Serving Evanston Homes: Chimney, Fireplace & Dryer Vent Service

Work Evanston homes can book

We clean, inspect and repair chimneys and fireplaces, and we clean and repair dryer vents. That includes creosote removal and flue cleaning, camera inspections, leak and flashing repairs, liner work, crown and masonry repair, fireplace and insert installation, and gas fireplace and gas appliance work. Commercial buildings and property managers can book the same services.

For older masonry, that can mean chimney tuckpointing to replace worn mortar joints or, when the brick is too far gone, a full chimney rebuild. A cap keeps rain, debris and animals out of the flue, and how chimney cap installation works covers fitting one to an existing chimney. If you want a working fireplace where there isn't one, start with our fireplace installation service.

Local service pages for Evanston

• Chimney Sweep in Evanston: cleaning soot and creosote from the flue, smoke chamber and firebox. Book it before the first fire of the season, or sooner if you smell smoke indoors or the fire drafts poorly.
• Chimney Repair for homes in Evanston: crowns, flashing, mortar joints, liners and dampers. Book it when you see loose or spalling brick, water stains near the chimney, or mortar crumbling out of the joints.

What Evanston's records mean for chimney and fireplace work

A large share of older houses

According to the CMAP Community Data Snapshot for Evanston (American Community Survey 2020-2024 five-year estimates), 40.3% of housing units were built before 1940 and 29.9% between 1940 and 1969, with a median year built of 1953. A chimney that old has gone through many decades of weather and flue gases, so mortar joints, crowns, flashing and flue liners deserve a close look even when the fireplace seems to work fine. On houses this age it is common for an inspection to turn up repairs that have built up slowly over the years.

Landmarks and historic districts

The City of Evanston's Historic Preservation office reports over 850 registered individual Local Landmarks, about 430 of which are outside a designated Local Historic District. The city also has five National Register Historic Districts and four Local Historic Districts, most of which overlay their National Register counterparts. Because so many landmarks sit outside the districts, a house can be a landmark even if its block is not in a district, so it is worth confirming your property's status before planning exterior chimney work.

In practice, this matters most for chimney work you can see from the street or alley: repointing, crown repair, a rebuild above the roofline, or a new cap. Matching the existing brick, mortar color and profile keeps the work in the routine-maintenance category, while changing the chimney's look is the kind of alteration the Commission reviews.

Building codes in use

The City of Evanston's Building Permits office states that Evanston has adopted the 2021 International Residential Code, the 2021 International Mechanical Code and the 2021 International Fuel Gas Code, each with local amendments. These model codes cover the kinds of work that come up in a house: fireplaces and chimneys, mechanical exhaust such as dryer vents, and gas piping and gas appliance venting. Since Evanston amends each one locally, the city's version is the one that applies to a new fireplace, a relocated dryer vent or a gas line.