Addison grew from a German farming settlement into a DuPage industrial town. Salt Creek and heavy postwar building define the chimney work.
Addison was settled by German immigrants in the 1830s and incorporated in 1884, and it stayed agricultural far longer than the towns closer to Chicago. The change came after the war, when industrial development along the Lake Street and Army Trail corridors brought large-scale residential building with it.
Most Addison housing dates from the 1950s through the 1970s. It is solid, unremarkable postwar construction, and the chimneys on it are all reaching the same milestone at the same time.
Salt Creek runs through the village and parts of Addison sit close to it. Homes in the lower areas carry more moisture in their exterior masonry, and that is the single biggest variable in how fast a chimney here deteriorates.
Each architectural period in Addison has predictable chimney failure modes after enough decades of weather. Here is what to look for.
The core of Addison's stock. These chimneys were built with softer standardized mortar and are now 60 to 70 years old, which is past the point where repointing is optional. What we usually find is deep joint erosion with sound brick behind it, and catching it at that stage is the difference between repointing and rebuilding.
Exterior side-wall placement on most of these, which means three weather-exposed faces instead of one. Near Salt Creek the added moisture load turns ordinary joint loss into brick spalling, and spalled brick has to be cut out and replaced individually.
Multi-plane rooflines with more flashing seams around each chimney penetration. Flashing failure is the leading cause of interior water damage in this group, and homeowners consistently mistake it for a crown problem because the stain appears in the same place.
Newer Addison homes with metal flues in framed chases. Chase covers and caps are the wear items. Annual Level 1 inspection under NFPA 211 covers it.
Most Addison chimneys can be repaired, but this is one of the towns where waiting changes the answer. Postwar mortar that has been letting water in for a decade turns a repointing job into a rebuild, and near Salt Creek that happens faster.
The full chimney, fireplace, and commercial service catalog, dispatched from our Park Ridge office to Addison addresses.
USDA Zone 6a; inland DuPage County climate with 30 to 40 freeze-thaw cycles per winter.
Addison, IL
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