Gas fireplace insert burning behind a traditional oak mantel with a light stone surround

A Fireplace Store and More · Downers Grove, IL

Burr Ridge, Illinois41.75° N, 87.92° Wabout 15 minutes from the showroom

Chimney cleaning and fireplace repair in Burr Ridge, IL.

Burr Ridge houses are big, the chimneys are tall, and many carry two fireplaces on one stack, with a third fire outdoors on the patio. From our shop on 75th Street in Downers Grove, about 15 minutes away, the crew gives every flue its chimney sweep and chimney inspection on the same visit, services the gas units indoors and out, and leaves a written report with photos, a page for each flue.

Call (630) 241‑1919 Request an estimate

A gas insert behind a traditional oak mantel in Burr Ridge. It vents through a liner in the chimney above, and that liner is part of the yearly look; the burner is part of the service.

Drive time15minI-55 and Lemont Road, or 75th Street and Route 83
One visit1visitboth flues cleaned and inspected, and the gas units serviced, on one trip
Brands on our floor19indoor and outdoor; the technicians service every other make too
Counties2DuPage and Cook, and the village issues the permit on both sides

About A Fireplace Store and More

A Fireplace Store and More cleans, inspects and repairs chimneys in Burr Ridge, Illinois — liners, crowns, caps and masonry repair — from its showroom at 1202-B 75th Street in Downers Grove, open seven days (Mon–Fri 10–5, Sat 11–4, Sun 1–4). Book online or call (630) 241-1919.

Tall stacks, two flues, a patio fire

Why Burr Ridge chimneys need a yearly look, both flues

Burr Ridge was mostly built from the 1970s on, after the first estates of the late 1940s and 1950s, on large lots, and the houses show it: two-story chimneys, often with two flues, one for the family room and one for the basement or the bedroom. Each flue is its own chimney as far as creosote, water and animals are concerned. Wood smoke leaves creosote on the flue walls, and a chimney fire cracks the tile liner. Uncapped flues collect leaves, and nests from raccoons, squirrels and chimney swifts.

A tall masonry chimney on an open lot takes the weather from every side. Rain finds the crown and the joints, freezes there, and levers the brick apart a little further every winter. Where the fireplace is factory-built, the flue is metal inside a framed chase, and what fails is the chase cover on top and the cap, usually by rust. Outdoors, the gas fireplace or fire pit on the patio takes the same weather without a roof over it, and its burner and ignition are the first to go.

Gas burns cleaner; it does not look after itself. Put a gas log set in an old wood fireplace and it breathes through the old flue, where the wet exhaust works at the mortar and the liner, while the set’s own pilot, thermopile and blower age with the seasons. A vent that is blocked or crumbling can push carbon monoxide back into the house, with no smoke to give warning. Hence the rule in NFPA 211, the national standard for chimneys and vents: an inspection every year, whatever you burn, and on a Burr Ridge house every gas unit serviced on the same trip.

One Burr Ridge visit

Clean both. Inspect both. Report. Service every fireplace.

Clean

Every flue on the stack, one appointment

Drop cloths down, the opening closed, the vacuum running for as long as the brushes are: the flue is swept, the smoke shelf and the firebox cleaned, the damper worked, the cap and the crown checked from the roof, and then the same again on the second flue. Brick stacks, factory-built fireplaces, wood stoves, gas fireplaces and inserts all get cleaned, the family room and the basement on one ladder.

Black gas fireplace insert burning in a stacked stone surround above a wood floor — A gas insert in a stacked stone surround. Stone or brick outside, the flue behind it is what we clean and inspect, and the valve and the pilot behind the louver are what we service.

Inspect

Three levels in NFPA 211, applied flue by flue

The inspection comes with the cleaning, each flue to its own level. Which of the three NFPA 211 levels a Burr Ridge flue needs depends on what has changed since the last one; we say which before we start, and why, for both.

