Chimney sweep and cleaning in Oak Park

Fireplaces in a 1950s city

Oak Park grew from about 5,000 people to more than 36,000 between 1950 and 1960, and was called America's fastest growing city for it. Most houses from that decade have one masonry chimney, and where there's a fireplace, it was built for wood. Seventy years later, some still burn wood every winter, some have gas logs, and some have a wood insert. Each one leaves something different in the flue.

Wood leaves soot and creosote. When fires burn slow and smoky, from damp wood or the air turned down, creosote can build up into a rough crust like the one in the photo. That's harder to sweep out than a light coat of soot.

The northwest corner

When the open land ran short in the 1960s, most new building moved to the northwest corner of the city, so the houses up there are a bit newer. If yours has a factory-built fireplace with a round metal flue, we sweep it with brushes sized for the pipe and check the cap and the top of the chimney while we're up there. A metal flue gets the same inspection as a masonry one, with the camera available if you want to see the inside of the pipe.

Leaves, nests and swifts

Leaves and twigs blow into an open flue, and squirrels and birds nest in it. A cap keeps most of that out.

From May to August, chirping in the chimney is usually chimney swifts. They're protected by federal law, and the nest stays until the young have flown. Our guide to chimney swifts explains what to do in the meantime.

Price and timing

A sweep is $349 per flue and includes an inspection on the same visit. We cover the floor, sweep the flue, inspect the fireplace and the chimney, and clean up before we leave. A camera down the flue is $75 more. Book before the first cold weekend, when everyone else remembers the fireplace. Our guide on how often to clean a chimney helps you judge when yours is due. If we find damage, our chimney repair page has the Oak Park prices.