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 Logan Square
A chimney sweep in Logan Square typically costs $180 – $340 for a standard fireplace cleaning with a Level 1 inspection, and most jobs are completed in a single two-to-three-hour visit. If you own one of the neighborhood’s 1890s – 1930s greystones or workers’ cottages, your flue is likely original unlined brick or terra cotta tile that has never been relined since coal furnaces were the heat source. That makes sweeping here different from sweeping in a newer suburb. Call (866) 361-2607 to book a sweep, and we’ll bring a camera, not just a brush.
We work in Logan Square every week. Our crews know the roof access on Sacramento Avenue two-flats, the shared stacks on Palmer Street greystones, and the workers’ cottages off Kimball where the chimney sits tight against a neighbor’s wall. We carry extension ladders sized for narrow gangways, and we always run a Level 1 or Level 2 inspection alongside the sweep, because in this housing stock the sweep is only half the job. You want to know if the flue is still tight, not just if it’s clean.
Why Wexford Chimney Sweep Is Logan Square’s Preferred Chimney Sweep Company
Wexford Chimney Sweep is based in Cicero, but we’ve spent years working the tight streets and dense housing stock of Logan Square. This neighborhood isn’t like the bungalow belt. Here, three units share one brick stack, roof access is often through a hatch in a top-floor hallway, and the original flue tiles have been through a hundred Chicago winters. We know what those flues look like inside before we even set foot on the roof, and we know what to look for when we’re up there.
Our crews have swept hundreds of Logan Square chimneys across 60647. From the greystones along Logan Boulevard to the frame two-flats north of Fullerton, the pattern repeats: original masonry flues venting modern gas boilers, with decades of soot and the occasional crumbling tile joint. Customers in Logan Square call us because we don’t just pull a brush through and hand over a receipt. We inspect, we photograph, and we explain what we found in plain words.
Norm Sulecki runs Wexford Chimney Sweep, and he set the standard: every sweep includes a camera inspection with a photo report, no exceptions. When we find a shifted flue tile or a cracked crown on a Logan Square stack, you see it on the screen, not just hear about it from a tech who was on the roof for ten minutes. That’s how we build trust block by block.
Styles & brands we work with
Chimney Maintenance in Logan Square
Chimney Maintenance in Logan Square means more than an annual sweep. It means keeping an eye on a 100-year-old masonry flue that vents a high-efficiency boiler it was never designed for. The housing stock here was built for coal. Coal burns hot and dirty, but the exhaust was cooler and the draft profile was different. Today’s gas boilers vent cooler, wetter exhaust, and that moisture condenses inside old brick flues, soaking into mortar joints and accelerating deterioration. So maintenance here always includes a visual check of flue condition, crown integrity, and cap placement.
For a typical Logan Square single-family workers’ cottage with one fireplace and one furnace flue, a maintenance visit including a sweep, a Level 1 inspection, and a written condition report runs $180 – $260. If we’re maintaining a two- or three-flat shared stack, the cost goes up because we’re inspecting multiple flue channels and usually making two or three roof trips to check each termination point. Expect $280 – $400 for that work. Every visit ends with a photo report, so you can see what we saw.
Annual Sweep and Creosote Removal
An Chimney Sweep visit here should happen once a year if you burn wood, and every two years if you only run a gas fireplace or boiler. In Logan Square, furnace and boiler flues pick up soot and light creosote glaze through the winter because the equipment runs hard from November through March. We remove that buildup with rotary brushes sized to your flue, then we vacuum the smoke chamber and firebox. If you burn wood in one of the neighborhood’s original fireplaces, we’ll check for third-degree creosote, which is hard, shiny, and a serious fire risk.
Chimney Cap Inspection and Replacement
Most Logan Square chimneys either have no cap, or a rusted one that’s been there since the 1980s. A missing cap lets rain, snow, and birds into the flue. In winter, freeze-thaw cycles push water into cracked mortar and make it spall. We keep common cap sizes on the truck, including Olympia Chimney and Famco products, and we’ll install a replacement if your existing cap is shot. For a standard-size masonry flue on a Logan Square stack, cap replacement typically adds $80 – $150 to a sweep visit when installed same-day.
