Practical notes from Jacob Dove and the crew: what we find on the job, what to watch for at home, and when to call.
Soot above a gas log fireplace in St. Anne? How rearranged logs and a half-closed damper foul a vented gas set, and what a proper tune-up puts right.
Scratching behind the fireplace in Herscher? What a raccoon den on the smoke shelf means for your flue, safe removal, cleanup, and the cap that keeps it from
Buying a Peotone home with a fireplace? Why a Level 2 chimney inspection at sale finds what a general home inspection cannot, and what we found on one…
Green silver maple from a Momence river lot left glazed creosote in a flue in one winter. What we found, how we removed it, and how to season…
Brick faces were flaking off a Manteno chimney every spring. We traced the freeze-thaw spalling to a failed crown and replaced the damaged courses the right
A Bradley fireplace smoked into the room only when the range hood ran. The cause was negative pressure in a tightened house.
A Kankakee Riverview dryer needed two cycles per load. The cause was a 41-foot vent run with four elbows and a crushed foil section.
A 2019 Manhattan home's factory-built fireplace had an unlocked flue joint, a vent termination too close to a window and a dryer vent ending in the attic.
A 1970s factory-built fireplace in a University Park tract home still worked but had a rusted-through firebox and discontinued flue pipe.
A Crete homeowner wanted to paint a spalling 1970s chimney to protect it. Why paint and film sealers trap water and make freeze-thaw damage worse, and how.
A Braidwood miner's cottage chimney had a chimney fire the owners never heard. The camera found the evidence: puffy creosote, cracked tiles, a warped damper.
A Wilmington home leaked at the chimney after two roof repairs. The counterflashing was caulked to the brick face instead of set in a reglet.