Chimney sweep and dryer vent cleaning in Limestone, IL

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

Services in Limestone

All seven services at published prices, six miles from the shop. Same-day is often possible.

• Chimney sweeping
• Level 1 and Level 2 inspections
• Masonry repair
• Stainless relining
• Caps, crowns and dampers — top-sealing dampers to replace rusted throat dampers
• Gas fireplace tune-ups
• Dryer vent cleaning — long runs on large-footprint homes

Limestone houses and their fireplaces

Because Limestone grew as subdivisions rather than around a downtown, the chimneys are younger than in most of the county. The 1960s and 70s ranches and split-levels along Tower Road and behind the Limestone Township Library have masonry fireplaces with tile liners in generally good shape, though the crowns are at the age where they crack and the dampers have rusted. The homes from the 1980s onward mostly have factory-built fireplaces, and those are now reaching the end of their listed service life, with rusting chase covers and cracked refractory panels the common finds.

The lots are large and many families burn wood on winter weekends, so the sweep schedule is steady from September on. Limestone Middle School and the library are our landmarks for routing; the village hall on Route 17 is the other. Because the houses are big and spread out, dryer vents run a long way here, and we clean a lot of them on the same visit as the chimney.

Throat dampers, top-sealing dampers and heat loss

A throat damper is the cast-iron plate above the firebox in a masonry fireplace, and on a 1960s ranch in Limestone it has been opening and closing for sixty years. Cast iron warps with heat, rusts with the water that comes down an uncapped flue, and the frame it seats against fills with soot and grit. The result is a damper that never really closes. An open or leaking damper is a hole in the top of the house; heated room air rises up the flue all winter, cold air drops down it, and the fireplace becomes a net loss even when it is not lit. We can often free and reseat a throat damper, and sometimes replace the plate, but there is a better answer.

A top-sealing damper mounts on the top of the flue tile and closes with a spring-loaded lid against a silicone gasket, operated by a cable that hangs in the firebox. Closed, it seals the flue far better than any throat damper ever did, keeps out rain, animals and cold air, and replaces the cap. Open, it is out of the way. For a family that burns a dozen fires a winter it is one of the best upgrades a masonry fireplace can get, and it is also the right fix for the fireplace that smells like a campfire on humid summer days. The one case where we do not install it is a fireplace with a vented gas log set, which requires the damper to be clamped open.

Local links for Limestone

Limestone resources: Village of Limestone · Herscher High School