Chimney sweep and inspection in Braidwood, IL

By Jacob Dove, founder of Friendship Chimney Sweep · 29 years in the trade

Braidwood chimneys: coal cottages and new construction

The Polk-a-Dot Drive In has been on Front Street since 1956 and the grid around it is older still, laid out when the Diamond Mine and the other coal workings brought thousands of miners to town. Their cottages were small, and so were their chimneys: a single flue for a coal stove, often no liner, built into an exterior wall. Most of those chimneys now vent a gas furnace or nothing at all, and the ones we inspect are usually either badly deteriorated from a century of acidic exhaust or surprisingly sound because they were retired early. Either way, a wood stove or insert going into one needs a camera inspection and almost always a liner.

The subdivisions that grew Braidwood by a quarter since 2000 have factory-built fireplaces, mostly gas, and long dryer vent runs. The Braidwood Generating Station is the big employer, and a lot of its shift workers book us on evenings and weekends. During Route 66 events downtown we route around Front Street; the rest of the year Braidwood is on the same run as Wilmington and Manhattan.

Services in Braidwood

All seven services at published prices, grouped with Wilmington and Manhattan. No travel charge.

• Chimney sweeping
• Level 1 and Level 2 inspections — Level 2 scans on the old coal-era flues
• Masonry repair
• Stainless relining
• Caps, crowns and dampers
• Gas fireplace tune-ups — the common subdivision booking
• Dryer vent cleaning

How a chimney fire actually happens, and what it leaves behind

A chimney fire is creosote burning inside the flue. It needs three things: enough creosote, usually a quarter inch or more, a flue hot enough to ignite it, which a big hot fire or a stove run wide open provides, and air. Stage three glazed creosote ignites at a lower temperature than the flaky kind and burns hotter. Once it lights, the flue becomes a furnace. Temperatures inside can pass 2,000 degrees in minutes. Clay tiles, which expand with heat, crack and split. Mortar joints open. In an unlined flue the heat passes straight into the brick and the framing behind it. Some chimney fires roar like a jet and shoot flame from the top; those get noticed. Many are quiet, slow burns that the homeowner never sees, and those are found later by a camera.

The evidence a chimney fire leaves is specific. Puffy, honeycombed creosote that has expanded and lost its shine. Creosote flakes on the roof or in the yard. Cracked or missing tile pieces on the smoke shelf. A warped damper or discolored metal on a prefab flue. Vertical cracks in the tiles that open at the joints. NFPA 211 lists a chimney fire as a trigger for a Level 2 inspection, and the flue must not be used until it has been scanned and repaired or relined. For a Braidwood miner’s cottage chimney that means a camera inspection, photos for the insurer, and almost always an insulated stainless liner before the next fire.

Local links for Braidwood

Braidwood resources: City of Braidwood · Reed-Custer High School