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 Dryer Vent Cleaning Across Avondale
Dryer vent cleaning in Avondale typically costs $145 – $285 for a standard single-unit cleanout, and most jobs are completed in one visit. If your dryer is taking two cycles to dry a load, or the laundry room feels damp and hot while the machine runs, the vent is almost certainly clogged. In Avondale’s pre-1930 brick two- and three-flats, the blockages we find are usually worse than what homeowners expect, and they’re rarely visible from the outside. Call Wexford Chimney Sweep at (866) 361-2607 for a free estimate. We know Avondale’s building stock, and we know exactly where the lint hides.
Key Takeaways:
- Dryer vent cleaning in Avondale runs $145 – $285 depending on run length and access.
- Pre-1930 Avondale flats often vent dryers through interior chases or shared chimney flues, not short exterior walls.
- We use camera verification before recommending any repair work. You see what we see.
- One company covers both your dryer vent and your chimney. Both are fire hazards. Both deserve a specialist.
Why Wexford Chimney Sweep Is Avondale’s Preferred Dryer Vent Cleaning Company
We’ve worked in enough 60618 buildings to know that no two Avondale dryer vent runs are alike. A two-flat on Lawndale Avenue built in 1912 vents differently than a courtyard building off Milwaukee Avenue from the 1920s. Our techs arrive knowing to check the basement chase, the wall cap, and the connection points that typical cleaning crews skip entirely. That’s why Avondale homeowners keep calling us back, and why our reputation in this neighborhood has grown mostly through word of mouth from one flat owner to the next.
Norm Sulecki built Wexford Chimney Sweep around a simple principle: show the customer what’s actually wrong before recommending anything. That’s not standard practice in this trade. In Avondale, where vent runs snake through century-old interior chases, the temptation for less scrupulous companies to “find” a liner problem is real. We don’t play that game. Every recommendation we make comes with camera footage you can watch on our screen or on your own phone. If the vent is clear and safe, we tell you that and leave. No invented emergencies, no pressure.
The relationship matters here. Avondale is a neighborhood where a single stack often serves a basement furnace, a first-floor fireplace, and a dryer vent from a second-floor unit. That’s not a simple cleanout call. That’s a diagnostic visit, and it needs a company that understands flue gas, lint load, and the structural condition of 100-year-old masonry all at once. That’s us.
Styles & brands we work with
Our Dryer Vent Cleaning Services in Avondale
Wexford Chimney Sweep is a full-service chimney and dryer vent specialist serving Avondale with three core service categories: preventive cleaning, dryer vent fire-hazard removal, and structural chimney repair. Here’s what dryer vent work looks like in 60618 specifically.
Dryer Vent Cleaning and Full-Run Lint Removal
In Avondale, a “standard” dryer vent cleaning is rarely standard. We remove the dryer from its position, disconnect the transition duct, and run rotary brushes and rods through the full length of the vent, from the back of the machine to the exterior termination. That’s the only way to clear the long horizontal runs and packed vertical chases common in pre-1930 flats. A shop-vac at the wall cap doesn’t reach the clog. We do the full run, every time, and we show you the before-and-after footage at the wall opening so you know it’s done.
Transition Duct Replacement with Smooth-Walled DuraFlex
The flexible foil duct behind your dryer is the most common failure point we see in Avondale. In tight pre-war basement corners, it gets crushed, kinked, or sagged, and suddenly your dryer can’t push air anywhere. We replace crushed or kinked transition duct with smooth-walled DuraFlex, the industry standard for retrofit vent runs. Smooth walls mean lint slides through instead of catching on corrugation. It’s the same material trade contractors specify, not a hardware-store substitute.
Camera Inspection of Interior Chases and Shared-Flue Terminations
If your Avondale building vents the dryer into an interior wall chase or terminates into a chimney stack, we camera the entire run before we recommend anything. We need to see the condition of the clay tile, the mortar joints, and the termination point itself. In older Avondale flats, terminations often dump into a stack that also carries a furnace flue, which is a configuration that requires real scrutiny. The camera shows us, and you, exactly what’s happening inside that wall.
Shared-Stack Diagnosis and Ventilation Correction
Many Avondale two- and three-flats have a basement furnace and a first-floor dryer venting through the same brick stack. That’s not inherently dangerous if everything is intact and separated. But when mortar spalls, crown cracks, or flue tiles shift, the two systems can interact in ways that create fire and carbon monoxide risk. We inspect the full stack, identify whether the runs are properly separated, and tell you plainly if corrective work is needed. No corrective work is recommended without camera evidence.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees — you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Avondale
We stock and install professional-grade product lines that chimney contractors trust nationwide, which means Avondale homeowners don’t wait on special orders. That includes DuraFlex liner systems, HeatShield flue repair products, and Copperfield caps and termination fittings. These are the brands you’ll find on credentialed contractor specs across Chicago, not generic parts from a big-box shelf. When your dryer vent needs a new termination or a flue needs a HeatShield restoration instead of a full reline, we have the materials on hand and the training to install them correctly. It’s a level of technical specialization most dryer vent cleaning companies in Avondale simply don’t offer.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Dryer Vent Cleaning Problems We See in Avondale Homes
- Interior chase clogs packed against spalled clay tile. On 1890s – 1930s brick flats, dryer runs often climb through interior wall chases next to aging chimney flues. Lint catches on rough, spalling tile and packs into a dense plug deep in the wall. A surface clean misses it. Rodding the full run gets it.
