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 Maywood
Dryer vent cleaning in Maywood typically costs $189 – $329 for a standard single-family home or two-flat unit, and most jobs take 60 – 90 minutes once we’re on site. We work throughout the 60153 zip code, from the brick bungalows off Madison Street to the two-flats along Washington Boulevard and the worker’s cottages near the Des Plaines River. If your dryer is taking two cycles to finish a load or the laundry room feels damp and smells like burnt lint, call Wexford Chimney Sweep at (866) 361-2607. Norm Sulecki, our owner, built this company around a simple principle: show the homeowner what the camera sees before recommending anything.
Why Wexford Chimney Sweep Is Maywood’s Preferred Dryer Vent Cleaning Company
Most companies that clean dryer vents don’t touch chimneys. Most chimney sweeps don’t touch dryer vents. On Maywood’s dense blocks of 1900 – 1930 two-flats and bungalows, those two systems often share the same brick chase, and that’s exactly why our Dryer Vent Cleaning team approaches every job looking at both. A clogged dryer duct is a fire hazard on its own. A clogged dryer duct running through a century-old masonry chase with a cracked clay-tile liner is a different problem entirely, and you need someone who understands both failure modes.
We’ve worked on homes throughout Maywood long enough to know what to expect before we even ring the bell. The village was built out during the 1890s – 1920s streetcar-suburb boom, and a lot of those original masonry stacks are still in service. When a dryer vent was retrofitted into that old brick decades ago, it was rarely done with rigid duct or much care for the flue alongside it. We see crushed duct, disconnected runs, and lint packed against spalling mortar more often than we see clean installs. That local pattern is why we carry rigid DuraFlex duct, proper termination caps, and the camera gear to prove every finding on screen before we quote a dollar of extra work.
Styles & brands we work with
Our Dryer Vent Cleaning Services in Maywood
We offer three related services for Maywood homes, and the right one depends on what the camera shows. Nothing gets recommended until we can show you the evidence.
Dryer Vent Cleaning
The core job. We clear the full vent run from the dryer connection to the exterior termination using rotary brushes and high-CFM vacuum, sized to the duct diameter and length. On Maywood two-flats with basement laundry, we pay special attention to the transition point where the duct enters the old masonry chase. That’s where decades of lint, moisture, and crumbling mortar combine into the kind of blockage that reads as a “slow dryer” but is actually a draft failure against a degrading wall.
Level 2 Inspection of Shared Chase Flues
When the dryer vent and the furnace flue share the same original brick stack, we recommend a camera inspection of every flue in that chase, not just the vent connected to the dryer. Maywood’s two-flats were frequently built with multiple flues serving the basement furnace, the first-floor fireplace, and the second-floor fireplace. An unused, uncapped flue in that chase can be full of bird or raccoon debris, and that debris plus lint is a combination you don’t want anywhere near a working furnace flue. We scan each liner, document offsets and cracks, and show you the footage in real time. If the flue is clean, we say so. If it isn’t, you’ll see it with your own eyes.
Flue Liner and Cap Evaluation Before Reuse
If you’re planning to bring an old fireplace or furnace back into service, or if you’re converting a two-flat and need to know whether an existing flue is safe to use, we evaluate the clay-tile liner and the existing cap before anything gets lit. Freeze-thaw winters in the Chicago area are brutal on century-old masonry, and Maywood stacks are no exception. Cracked, offset, or missing clay tile liners are common. So are rusted-out caps that let rain, snow, and animals directly into the flue. We’ll tell you whether the liner can stay in service, needs repair via HeatShield, or needs full relining with a DuraFlex in Maywood system. You’ll see the camera footage that backs up the recommendation.
What happens when you call
- 1
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 Maywood
We work with the same professional-grade product lines that credentialed chimney contractors use nationwide, which matters when a Maywood two-flat needs more than a cleaning. For dryer duct retrofits through original masonry chases, we install rigid DuraFlex rather than the foil-foil slinky duct you find at hardware stores, and we spec proper terminations that keep rain, birds, and backdraft out. For flue caps and covers, we use Famco and Copperfield products, and when a clay-tile liner is too far gone for repair, HeatShield restoration can often extend the life of a flue without full replacement. We’re not selling you off-brand parts. We’re installing what a specialty contractor would put in.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Dryer Vent Cleaning Problems We See in Maywood Homes
- Crushed or pinched duct behind the furnace stack. On Maywood two-flats, the laundry is usually in the basement, and the vent often runs through an original exterior brick chase that also carries the furnace flue. The duct gets kinked or collapsed in the tight space behind the stack, and lint builds up against the restriction. We find this with a camera more often than with a visual inspection.
