document everything with photos and show you what we found before recommending any repair. Call (866) 361-2607 to book your inspection.
Service Areas Near North Lawndale
Wexford Chimney Sweep provides DuraFlex chimney cleaning and repair across Chicago’s West Side. If you’re in Cicero, Berwyn, DuraFlex service in South Lawndale, DuraFlex service in Stickney, or West Garfield Park, we’re close by. And if you’re researching DuraFlex systems more broadly, visit our DuraFlex sales & service page for full product coverage.
Book Your DuraFlex Service in North Lawndale Today
If your North Lawndale building has a DuraFlex liner, a shared stack, or a chimney that hasn’t been looked at in years, we’ll inspect it end to end and tell you exactly what needs doing. Call (866) 361-2607 for a free estimate and schedule your service.
Written by Norm Sulecki, Owner at Wexford Chimney Sweep, serving North Lawndale since 2005.