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 West Englewood, IL | Wexford Chimney Sweep
We provide independent Gelco cap and component service across West Englewood, from multi-flue stainless caps on brick two-flats to top-mount dampers on converted gas flues. What makes our Gelco work different here is simple: we size every cap to the actual clay tile layout we find inside these old masonry stacks, not to a catalog assumption. Norm Sulecki has been working on chimneys in this part of Cook County for nearly two decades, and our crews document each flue before and after. Call (866) 361-2607 for a free estimate.
Why West Englewood Residents Choose Us for Gelco Service
Most chimney companies in West Englewood will sell you a cap that “should fit.” We don’t work that way. Gelco makes solid stainless caps, but the flues under them in this neighborhood are rarely stock sizes. Early-1900s brick stacks with original clay tile have shifted, cracked, and settled over a century of Chicago freeze-thaw cycles. We measure the actual tile opening, check the crown condition, and only then recommend a Gelco model or a custom fabrication.
Norm grew up a few blocks from the Hawthorne Race Course in Cicero and learned heating and venting fundamentals at Triton College in River Grove before going out on his own with Wexford. That background shapes how we approach Gelco sales & service: honest inspection first, honest recommendation second. We’re not authorized by Gelco and we don’t claim to be. We’re an independent service company that knows these products because we’ve installed and repaired them across the South Side for years.
Styles & brands we work with
Common Gelco Chimney Cleaning Problems We Solve in West Englewood
- Screens torn or corroded from freeze-thaw. Gelco multi-flue cap screens take a beating in Chicago winters. After a decade of ice expanding and contracting against stainless mesh, we see screens torn or rusted through. Birds and squirrels find their way in, especially on dormant flues. We replace the screen when the cap frame is still sound.
- Loose cap legs on spalling brick. Soft early-1900s brick loses its face over time. When the mortar behind a Gelco cap’s mounting bolts crumbles, the legs pull loose and the cap sits uneven. Water gets under it. We repoint the crown and reset the cap rather than sell you a new one when the cap itself is fine.
- Gaps at the tile crown on cracked clay. A Gelco cap sized for stock dimensions rarely matches what’s actually left of 100-year-old clay tile. Cracked and shifted tile creates gaps at the crown, so water runs into the flue instead of shedding off the cap. We identify this during the inspection and fabricate a cap to the real dimensions.
- Seized top-mount dampers on coal-to-gas conversions. Many West Englewood flues were built for coal and later converted to gas. Gelco top-mount dampers on these flues sit unused for years, then seize or bind. The homeowner thinks the damper is closed, but it’s stuck partway open, drafting cold air into the house all winter.
- Blocked flues under caps that haven’t moved in a generation. We routinely pull a Gelco cap off a West Englewood two-flat and find the flue packed with bird nesting, collapsed clay tile, or both. The cap did its job keeping rain out, but nobody’s looked inside since the building last changed hands.
Gelco Service in West Englewood: What Local Conditions Mean for Your Equipment
A large share of West Englewood’s brick two-flats along 63rd and Ashland were sealed at the chimney when the buildings went vacant or got rehabbed to gas furnaces. That’s the neighborhood reality, and it changes how Gelco service in West Elsdon and nearby areas works here. The first thing we often find under a Gelco cap is not creosote from wood fires. It’s a flue blocked with collapsed clay tile and decades of bird nesting, sealed up and forgotten since the last furnace swap.
City of Chicago requires a chimney inspection before any furnace or appliance replacement. We pulled the old Gelco multi-flue cap off a brick two-flat off 63rd Street not long ago. The owner was replacing a furnace and needed the inspection. The rear flue was packed with a bird nest and shattered clay tile sitting on a rusted-out screen. We cleared the flue, repointed the crown where the cap legs had pulled loose from spalling mortar, and set a correctly sized Gelco multi-flue cap. The inspection passed and the new furnace could vent. That’s the work we do in West Englewood service area on a regular basis.