Chimney Sweep Services in Logan Square
Chimney Sweep Services in Logan Square cover the full spectrum: a simple straight flue on a workers’ cottage, a multi-flue shared stack on a greystone, or a boiler-only flue that hasn’t been cleaned in a decade. Because the housing here is attached or nearly attached, we approach every sweep as if we’re working in a building we don’t own, because often the flue we’re cleaning serves a unit that isn’t yours. That changes how we work. We sweep one flue at a time, we seal off the firebox opening to keep soot out of your living room, and we verify each flue’s termination point on the roof before we start.
A standard fireplace sweep with Level 1 inspection in Logan Square runs $180 – $280. If you add a dryer vent cleaning on the same visit, expect an additional $80 – $120. For larger buildings, or when a Level 2 camera inspection is needed to check a shifted tile or suspected cross-contamination, budget $300 – $450 all-in. We give you the number before we start, not after.
Fireplace Cleaning for Wood-Burning Fireplaces
If you’ve got a wood-burning fireplace in a Logan Square greystone, you already know these fireplaces are shallow and decorative compared to suburban masonry fireplaces. That doesn’t mean they can’t heat a front parlor, but it does mean the flue needs attention more often. Chicago’s winter air is dry, and old brick draws moisture. When you burn wood in a flue that’s already compromised, you’re adding creosote to a surface that’s already spalling. We clean the firebox, the damper seat, the smoke chamber, and the full flue length, and we’ll tell you if the fireplace is safe to burn before we leave.
Level 2 Inspection for Shared Stacks
A Level 2 camera inspection is not optional in Logan Square when we’re working on a shared stack. One roof penetration can serve two or three flues, and those flues can share brick webs that are now cracked or missing entirely. A Level 2 inspection puts a camera down each channel separately, so we can see whether your flue is compromised, whether a neighbor’s flue is compromised, and whether exhaust can migrate between channels. In this housing stock, that’s not a hypothetical. We’ve seen it. The camera tells the truth, and the photo report shows it to you.
What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees — you reach a local pro.
- 2
You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
- 3
A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
- 4
You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Logan Square
We don’t stock hardware-store parts. When a Logan Square chimney needs a cap, a liner, or a crown treatment, we source from the brands chimney contractors actually use: Olympia Chimney for caps and chase covers, Famco for termination components, and Copperfield for flashing and masonry accessories. We keep common sizes of these parts on our trucks, which means a cap replacement or a flashing repair on a Sacramento Avenue greystone can often be finished the same day as your sweep. For liner work, we install DuraFlex flexible liner systems, the industry standard for retrofit relines. And when conditions allow, we restore compromised flues with HeatShield, a liner repair system that can seal cracks and missing mortar joints without a full reline. Most sweep companies in Chicago don’t offer HeatShield. We do.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Chimney Sweep Problems We See in Logan Square Homes
- Shared-stack cross-contamination. A two-flat off Palmer Street had a second-floor gas boiler venting into a channel whose flue tiles had shifted, letting exhaust drift toward the first-floor channel. We swept both flues, documented the missing tile on a Level 2 inspection, and flagged the crown’s freeze-thaw cracking before recommending a HeatShield liner for the boiler channel. That’s not a rare find here. It’s the defining Logan Square chimney problem.
- Crumbling crowns and spalling brick. Freeze-thaw cycles on a 110-year-old brick stack crack mortar crowns year after year. Water gets in, freezes, expands, and pops brick faces off the outside of the stack. Left unchecked, the crown breaks down and water enters the flue channels themselves.
- Third-degree creosote in wood flues. Chicago winters push people to burn hotter and longer. In an old unlined masonry flue, that means glazed, tar-like creosote that a regular brush cannot remove. This is the leading cause of chimney fires anywhere, and it’s common in the wood-burning fireplaces of Logan Square’s older homes.