1
Level 1: the yearly look, both fluesFor a Burr Ridge house where nothing has changed: same fireplaces, same fuel, no trouble. Every part we can reach, from each firebox to its flue, the cap, the crown and the outside brick.
2
Level 2: something changed on one of themA change of fuel on either flue, a chimney fire, storm or lightning damage, or a Burr Ridge house with a buyer’s inspector coming. The camera covers the whole flue, and the write-up is aimed at that inspector.
3
Level 3: rare, and we will tell you before we go thereSomething serious is suspected and a wall or a section of the chimney must be opened to see it; it is rare.

Report

A page for each flue, with the photos

The report is written with a page for each flue, photos on each: what needs doing now, what can wait, what we would leave alone, and the figure for anything on the first list. If the outdoor fireplace or the fire pit was serviced, its note goes on the same report. Our chimney cleaning and maintenance guide has the long version.

A Burr Ridge report, one page per flue
Do now
Can wait, and how long
Leave it

Fireplace

Indoors and on the patio, any make

A Burr Ridge house can have three gas fires, two indoors and one on the patio, and the technician who sweeps the flues services all of them on the same trip. Any make of gas, wood or pellet fireplace, insert or stove, plus outdoor fireplaces, fire pits and gas grills; electric units only if we installed them.

1
The basement fireplace nobody usesIt still gets its yearly service if it is gas, because a pilot that has not run in years is full of dust and spiders, and a vented log set left off all winter still needs the flue above it clear.
2
The service on each unitGlass off and cleaned, the gasket checked, burner and pilot cleaned, logs and media reset to the maker’s drawing, thermopile tested under load, remote and receiver batteries changed, blower cleaned, the vent checked, and a carbon monoxide reading, indoors on both units.
3
The patio fireOutdoor gas fireplaces and fire pits on Burr Ridge lots take rain, snow and leaves straight into the burner. We clean the burner and the ignition, replace what has rusted, check the key valve and the media, and note what to cover before winter.
4
Faults the van is loaded forA pilot that will not hold, a clicking igniter with no flame, a dead remote, a blower that runs on or will not start, glass filmed white: tested, then fixed with the maker’s parts, most on the first visit.

Seven signs on a big lot

What a Burr Ridge chimney shows before it fails

On a Burr Ridge house, these are the seven that get people to pick up the phone:

01Smoke drifting into the room, or a fire that never quite draws when the wind is up
02A sour smell of old smoke in the family room after a summer rain
03Black flakes at the opening of either firebox, or a shard of clay tile on the hearth
04White salt stains on the tall brick, or brick faces spalling off after a freeze
05Rust streaks down the chase, or a puddle in the firebox after a storm
06A patio fireplace or fire pit that clicks and clicks and never lights
07A year since anyone looked at either flue, or opened either fireplace

Not one of these is an emergency by itself. Together or alone they mean it is time for someone to look at both flues, and small masonry repairs on a tall chimney stay small only when they are done early.

Cleaned, inspected and repaired by one crew

What we repair in Burr Ridge

Chimney repair in Burr Ridge is done by the crew that cleaned the flue, indoors and out, with the fireplace technician on the same truck down Lemont Road.

Tall chimneys and two-flue stacks

On the tall brick chimneys the usual list is a new cap or a multi-flue cap, a rebuilt crown, tuckpointing, flashing where the chimney meets the roof, and a stainless steel liner where the clay tiles are cracked or a new appliance needs a smaller flue. On the factory-built fireplaces it is chase covers, caps and cracked firebox panels. Either flue can take a new damper, top-sealing or throat.

The Village of Burr Ridge Community Development Department issues the permit for a new liner or a rebuild above the roof, on both the DuPage and the Cook County side of the village, and pulling it and booking the inspection is part of our job. More on the masonry side is on the chimney installation and repair page.

Indoor and outdoor gas fires

Gas units of any make, upstairs, downstairs or outside: pilots and thermopiles, ignition modules, valves, switches, remotes and receivers, blowers, glass, gaskets and refractory panels are the parts that fail and the parts we carry. Outdoor fireplaces, fire pits and gas grills add burners, ignition, key valves and media. A wood stove or insert gets door gaskets, glass and firebrick; a pellet unit adds the auger, the igniter and the controls.