Gelco Models & Products We Service in West Englewood
We work on the full Gelco line that matters for South Side Chicago chimneys: multi-flue stainless caps, single-flue caps, custom-fabricated caps for oversized or out-of-round clay tile, and top-mount damper and cap combinations. When a stock Gelco size matches the actual flue dimensions, we fit the genuine part. When a century-old clay tile has shifted out of round, we use quality stainless fabrication to match what’s actually there.
The parts decision is never a reflex. If a Gelco cap is structurally sound but its anchorage or crown is failing, we repoint and recoat. We don’t sell a new cap because it’s the easier sale. We stock common Gelco components for fast turnaround in West Englewood, so a screen replacement or cap reset usually happens in one visit.
See the difference
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After
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Before
AfterGelco Service Pricing in West Englewood
Gelco cap and damper work in West Englewood depends on what we find when we get on the roof. A screen replacement on a sound multi-flue cap is a straightforward job. But if the crown needs repointing, the flue needs clearing, or a custom fabrication is required, the scope changes. That’s why we do free estimates after a hands-on inspection, never over the phone with a price invented from square footage.
What does a free estimate include? A full look at the cap, the crown, the visible flue tile, and the damper function. You get photos and a written recommendation. If something can safely wait, we’ll tell you that. Call (866) 361-2607 to schedule one.
Serving West Englewood, IL — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the West Englewood area and know this community well, with many customers also seeking Gelco repair in Chicago Lawn. Use the map below to see our service coverage — if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs – Gelco Chimney Cleaning in West Englewood
Yes, if the cap frame is sound and the flue beneath it is clear. We replace screens on Gelco multi-flue caps regularly in West Englewood, especially after freeze-thaw cycles have torn the mesh. But we won’t replace a screen without checking what’s underneath it. If the flue is blocked with nesting or collapsed tile, the new screen just hides the problem. Call (866) 361-2607 and we’ll check both.
Yes, and the City of Chicago agrees. A Level 2 inspection is required before any furnace or appliance replacement, and sealed chimneys are exactly where we find the most trouble in West Englewood: bird nests, collapsed clay tile, and caps that haven’t been checked in decades. A sealed chimney isn’t a safe chimney. It’s an unexamined one.
Because the screen on your existing cap is torn, corroded, or the cap doesn’t actually fit the flue tile. In West Englewood and Gelco in West Lawn territory, we often find Gelco caps that were installed over cracked or shifted tile, leaving gaps at the crown that birds squeeze through. The fix might be a new screen, a correctly sized cap, or crown repair. We’ll document exactly what we find and show you photos.
It depends on your flue layout and the condition of the crown. Gelco multi-flue caps work well on the two-flue brick stacks common in West Englewood, but only when the tile openings are stock sizes and the crown is in decent shape. If your greystone has oversized or irregular clay tile, a custom-fabricated cap might fit better. We measure and tell you straight what we’d recommend.
In West Englewood, the answer is usually the chimney. Gelco in New City and West Englewood top-mount dampers seize after years of disuse on flues converted from coal to gas. But the binding is often caused by moisture damage, nesting debris, or a shifted flue tile, not a defective damper. We inspect the damper mechanism and the flue together, since fixing one without addressing the other just means a second service call.
Service Areas Near West Englewood
We serve West Englewood and surrounding South Side and near-west neighborhoods, so if you’re in Cicero, Berwyn, North Lawndale, South Lawndale, or West Garfield Park, we can get to you too. That includes Gelco service in Melrose Park further west, and Gelco service in La Grange when you’re out that way.
Book Your Gelco Service in West Englewood Today
A clean flue isn’t a luxury – it’s just how the thing is supposed to work. If your Gelco cap needs attention in West Englewood, call (866) 361-2607 for a free estimate. We’ll get up there, tell you what we see, and fix what actually needs fixing.
Written by Norm Sulecki, Owner at Wexford Chimney Sweep, serving West Englewood and Chicago’s South Side since the early 2000s.