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.
Fast, Reliable Chimney Sweep Across Berwyn
If you own a brick bungalow or two-flat in Berwyn and haven’t had the chimney inspected in the past year, the time to act is before the first hard freeze. A standard chimney sweeping in Berwyn runs $189 – $289 for a single flue with a standard fireplace, while two-flat shared stacks and older coal-converted chimneys typically land between $289 and $420 depending on creosote stage and flue condition. You’ll want a sweep who knows Berwyn’s side-alley lots and century-old brick, not a franchise van that can’t find the back gate. Wexford Chimney Sweep has been working these blocks for years, and we’re led by Norm Sulecki, a chimney specialist who treats your flue like the fire safety system it actually is. Call (866) 361-2607 for a free estimate, and we’ll get you on the schedule before burning season fills it up.
Why Wexford Chimney Sweep Is Berwyn’s Preferred Chimney Sweep Company
Berwyn is not a generic suburban market. It’s a dense streetcar suburb where thousands of 1920s – 1950s brick bungalows and two-flats sit shoulder-to-shoulder on 25-foot lots, and most chimneys are exterior stacks on the side of the house, often shared between units. A Chimney Sweep who doesn’t know that pattern is going to misquote the job or miss the real problem. Our techs know the alley access, the party-wall stacks, and the way Berwyn’s freeze-thaw winters chew through mortar crowns.
Norm Sulecki built this company on a simple rule: show the homeowner what you see, and don’t recommend work without camera evidence. That’s why Berwyn customers call us back year after year. We service all of 60402, from the LaVergne neighborhood down to the blocks along Cermak and Roosevelt, and we carry the same professional-grade materials the industry’s top contractors specify. When you call (866) 361-2607, you’re talking to a local specialist, not a call center.
Styles & brands we work with
Chimney Cleaning in Berwyn
Chimney Cleaning in Berwyn starts with the reality of what’s inside a flue that has spent decades venting a wood or gas fire: creosote, soot, and often a clay tile liner that’s no longer doing its job. We run a camera down every flue during a cleaning, because the worst thing a sweep can do in this town is scrape out the visible stuff and leave a cracked liner behind. Here’s what that looks like in practice.
Creosote Removal
Creosote is the tar-like residue that condenses on flue walls when wood smoke cools. In Berwyn’s brick chimneys, it builds fast because the exterior stacks are cold and short by modern drafting standards. We remove first-degree through third-degree creosote with rotating brushes sized to your flue, and we always confirm the result with the camera before we pack up.
Annual Sweep and Camera Inspection
For a single-family bungalow in Berwyn, an annual sweep with a Level 1 camera check runs around $189 – $249. The camera is not an add-on. It’s how we know whether that 1920s flue is still safe to use or whether you’re one season away from a liner failure. Every sweep includes a written report with still images.
Fireplace Cleaning in Berwyn
Fireplace Cleaning in Berwyn usually means more than ash removal; it means addressing the firebox, the damper, and the smoke chamber that most homeowners never see. Many of these homes were built for coal and later converted, and the fireboxes weren’t necessarily designed for today’s hotter-burning wood fires. Our cleaning includes the full path smoke travels, not just the hearth you can see.
Firebox and Smoke Chamber
We clean accumulated soot from the smoke chamber and check for gaps in the firebrick that can let heat reach the framing. On older Berwyn two-flats, we also check the smoke shelf, which is a common place for debris to sit and block the draft. If the fireplace has a gas insert, we clean the firebox and inspect the venting specific to that unit.
Soot Removal and Draft Check
A fireplace that smokes back into the living room is usually a draft problem, and in Berwyn it’s frequently tied to a flue that’s too large for the fire it serves. After we remove the soot, we test the draft. If it’s weak, we’ll show you the camera footage and explain what the flue actually needs.
Trusted Brands We Service in Berwyn
We stock and install professional product lines that contractors actually use on the job, not the generic boxes from the big-box aisle. Berwyn’s older brick chimneys frequently need a reline when the original clay tiles crack, and we install DuraFlex flexible liner systems for those retrofits. When a crown has spalled or a cap has rusted out, we pull from Gelco and Copperfield inventory so the replacement matches the existing roof and lasts decades, not seasons. Because we keep common sizes on our trucks, most Berwyn chimney repairs don’t require a second trip. Norm Sulecki insists on that. If you’re going to fix a century-old chimney, you don’t put hardware-store parts on it.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Chimney Sweep Problems We See in Berwyn Homes
- Shared party-wall chimneys on two-flats. A single flue often serves both units along the lot line, and a crack in the liner affects both owners. We’ve swept many shared stacks in Berwyn where one owner hadn’t cleaned in years and both were breathing the other’s draft problems. The camera tells the whole story for both units.
