Fireplace Servicesin Palos Heights, IL

At least once a year if you burn regularly — and sooner if you burn most evenings through a Palos Heights heating season. Steady wood fires lay down creosote, and the glazed kind builds fastest from slow, smoldering fires. Cleaning removes that buildup before it can ignite, and the visit also checks the liner, cap and damper.

Water soaks into a crown, a mortar joint or porous brick, then freezes and expands, prying the opening wider each time. Over a few Midwest winters that cycle spalls brick faces, splits crowns, and crumbles mortar joints, and the gaps let more water in. Catching it early is a repair; ignoring it becomes a rebuild.

Usually the thermocouple or thermopile. Those sensors sit in the pilot flame and prove heat before the main burner is allowed gas; when they wear out, the valve shuts the pilot down as a safety measure. Dust in the pilot orifice can starve the flame and cause the same symptom, so we clean and test before replacing parts.

From the room, usually you cannot — cracked tiles are inside the flue, above the firebox. Signs can include smoke smell in upstairs rooms, pieces of tile in the firebox, or a fireplace that drafts poorly after years of good service. An inspection with a flue camera shows the tile condition directly and gives you a plain-language report.

Do not light a fire. Raccoons and birds nest in open flues through spring and summer in Illinois, and a nest blocks the draft and holds moisture against the liner. Lighting under a blockage pushes smoke and carbon monoxide into the room. We remove the blockage, check the flue for damage, and fit a screened cap.

No — and be wary of anyone who does. Every fireplace fails differently, so a phone price is a guess that changes at your door. Our estimates are free: a tech looks at the actual problem, then gives you one clear price before any work starts.