- Never-relined coal-era flues venting gas boilers. These flues were built for coal exhaust, not modern gas-condensing exhaust. The cooler, wetter vent gases condense inside the brick, and the mortar turns to sand. We see this in nearly every original masonry flue in the neighborhood.
Pricing for Chimney Sweep in Logan Square, IL
A standard fireplace sweep with a Level 1 inspection in Logan Square runs $180 – $280, depending on flue height and how much creosote has built up. A gas boiler or furnace flue sweep runs $150 – $220. If you own a two- or three-flat and we’re sweeping multiple flues in a shared stack, the total runs $280 – $400, with each additional flue beyond the first usually adding $60 – $90. A Level 2 camera inspection, which we strongly recommend for shared stacks and any chimney that’s never been inspected, adds $150 – $250 to the visit. Dryer vent cleaning runs $80 – $120 and can be done on the same trip. Call (866) 361-2607 for a flat-price quote before we book. Estimates are free, and the number we quote is the number you pay.
We Also Serve Cities Near Logan Square
If you’re in Avondale, West Town, Belmont Cragin, or East Garfield Park, you’re in our regular service area. We sweep chimneys across the Northwest Side and into the West Loop. The same shared-stack issues that show up in Logan Square show up in Avondale’s two-flats and West Town’s greystones, and we’re equipped for all of it. Call (866) 361-2607 to see when we’re in your neighborhood next.
Serving Logan Square, IL — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Logan Square 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 Logan Square
Yes, absolutely. We can sweep only your flue if that’s what you need. But we’ll recommend inspecting the entire stack while we’re on the roof, because in a typical Logan Square three-flat, one brick stack carries two or three separate flue channels, and a problem in a neighboring channel can affect yours. Sweeping just your flue costs $180 – $280, but if we find evidence of cross-contamination or a compromised adjacent channel, we’ll document it and tell you. It’s your call, but the photo report doesn’t lie. Call (866) 361-2607 and we’ll walk you through what makes sense for your building.
It’s the shared-stack cross-contamination risk. In Logan Square’s two- and three-flat greystones, a single brick stack often carries two or three separate, unlined flue channels, one per unit. A sweep on one flat’s flue can reveal that a neighboring unit’s gas boiler vents into a compromised channel inches away in the same stack. We’ve found shifted flue tiles that allowed exhaust to drift between channels. This is a carbon monoxide risk, not just a cleaning issue, and it’s the reason we push Level 2 inspections on shared stacks.
Yes, in practice they do. Logan Square’s cold, snowy winters mean furnaces and boilers run hard for months, and fireplaces get used more heavily from November through March. That sustained burning, especially with the dense wood people burn in city fireplaces, produces creosote faster than occasional use would. Freeze-thaw cycles also crack mortar crowns and chimney exteriors, which introduces moisture into the flue, and moist flue surfaces hold creosote more readily. If you burn wood more than twice a week all winter, schedule your sweep before December, not after.
No, and it’s important to be straight about this. Third-degree creosote is a hardened, tar-like glaze that a standard wire brush cannot remove from a masonry flue. It requires chemical treatment or mechanical removal with specialized tools, and in severe cases it’s a fire hazard that needs a liner, not just a sweep. In old unlined Logan Square flues, we see third-degree creosote often enough that we always inspect for it before and after brushing. If we find it, we’ll show you the camera footage and give you real options.
You won’t know for sure without a camera inspection of each flue channel. A Level 2 inspection puts a camera down your flue and your neighbor’s, and we can see whether the brick webs separating the channels are intact or whether there are gaps, shifted tiles, or missing mortar joints that let exhaust migrate. We can also run a smoke test to trace air movement between channels. If there’s a leak, the fix is usually a HeatShield liner restoration or a full reline of the affected channel. Call (866) 361-2607 and we’ll schedule a Level 2 inspection for your shared stack.
Written by Norm Sulecki, Owner at Wexford Chimney Sweep, serving Logan Square and the Northwest Side since 2005.