- Crushed transition duct behind the dryer in tight basement corners. Pre-war basements weren’t designed for modern appliances. The flexible duct gets wedged, crushed, or kinked, and the dryer overheats while clothes stay wet. Replacing that run with smooth-walled DuraFlex fixes the airflow permanently.
- Vent terminations routed into chimney stacks never designed for dryer exhaust. Chicago’s freeze-thaw winters crack mortar crowns and spall brick on exposed stacks. When a dryer vents into that stack, moisture and debris from the chimney can back up into the lint-laden run, creating a blockage that’s also a fire hazard. Camera inspection at the termination tells us exactly what’s going on.
- Shared flues with furnace exhaust creating hidden CO risk. A dryer vent running past a basement furnace flue in the same stack is common in 60618. If the flue liner is compromised, combustion gases can seep into areas they shouldn’t. We check for separation, liner integrity, and blockages when we service these buildings. It’s not an upsell. It’s the reason we look.
Pricing for Dryer Vent Cleaning in Avondale, IL
A typical single-family dryer vent cleaning in Avondale runs $145 – $185. Two- and three-flat buildings with longer runs, interior chases, or difficult basement access typically fall between $185 and $285. Transition duct replacement in Avondale starts around $90 – $130 for standard runs, and full camera inspection of an interior chase or shared-flue termination adds $75 – $125. The variables that move the price here are run length, number of elbows, access to the termination point, and whether the building is a pre-1930 flat with a shared stack. Call (866) 361-2607 for a free estimate. We’ll ask about your building, your vent run, and your dryer’s behavior, and we’ll give you a straight number before we arrive.
We Also Serve Cities Near Avondale
Our dryer vent cleaning team covers Avondale and the surrounding Northwest Side neighborhoods, including Logan Square, Belmont Cragin, West Town, and East Garfield Park. If you live in a two-flat off Diversey or a greystone near Humboldt Park, we’re familiar with your building stock. Same crew, same camera-verified approach, same flat-price sweep agreed before booking. Call us and we’ll tell you which day we can be there.
Serving Avondale, IL — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Avondale 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 – Dryer Vent Cleaning in Avondale
Yes. We run a camera through the full length of the interior chase, from the dryer connection to the termination point, and you watch the footage with us. In Avondale’s pre-1930 buildings, this is the only way to know whether the run is packed with lint, whether the clay tile next to it has spalled, and whether the termination is actually clear. If we can’t get a camera through, we tell you that and explain what it would take to do it properly. Call (866) 361-2607 to schedule an inspection.
In our experience with Avondale basements, it’s the vent about 80% of the time. Two-cycle drying in a pre-war flat usually means the transition duct behind the dryer is crushed or the run itself is packed with lint. We check airflow at the wall opening with a meter before and after cleaning, so you can see the difference in actual numbers, not our opinion. If the vent is clear and airflow is good, we’ll tell you it’s likely the dryer and save you the cost of unnecessary cleaning. Call (866) 361-2607 and we’ll diagnose it honestly.
It depends on the building. In Avondale’s older two- and three-flats, it’s common for a dryer vent to run alongside or terminate near a furnace flue in the same brick stack. That’s only a problem if the flue liner is cracked, the mortar joints have failed, or the runs aren’t properly separated. We inspect the full stack, not just the dryer run, and we’ll tell you plainly whether there’s a separation issue or a CO risk. If there is, we show you the camera footage. If there isn’t, we say so. Call (866) 361-2607 to have your stack evaluated.
No. Nothing is recommended without camera evidence you can see. That’s the rule Norm Sulecki built the company on. If there’s a blockage, you watch us pull the camera through the run and see the lint pack yourself. If there’s a liner issue, the camera footage shows it. If the vent is clear and safe, we tell you that and leave. The chimney trade has a reputation for inventing problems. We built our Avondale reputation by doing the opposite. Call (866) 361-2607 if you want a straight answer with evidence.
Annually, at minimum. Avondale’s pre-1930 flats have longer vent runs, interior chases, and shared stack configurations that collect lint faster than short suburban wall vents. If the building has multiple dryers on one stack, or the laundry is in a basement with a vertical run over 15 feet, clean it twice a year. The cost of cleaning is a fraction of the cost of a dryer fire or a CO incident in a shared building. Call (866) 361-2607 to put your building on a schedule.
Written by Norm Sulecki, Owner at Wexford Chimney Sweep, serving Avondale and Chicago’s Northwest Side since 1987.