Gas log set in a white-painted brick fireplace with a television above

A Fireplace Store and More · Downers Grove, IL

Lombard, Illinois41.88° N, 88.01° Wabout 22 minutes from the showroom

Chimney cleaning and fireplace service in Lombard, IL.

Chimney sweep, chimney inspection and chimney repair in Lombard come from our shop on 75th Street in Downers Grove, about 22 minutes down I-355, and the gas fireplace or log set gets its service on the same visit. Every cleaning comes with an inspection and a written report with photos of what we found. Lombard’s fall dates go first, so call early for your pick of days.

Call (630) 241‑1919Request an estimate

A painted brick fireplace with a gas log set, the Lombard combination: an original chimney from the 1920s to the 1950s with a burner in it. Wood or gas, the flue above needs its yearly look.

  • Drive time22minI-355 from 75th Street to Village Hall on Wilson Avenue
  • Signs to watch7the seven things a Lombard chimney or fireplace shows before it fails
  • Brands on our floor19chosen for reliability; the technicians service every other make as well
  • Showroom open7daysevery day of the week, Sunday afternoons too
About A Fireplace Store and More

A Fireplace Store and More cleans, inspects and repairs chimneys in Lombard, 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.

Old brick, outside walls, townhome chases

Why Lombard chimneys and fireplaces need a yearly look

Lombard has a lot of old brick. The homes around Lilacia Park and downtown were built in the 1920s through the 1950s, and their chimneys are the originals: brick, lime mortar, clay tile liners, and many winters of freeze and thaw. Water gets into the crown and the mortar joints, freezes, and pushes the brick apart a little more each year. Inside, a wood fire leaves creosote on the flue walls, a chimney fire cracks the tile liner, and uncapped flues collect leaves and nests from raccoons, squirrels and chimney swifts.

On the ranches and split-levels of Lombard’s postwar growth the chimney often stands on an outside wall, where it takes the weather from three sides and where flashing and brick replacement come up more than anywhere else in the village. In the townhomes near Yorktown Center the fireplace is usually factory-built, a metal flue inside a framed chase with a cover on top, and there it is cracked firebox panels and rusted covers.

Gas is cleaner, but it is not maintenance-free. A gas log set in an old wood fireplace uses the old flue, and the moisture in gas exhaust slowly eats at the mortar and the liner, while the burner, the pilot and the valve age on their own. A blocked or crumbling vent can push carbon monoxide back into the house with no smoke to warn you, which is why NFPA 211, the national standard for chimneys and vents, recommends an inspection every year no matter what you burn, and why the gas unit gets its own hour on the same visit.

A Lombard visit in four parts

Sweep, inspect, report, and the burner.

Clean

Drop cloths and a vacuum, the sweep and the look together

Drop cloths from the door to the hearth, the opening closed off, the vacuum running the whole time we sweep. We brush the flue, clean the smoke shelf and the firebox, work the damper, and check the cap and the crown from the roof. Masonry chimneys around Lilacia Park, factory-built fireplaces near Yorktown, wood stoves, gas fireplaces and inserts: we clean all of them.

Close-up of a gas log set burning in a brick fireplace behind a mesh screen
Gas logs behind a mesh screen in a brick fireplace. The damper stays clamped open while the logs are on, so the flue above still needs its inspection and the burner its service.

Inspect

Three levels in NFPA 211, one of them yours

The inspection follows the three levels set out in NFPA 211, and it is done on the cleaning visit, not on a second trip. Which level a Lombard chimney needs depends on what has changed since the last one; you hear which, and why, before we start.

  • 1
    Level 1: nothing new since last yearThe yearly look for a Lombard house where nothing has changed, same fireplace and same fuel: every part we can reach, from the firebox to the flue, the cap, the crown and the outside brick.
  • 2
    Level 2: for a changeGas logs going into a wood fireplace near Lilacia Park, a new insert, a chimney fire, storm or lightning damage, or a Lombard house being sold. It adds a camera run through the whole flue, written for a buyer or an inspector.
  • 3
    Level 3: before we open anythingRare, and we tell you before we go there: a serious problem is suspected and part of a wall or the chimney has to be opened to see it.

