Mundelein mixes early-century village housing with heavy postwar and recent growth. The chimney work splits cleanly along those lines.
Mundelein incorporated in 1909 under the name Area and took its current name in 1925, after Cardinal George Mundelein, whose seminary at St. Mary of the Lake sits just outside the village. The original settlement dates well before either.
Housing here spans a wide range. There is early twentieth century stock near the older village streets, a substantial postwar band, and continued subdivision growth from the 1970s through the 2000s along Route 45 and Route 60.
Most Mundelein chimney calls come from the postwar and later housing, simply because there is more of it. The older stock is a smaller group but it needs a materially different approach, particularly on mortar.
Each architectural period in Mundelein has predictable chimney failure modes after enough decades of weather. Here is what to look for.
A limited but real group of older Mundelein homes with lime-rich original mortar. These need repointing in kind with a Type N mix per ASTM C270. The tell is mortar that crumbles under a key while the brick around it stays hard. Matching that correctly is the difference between a repair that lasts and one that damages the brick.
Standard exterior masonry chimneys with the softer mortar typical of the period, now 60 to 80 years old. Repointing is expected maintenance at this age. Where it has been deferred a long time, water reaching the interior of the stack can turn a repointing job into a partial rebuild.
A mix of masonry and early framed-chase construction. This is the group where we most often have to determine what we are actually looking at, because masonry veneer over framing looks like a solid chimney from the ground and is repaired completely differently.
Prefabricated flues inside framed chases. Chase covers on the earlier part of this group are at or near replacement age. Annual NFPA 211 Level 1 inspection is the appropriate cadence.
Most Mundelein chimneys are repairable. Before that question can be answered, though, we usually have to settle a more basic one, which is whether you have a structural masonry chimney or a brick veneer over a framed chase.
The full chimney, fireplace, and commercial service catalog, dispatched from our Park Ridge office to Mundelein addresses.
USDA Zone 6a; inland Lake County climate with 30 to 40 freeze-thaw cycles per winter.
Mundelein, IL
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