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 Chimney Sweep Across Broadview
A chimney sweep in Broadview typically runs $180 to $340 for a standard cleaning and inspection, and most homes in the village are done in under two hours. That’s the number to plan around, and it’s what we quote over the phone before we ever step onto your block. We work the bungalow streets off Cermak Road and 17th Avenue regularly, and we know what these 60-year-old brick chimneys look like after a few decades of Chicago weather. If you’re in Broadview and your fireplace hasn’t been swept since you bought the house, start with a call to (833) 589-7835. Norm Sobieski handles the scheduling and he’ll give you a straight answer on cost before anything is booked.
Most of the homes we service in Broadview are the same vintage: brick ranches, bungalows, and tri-levels built between the mid-1950s and early 1970s. The chimneys are exterior brick, the flues are original 8×8 or 8×13 clay tile, and the crowns were often poured dead flat with no overhang. That last detail drives more repair work in Broadview than almost anything else we see. Water sheets straight down the brick face, freezes and thaws all winter, and the liner starts to spall from the inside out. A cleaning is rarely just a cleaning here, and that’s not a upsell line. It’s what the houses tell us.
Why Sandstone Chimney Sweep Is Broadview’s Preferred Chimney Sweep Company
We’ve worked the 60155 blocks long enough to know which streets sit low near the Des Plaines River corridor and which ones back up to the higher ground toward Westchester. That matters because moisture behaves differently house to house. Homes on the lower parcels off Roosevelt Road see more efflorescence and faster liner deterioration than the ones set back on higher lots. We quote accordingly, and we explain what we’re seeing before we touch anything.
Norm runs the company from the Near North Side, but Broadview is a regular part of our route. We can usually get a truck to your address within a few business days, and we’ll tell you at booking exactly when to expect the knock. Our customers in Broadview tend to call us for the same reason: they want a sweep who will actually look at the chimney, not just run a brush through it and leave a line-item invoice. When we find a cracked crown or a displaced cap, you’ll hear about it that day, with photos if you want them.
We stock the parts that Broadview’s housing stock actually needs. That means Copperfield caps, Famco dampers, and HeatShield resurfacing materials are on the truck or within a day’s reach, not ordered from a catalog while your fireplace sits cold for three weeks. When a storm takes a cap off a bungalow on 22nd Avenue, we don’t want to tell you we’ll circle back in a month.
Styles & brands we work with
Fireplace Cleaning in Broadview
A fireplace cleaning in Broadview is an annual task for anyone burning wood, and it’s usually the first appointment a new homeowner books after moving into an older bungalow. The job involves brushing the flue from the firebox up through the chimney cap, removing soot and creosote buildup, and vacuuming the smoke chamber and damper area. In Broadview, we also check the crown and cap while we’re up there, because storm damage is so common in this village’s flat-poured chimney design. A fireplace cleaning here runs $180 to $280, depending on how much creosote has accumulated and whether the cap needs resetting.
Creosote Removal
Creosote is the tar-like residue that condenses on flue walls when wood smoke cools on its way up. Stage one creosote brushes out with standard equipment. Stage three creosote, the hard, glazed kind, requires rotary tools and often a second pass, and we see it often in Broadview when homeowners have been burning unseasoned wood from backyard trees.
If you’re burning wood more than three nights a week during a typical Illinois winter, schedule a sweep mid-season, not just in the fall. The creosote builds faster than most people expect, especially in unlined or oversized 8×13 flues that were originally built for coal heat.
Annual Sweep
An annual sweep in Broadview is the baseline. It’s what keeps your chimney safe through the burn season and what gives us a chance to spot problems before they become repairable-to-replace decisions. We do the brushing, the inspection, and a full report of what we found, not just what we cleaned. A standard annual sweep here lands between $225 and $340 when a Level 1 inspection is included.
Chimney Services in Broadview
Chimney services in Broadview go well beyond the sweep itself. The village’s mid-century brick chimneys are entering a repair-heavy phase: the clay liners are past their lifespan, the crowns are cracked or flat, and the caps are loose or missing. When a sweep reveals damage, we handle the fix in-house. That’s the difference between hearing “you need a liner” from a sweep who then hands you a list of other contractors, and hearing it from us, with the materials on hand and a quote in the same conversation. A full Level 2 inspection in Broadview, the one you need after a wind storm or before a fireplace conversion, runs $300 to $500 depending on access and scope.
Level 2 Inspection
A Level 2 inspection is more than a visual glance. We run a camera through the flue, scan the liner for cracks and spalling, and document everything with stills. After a big storm, or when you’re selling a Broadview home, this is the inspection that satisfies both your insurance carrier and the buyer’s inspector.
We recommend a Level 2 after any event that might have displaced the cap or crown, and on every Broadview home that’s still running its original clay tile from the Eisenhower era. Those liners have been through 60-plus freeze-thaw cycles, and the camera doesn’t lie about what’s left of them.
Soot Removal
Soot is the dry, flaky byproduct of incomplete wood combustion, and it’s more common in Broadview fireplaces that were converted from coal use, which many were. Soot removal is lighter work than creosote removal, but it still requires a full brushing and an inspection of the smoke shelf, where soot accumulates and blocks the draft. If your fireplace has been burning fine but the room smells smoky, that’s often the culprit.