Report

Photos and three lists, before the truck leaves

You get a written report with photos of what we found, sorted into what needs doing now, what can wait, and what we would leave alone, with the figure for anything on the first list. Masonry work that the report calls for is scheduled for the warm months, and if the chimney is safe to use meanwhile, the report says so. Our chimney cleaning and maintenance guide explains the terms.

  • How a Lombard report is sorted
  • Needs doing this season
  • Can wait until the warm months
  • Leave it as it is

Fireplace

Logs, inserts and stoves, any make

The gas log set in a Lombard brick fireplace, and the gas fireplace in a Yorktown townhome, are serviced by the technician who sweeps the flue above them. Every make of gas, wood and pellet fireplace, insert and stove; electric units only if we put them in.

  • 1
    The log set that will not lightOn the older vented sets around Lilacia Park it is usually a pilot assembly clogged with soot, a thermocouple that has aged out, or a valve. Tested before replaced, and the common parts come on the van.
  • 2
    The yearly hour on the gas unitGlass off and cleaned where there is glass, gasket checked, burner and pilot cleaned, logs reset to the maker’s drawing, thermocouple or thermopile tested under load, switch, remote and receiver checked with fresh batteries, blower cleaned, the vent looked at, a carbon monoxide check.
  • 3
    Cold room, open damperVented logs need the damper clamped open, so the room feels the draft when the logs are off. A set of glass doors stops the draft without blocking the vent; we fit them, and the flue still gets its yearly look.
  • 4
    An insert for the old brickWhen the report shows a 1920s firebox past saving, a gas insert vented through a stainless liner in the original flue is the usual answer. The choices are on our floor at full size, and the crew that inspected the flue installs it.

Seven things to notice

Signs your Lombard chimney needs attention

Call us if you notice any of these at your Lombard house:

  • 01A fire that never quite draws, however dry the wood
  • 02A sour, smoky smell indoors in July, or after a heavy rain
  • 03Black flakes around the opening, or pieces of clay tile lying in the firebox
  • 04White staining on the outside brick, or brick faces popping off after a hard freeze
  • 05A puddle in the firebox after a storm, or rust on the damper
  • 06Gas logs that light on the third try, or a pilot that will not stay in
  • 07More than a year since anyone looked at the chimney or opened the fireplace

None of these means the chimney is unsafe on its own. All of them mean it is time for someone to look, and small masonry repairs stay small only when they are done early.

The same people, both trades

What we repair in Lombard

The people who clean your Lombard chimney are the people who repair it, and fireplace repair comes on the same truck. The list below is what comes up most in the village.

The chimney

Around Lilacia Park and downtown the brick work runs to caps, rebuilt crowns and tuckpointing, and a stainless steel liner where the clay tiles have cracked or a new appliance needs a smaller flue. On the ranches and split-levels from Lombard’s postwar growth, the chimney is often on an outside wall, so brick replacement and flashing come up more. In the townhomes near Yorktown Center it is cracked firebox panels and chase covers. Dampers, throat or top-sealing, go in on any chimney.

A new liner or a rebuild above the roof needs a permit from the Village of Lombard Building Division, and pulling it and booking the inspection is part of our job. Chimney installation and repair has more.

The fireplace

A Lombard log set or gas insert, whoever made it, is repaired at the part that has gone: the pilot or the thermocouple most often, otherwise the thermopile, the ignition module, the valve, the wall switch, the remote or receiver, the blower, the glass, a gasket or a refractory panel. For wood and pellet stoves and inserts it is gaskets, glass and firebrick, plus the auger, the igniter and the control board on a pellet unit. Outdoor fireplaces, fire pits and gas grills come under the same roof: burners, ignition.