- Lint packed against spalling mortar. Century-old mortar joints that have spent a hundred winters absorbing and releasing moisture soften, crack, and shed. When a retrofit vent pushes warm, lint-laden air against that damaged mortar, the lint doesn’t exit the building, it embeds in the chase wall. That’s both a fire risk and a chimney rot accelerator.
- Uncapped, unused flues full of nesting debris. Many Maywood two-flats have multiple flues in one stack, and the ones no longer connected to an appliance often sit open or minimally capped. Raccoons, squirrels, and chimney swifts move in. When a homeowner reports a “dryer vent smell” or slow drying, the real culprit is sometimes a debris-filled flue creating backpressure through the shared wall.
- Second-floor laundry ducts tied to deteriorating clay-tile liners. When a converted two-flat puts a dryer on the second floor, the duct frequently shares the original chimney chase. Moist exhaust pulled against cracked, offset clay tiles accelerates liner failure, and the homeowner sees “dryer issues” while the structural chimney problem goes unnoticed. We check both.
Pricing for Dryer Vent Cleaning in Maywood, IL
A standard dryer vent cleaning for a single-family Maywood home or one unit in a two-flat runs $189 – $279, depending on vent length, accessibility, and how long it’s been since the last cleaning. Longer runs, second-floor laundry rooms, or ducts that require rooftop access add $50 – $100. If we perform a camera inspection of the shared chase flues during the same visit, that adds $99 – $149, and we credit part of that toward any liner or cap work you approve. HeatShield liner repair, if the camera shows it’s needed and conditions allow, starts around $1,200 and goes up based on flue length and damage extent. Nothing is recommended without camera evidence you’ve seen yourself. Call (866) 361-2607 for a free estimate, and we’ll give you a flat price before the truck rolls.
We Also Serve Cities Near Maywood
Wexford Chimney Sweep works throughout the western Cook County corridor. If you’re in Maywood, you’ve probably got family or rental property in Broadview, Forest Park, River Forest, or Melrose Park, and we service all of them. Same flat-price model, same camera-first rule. One call covers the whole area: (866) 361-2607.
Serving Maywood, IL — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Maywood 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 Maywood
It can be safe if the duct is rigid, properly connected, and the chase itself is in decent shape. But on Maywood’s early-1900s two-flats, we often find the duct crushed behind the furnace stack, lint packed against spalling mortar, and an adjacent flue that’s cracked or uncapped. The only way to know is to run a camera through the full run and the shared chase. We’ll show you exactly what we see. Call (866) 361-2607 to schedule.
Most commonly, the vent is restricted, either by lint buildup at the termination, a crushed section somewhere in the run, or a blockage where the duct passes through the old masonry wall. Maywood bungalows from the 1920s often have short but kinked retrofit runs that clog faster than modern straight duct installations. We’ll clean it, check the full run, and tell you what’s actually causing the problem.
Yes, the chimney stack can be shared, but the flues inside it cannot. Each appliance needs its own dedicated flue or vent, and on Maywood two-flats, that’s often exactly how the original masonry was built: separate flues for the furnace, the first-floor fireplace, and the second-floor fireplace. When a dryer vent was retrofitted into the wall alongside them, it introduced a warm, lint-laden exhaust stream into a structure that was never designed for it. We inspect every flue in the chase before we tell you the stack is sound.
It’s possible. Uncapped or poorly capped unused flues in a shared masonry chase are prime nesting sites, and that debris plus lint can create a blockage that backs up into the dryer vent run. We check the adjacent flues whenever we clean a dryer vent on a Maywood two-flat, because the two problems often travel together.
Not unless the camera shows a reason. The spot where the vent enters the old brick chase is exactly where problems hide, and from the laundry room, you can’t see it. If we find the duct is intact and drafting properly, we’ll say so and you pay only for the cleaning. If the run is crushed, disconnected, or venting against spalling mortar, we’ll show you on screen and give you a firm price to fix it with rigid DuraFlex. No camera evidence, no recommendation.
Written by Norm Sulecki, Owner at Wexford Chimney Sweep, serving Maywood since day one.