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 Broadview
We work with the product lines that certified chimney professionals specify, not whatever the big-box store puts on a shelf. DuraFlex liner systems are the standard in Broadview when original clay tile fails, and we stock the components to reline an 8×8 or 8×13 flue without weeks of delay. HeatShield resurfacing fills the gap when a liner is damaged but not yet structurally shot, and we use it routinely on spalled flues in the river-corridor homes we service. Copperfield caps and dampers hold up to the wind and rain that Broadview gets every spring and fall. Famco components fill in the structural and sealing work. If you’re in Broadview and need a cap replaced, we’re not ordering it from a warehouse three states away. It’s on our truck.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Chimney Sweep Problems We See in Broadview Homes
- Displaced caps after wind storms: Broadview sits in open, flat terrain with no tree canopy to break the wind off the western suburbs. Caps get lifted, shifted, or thrown entirely. A missing cap lets rain pour straight into the flue, and by the time you notice it, the tile below is already taking on water.
- Flat-poured crowns with no overhang: Almost every original 1950s bungalow in Broadview has a crown that was poured level with the brick face. Water doesn’t drip off, it sheets down, and the white efflorescence you see on the chimney face is the evidence. The crack in the flue tile underneath is the damage.
- Step flashing failures at the roofline: When the flashing between the chimney and the roof deck gives way, the first sign is usually a yellow-brown ceiling stain in the room below, not a visible chimney issue. We get calls for “fireplace cleaning” that end up being roof flashing repairs after a storm.
- Gas log conversions without relining: Many Broadview fireplaces that burned wood for decades were switched to gas logs in the 1990s and early 2000s, and the flues were never relined for the new appliance. An oversized clay liner on a gas log setup runs too cool, so condensation and acids eat the tile from the inside. The house looks fine from the outside and the liner is quietly failing.
Pricing for Chimney Sweep in Broadview, IL
A standard chimney sweep in Broadview, including a Level 1 inspection, runs $180 to $340. Fireplace cleaning alone is $180 to $280. A Level 2 inspection with camera documentation is $300 to $500. Creosote removal runs on the same scale as the standard sweep unless it’s stage three glaze, which can push toward $450 or more because of the rotary equipment and time involved. Crown repair, cap replacement, and flashing work are quoted separately after we see the damage in person, and you’ll have numbers before any of it is scheduled. We don’t book a job on a quote we wouldn’t accept ourselves. Call (833) 589-7835 for an exact number on your chimney. The estimate is free.
We Also Serve Cities Near Broadview
Sandstone Chimney Sweep covers Broadview and the surrounding western suburbs, including Chimney Sweep in Broadview and the neighboring communities of Westchester, Maywood, La Grange Park, and Bellwood. If you’re on the edge of the village or just outside the 60155 boundary, call us anyway. Our Chimney Sweep team runs the same routes, and the same pricing, all week.
Serving Broadview, IL — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Broadview 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 About Chimney Sweep in Broadview
Look at the chimney from the ground and check whether the cap is sitting level or tilted, and whether you see any new white streaks or dark water staining running down the brick face below the crown. You can also listen for the metallic rattle of a loose cap in the next good wind. If you see any of that in Broadview after a storm, call (833) 589-7835 and we’ll put eyes on it. Don’t wait for a ceiling stain to tell you something’s wrong.
Often, yes. In Broadview’s mid-century homes, a ceiling stain near the fireplace is usually step flashing failure where the chimney meets the roof, not a leak through the shingles. The water runs down the chimney chase, hits the flashing, and finds the gap, then shows up inside as a stain. We diagnose it by checking the flashing from the roof side and the attic side. The fix is flashing repair or replacement plus a crown and cap check while we’re up there. Call us and we’ll confirm what’s going on before you call a roofer.
If your Broadview fireplace was converted from wood to gas without relining, then yes, an annual check matters. Gas logs vent at a lower temperature than wood, so the original clay tile doesn’t dry out the way it did when wood heat was pushing condensation out. The liner absorbs moisture, spalls from the inside, and deteriorates faster. Most Broadview conversions from the 1990s were done without relining. We’ll tell you in one visit whether your flue is still safe for gas, and if it isn’t, we’ll show you the camera footage.
Summer humidity pushes into a cold, damp flue and activates the creosote and soot that sat there all season. In Broadview, where summer humidity hangs high and the river corridor adds moisture, the smell is stronger than in drier parts of the county. The fix is a thorough sweeping to remove the residue, and in some cases a top-sealing damper or new cap to close the flue when it’s not in use. It’s an off-season problem with an on-season solution, and it’s better handled in spring or summer than during your first fire in October.
Before you light the first fire in a Broadview fall, check the cap from the ground for tilt or displacement, look for white efflorescence streaks or cracked brick below the crown, and make sure the damper opens and closes without resistance. If you smell anything sharp or see soot flakes in the firebox, hold off and call us. A pre-season sweep and inspection runs $180 to $340 in Broadview, and it catches the storm damage from spring before it becomes a chimney fire or a liner replacement in January. Call (833) 589-7835 to get on the fall schedule before the rush.
Written by Norm Sobieski, Owner at Sandstone Chimney Sweep, serving Broadview since 2015.