A unit that has outlived its maker is replaced in the same opening by the people who inspected it, chosen at the showroom a straight run down I-355. Include the rating plate’s make and model in the service request and we are back to you with a time within one business day. If you smell gas, leave the house and call Nicor at 888-642-6748 or 911 from outside; the visit can wait, that cannot.

Down I-355

Booking from Lombard, and the road down I-355

For chimney and fireplace work we come to you. The truck comes up I-355 from 75th Street and leaves at Butterfield Road, Roosevelt Road or North Avenue, about 22 minutes to Village Hall. Call (630) 241‑1919 or book online, and tell us three things: what you burn, when the chimney was last cleaned, and whether anything has changed since. For a gas unit that has stopped working, add the make and what changed; we call back within one business day.

The first thing Lombard callers usually ask is whether the old wood fireplace with gas logs in it still needs a visit. It does, for the flue’s sake and for the burner’s. For a fireplace, the showroom is a straight run down I-355: leave at 75th Street, go east to Lemont Road, and we are at 1202-B on the corner, with parking at the door. Inserts, log sets and doors are on display there, and the electric ones are lit.

Straight answers

Questions we get from Lombard

Our 1920s house near Lilacia Park still has its original chimney. Is it still safe for wood fires?

Not until it has been looked at from the inside. A chimney that age may have a tile liner with cracked joints, or no liner at all, and either lets heat reach the framing. We run a camera up the flue, and if it needs one, a stainless liner makes it a wood chimney again.

What is that white staining on the outside of our brick chimney?

Salt left behind by water. Rain gets in through a cracked crown, a missing cap or open mortar joints, soaks through the brick and dries on the face. What it tells you is that water is moving through the chimney, and in a Lombard winter that water freezes. Fix the crown and the cap, and it stops spreading.

We had gas logs put in years ago. Does the damper really have to stay open?

Yes, if they are vented logs, and nearly all of the older sets in Lombard are. The exhaust has to leave up the flue, so the damper is clamped open. If the room feels cold when the logs are off, that is why; a set of glass doors stops the draft without blocking the vent.

The gas fireplace in our townhome near Yorktown runs, but the fan has started to squeal. Is that worth a call?

Yes, before it seizes. A squealing blower is the fan bearing or a fan full of dust, sometimes the snap switch that turns it on; the technician cleans it or replaces it with the maker’s part, and while the lower louver is off the pilot, the thermopile and the receiver get their check. Most fan calls in Lombard end on the first visit.

Can you work on a Lombard chimney in winter, or do we wait for spring?

Cleaning and inspection, any month, and a gas fireplace service any month. Masonry is different: mortar for tuckpointing or a new crown should not go on in freezing weather, so we schedule that for the warm months and, if the chimney is safe to use meanwhile, say so in the report.

What should we do before your crew arrives?

No fire for a day before the visit. Move anything off the hearth and give us a clear path from the door to the fireplace. We bring the drop cloths and the vacuum, and an adult needs to be home to walk through the report with us. If the gas unit is on the list, have the make and model ready from the plate behind the lower louver.

Nearby towns, the same crew

The same crew covers the rest of DuPage County, and Lombard has its own fireplace page.

Lombard chimney and fireplace · the sweep, the inspection and the gas service on one visit

Call (630) 241‑1919Book online

A Fireplace Store and MoreA Fireplace Store and More · Downers Grove, IL

Ready when you are.

Lombard chimneys need their yearly look before the first cold night, and the gas logs their hour. Book the visit now and know what is up there.

Call (630) 241‑1919Request an estimate

Showroom hoursMon–Fri 10–5Sat 11–4Sun 1–41202-B 75th St, Downers Grove

The showroom aisle at A Fireplace Store and More in Downers Grove — a linear gas fireplace set into a display wall

Our showroom, 75th Street, Downers Grove