When a unit is past repair, the replacement goes into the same opening by the crew that condemned it, and the outdoor and indoor choices are on our floor fifteen minutes away. The rating plate’s make and model, sent with the request, gets the parts on the truck and a time within one business day. If you smell gas indoors or at the patio line, leave, and call Nicor at 888-642-6748 or 911 from a distance before you call us.

Down Lemont Road

Scheduling from Burr Ridge, both flues and the patio

The work, chimney and fireplace, is done at your house. The truck goes down Lemont Road to I-55, or across on 75th Street to Route 83, and is in Burr Ridge in about 15 minutes. Call (630) 241‑1919 or book online, and let us know the fuel, when the flues were last cleaned, and whether the house has one fireplace, two, or two and a patio. For a gas unit that has quit, indoors or on the patio, add the make and what changed and the call-back comes within one business day.

The first thing Burr Ridge callers ask is whether the basement fireplace they never use still needs a visit. It does, for the flue’s sake, and it is quick when done with the other one. If the answer to a tired fireplace is an insert or a gas log set, the showroom is about 15 minutes away: Take I-55 to Lemont Road, north to 75th Street, and look for 1202-B on the corner; the parking is at the door. Inserts, log sets, outdoor units and doors are all there at full size, the electric ones lit.

On our floor in Downers Grove, fifteen minutes from Burr Ridge: a gas fireplace in a stone surround with a white mantel shelf, on display.

A Fireplace Store and More

1202-B 75th Street, Downers Grove, IL 60516

Showroom hours
Monday – Friday	10 am – 5 pm
Saturday	11 am – 4 pm
Sunday	1 pm – 4 pm

Get directions (630) 241‑1919

Asked in Burr Ridge

Questions we get from Burr Ridge

Our house has two fireplaces on one chimney. Is that one cleaning or two?

Two flues, so two cleanings and two inspections, done on the same visit. Each flue has its own liner, cap and damper, and the one you never use still collects water, leaves and nests. We quote a two-flue chimney as one visit and write the report with a page for each flue.

Our chimney is tall and the wind comes across the yard. Is that why the fireplace smokes?

Often it is part of it. A tall chimney on an open lot gets downdrafts, and a missing or plain cap makes them worse. Sometimes the cause is inside: a flue too small for the opening, a damper that does not open all the way, or a blockage. The inspection sorts out which, and the fix ranges from a wind-resistant cap to glass doors.

The gas fireplace on our patio will not light any more. Do you service outdoor units?

Yes, every make of outdoor gas fireplace, fire pit and gas grill. An outdoor burner takes rain and leaves straight into the ports, the igniter corrodes, and the key valve stiffens over a winter; we clean the burner, replace the ignition or the valve if it has gone, reset the media and tell you what to cover before the snow. It is done on the same trip as the indoor flues.

The metal cover on top of our chimney is rusting. Is that a problem?

Yes, and it is the most common repair on a Burr Ridge house with a factory-built fireplace. The chase cover keeps rain out of the framed chase around the metal flue; once it rusts through, water runs down the outside of the flue into the wall. A new stainless steel cover fixes it, and the yearly look catches it before the water does damage.

We are on the Cook County side of Burr Ridge. Does that change anything?

Not for cleaning, inspection or fireplace service. For a liner or a rebuild above the roof the Village of Burr Ridge issues the permit on both sides of the county line, and we pull it and book the inspection as part of the job.

We only light the fireplace a few times a year. Do we really need a yearly inspection?

Yes, because most of what goes wrong with a chimney happens when nothing is burning: water in the crown, frost in the mortar, a nest in the flue, a rusted cap. A few fires a year make little creosote, so the cleaning is quick; the look at the top is what the visit is for, and NFPA 211 recommends it yearly whatever you burn. A gas unit that runs a few evenings a year still wants its hour, because the dust and the gaskets do not know how often it ran.

Nearby towns the same crew serves

Burr Ridge has its own fireplace page, and the crew that serves it covers the rest of DuPage and the Cook County edge as well.

Burr Ridge chimney and fireplace · both flues and the patio fire on one visit, written report

Call (630) 241‑1919 Book online