The liner is the sealed pipe inside your chimney that keeps heat, smoke and carbon monoxide out of the structure of your house. When it cracks or collapses, the chimney is no longer safe to use — and no amount of sweeping or repointing fixes it. Chimney Sweep Bros relines chimneys across Orland Park and the Southwest Suburbs with stainless steel liners sized to the appliance. We are insured, we have been doing this locally for over five years, and you can call (708) 432-3430.
What a liner does, and what happens when it fails
A masonry chimney is brick and mortar, and brick and mortar are porous and full of joints. The liner is what makes the flue a sealed passage. It does three jobs: it contains the heat so it does not reach the timber framing, it contains the combustion gases (including carbon monoxide) so they leave the building, and it protects the masonry from acidic condensation that eats mortar from the inside.
When a liner fails, all three of those protections go at once. A cracked clay tile is a direct path for heat and carbon monoxide into the wall cavity. This is not a slow-burning maintenance issue you can put off for a season — it is the reason a chimney gets condemned.
When a chimney needs relining
- After a chimney fire. Clay flue tiles crack under the thermal shock. This is the most common trigger we see, and the fire is often one the homeowner barely noticed.
- When the liner has deteriorated with age. Many older Southwest Suburbs homes have clay tile liners with mortar joints that have simply washed out over decades.
- When there is no liner at all. Plenty of pre-war chimneys were built as bare brick shafts. They were never safe by modern standards.
- When you fit a new appliance. A wood stove insert or a gas furnace vents into a flue sized for it. Putting a modern appliance into an oversized old flue causes condensation, poor draft and liner corrosion.
- When a camera scan finds gaps, displacement or spalling inside the flue during a Level 2 inspection.
Stainless steel liners, and why we use them
A stainless steel liner is an continuous pipe run down the full height of the flue, insulated, and sealed top and bottom. Because it is one piece, there are no mortar joints to fail. It is sized to the appliance, so the draft is correct and the flue gases stay hot enough to exit rather than condensing on the way up. Properly installed and matched to the fuel, a quality stainless liner is a long-term fix rather than a patch.
Sizing is the part that gets done badly. A flue that is too large for the appliance will not draw properly, and the gases cool and condense; a flue that is too small chokes the appliance. We size the liner to what you are actually burning, which is why we ask about the appliance before quoting.
How the job runs
- Camera scan first. We do not reline a chimney we have not looked inside. The scan tells us the true internal dimensions and where the damage is.
- Size and specify. Diameter is set by the appliance and the fuel, not by what is cheapest to install.
- Clear the flue. Any obstruction, debris or collapsed tile has to come out first.
- Run and insulate the liner down the full length of the chimney.
- Seal top and bottom and finish with a new crown seal and cap so water cannot get into the gap between liner and masonry.
- Test the draft and hand over documentation of what was installed.
The honest version
Relining is one of the more expensive things we do, and we know that makes people suspicious of anyone recommending it. So: we will show you the video of the flue before we recommend it, we will point at the specific crack or gap, and we are happy for you to get a second opinion. What we will not do is sweep a chimney with a failed liner, take the money, and say nothing — which is the alternative.
If the masonry outside is also breaking down, that is separate work and we will tell you if it can wait: see chimney repair.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my chimney liner is damaged?
You almost certainly cannot tell from the room. Liner damage is found with a camera scan up the flue. The warning signs that should prompt one are pieces of clay tile appearing in the firebox, a chimney fire in the past, staining or heat on the wall around the chimney, or persistent draft problems.
How long does a stainless steel chimney liner last?
A quality stainless liner, correctly sized for the fuel and properly installed, is a long-term component rather than a consumable — it is expected to outlast the appliance it serves. The things that shorten its life are undersizing, poor insulation, and burning unseasoned wood, which drives acidic condensation.
Can I just repair the cracked tiles instead of relining?
Sometimes, if a single joint has failed and the rest of the flue is sound. But clay tile liners tend to fail as a system rather than at one point, and joint-by-joint repairs inside a flue are difficult to verify. If the scan shows damage in several places, relining is usually the cheaper answer over any real time horizon.
How long does relining take?
Most single-flue relines are done in a day. Complicated runs — offsets, multiple flues, or a flue that has to be cleared of collapsed masonry first — can take two.
Does relining stop the chimney leaking water?
It stops water getting into the flue itself, and the new top seal and cap close the biggest entry point. But if the water is coming in through failed brick and mortar on the stack, relining does not address that — masonry repair does.
Will relining fix my smoky fireplace?
It often does, because a correctly sized liner restores the draft that an oversized or obstructed flue destroyed. But smoke spillage has several possible causes — including too little combustion air in a tightly sealed house — so we diagnose it before promising a reline will cure it.
Is a chimney with no liner illegal to use?
Modern standards call for a liner, and an unlined masonry chimney would not pass a Level 2 inspection. Practically, the more useful framing is that an unlined chimney is venting combustion gases directly against brick and mortar with no barrier — which is exactly the condition that causes chimney fires to spread into the structure.
Do gas appliances need a liner too?
Yes, and it is frequently overlooked. Gas produces cool, wet, acidic flue gases. Vented into an oversized masonry flue, they condense on the way up and eat the mortar. A correctly sized liner keeps the gases hot enough to leave the building.
Book chimney relining in Orland Park
We cover Orland Park, Tinley Park, Palos Heights, Homer Glen, Mokena and the rest of the Southwest Suburbs, seven days a week from 7:00am to 7:00pm. Call (708) 432-3430 or book online and we will call you back to confirm. The price is agreed before any work begins — see pricing.