- Orphaned furnace flues in coal-era stacks. When Berwyn homes converted from coal to gas, the furnace flue was often left sharing the old coal chimney, which is oversized and unlined for modern gas appliances. This creates weak draft and condensation that eats the mortar from the inside out.
- Spalling crowns and freeze-thaw damage. Exterior brick chimneys on Berwyn’s tight lots take the full brunt of winter rain and snow, then freeze. Crowns crack, mortar pops, and water gets behind the brick. A spring inspection catches this before the next heating season turns it into a structure problem.
- Debris and animal nests in the flue. Uncapped chimneys on Berwyn bungalows collect leaves, twigs, and sometimes squirrel or bird nests over the summer. We’ve pulled enough nesting material out of 60402 chimneys to fill a pickup bed. A cap and a sweep solve it permanently.
Pricing for Chimney Sweep in Berwyn, IL
A standard chimney sweep in Berwyn for a single-flue brick bungalow runs $189 – $289, which includes the camera inspection and a written report. Two-flat chimneys with shared flues or long exterior runs typically run $289 – $420 because they require more setup and often more creosote removal. If we find a cracked liner or spalled crown during the sweep, the repair quote is given only after you’ve seen the camera footage yourself. No hidden diagnostic fees, no pressure. Call (866) 361-2607 and we’ll give you an exact number for your Berwyn chimney before we book.
We Also Serve Cities Near Berwyn
Our chimney sweep service covers Berwyn and the surrounding communities: Stickney, North Riverside, Riverside, and Cicero, where our primary shop is based. If you’re in one of those towns and need the same camera-backed Chimney Sweep in Berwyn standard we’re known for, you’ll get the same crew, the same equipment, and the same honest reporting. One call covers the whole western Cook County area.
Serving Berwyn, IL — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Berwyn 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 About Chimney Sweep in Berwyn
Once a year, before the burning season starts. Berwyn’s 1920s brick chimneys have cold exterior flues that build creosote faster than modern insulated systems, and the freeze-thaw cycle constantly tests old mortar joints. An annual sweep with a camera check is the minimum for a wood-burning fireplace. If you burn more than a couple of fires a week, twice a year is safer. Call (866) 361-2607 to schedule a sweep for your Berwyn home.
You can clean just your flue if it’s a true separate liner, but on many older Berwyn two-flats the flues are not isolated, and that’s exactly the problem. A party-wall chimney often has a single masonry structure with separate clay tile liners for each unit, or in the worst case, a single flue serving both. We’ll camera it first and show you what’s there. If the liner is shared, cleaning only one side isn’t safe and doesn’t solve the fire risk. We’ll work with both owners to get it done right.
First-degree creosote is a fine soot that brushes off easily. Third-degree creosote is hardened, glazed, and concentrated fuel that can ignite at high temperatures. In Berwyn’s old bricks chimneys, third-degree creosote is common because the flues are oversized and draft poorly. If we find it, a basic sweep won’t remove it safely. We’ll show you the camera image and explain what it takes to remove it and prevent it from returning.
Yes, spalled crowns are one of the most common issues on Berwyn brick chimneys, because the crowns take direct rain and snow and Berwyn winters are brutal freeze-thaw cycles. But no, it shouldn’t wait until spring if you’re burning. A cracked crown lets water into the masonry, and every freeze makes the crack wider. We can repair the crown now with materials designed for Midwest weather, and the fix typically costs less than what waiting will cost later. Call (866) 361-2607 for an honest assessment.
Yes, every sweep includes a camera inspection of the flue. That’s non-negotiable on our crew, because Berwyn’s shared party-wall chimneys and converted coal stacks hide liner cracks, blockages, and drafting problems that no brush can reveal. You’ll see the footage for yourself before we recommend anything. If we don’t find a problem, you’ll still get images proving the flue is clean and structurally sound.
Written by Norm Sulecki, Owner at Wexford Chimney Sweep, serving Berwyn and western Cook County’s brick bungalows and two-flats since day one.