Sweep & inspection
Caps & crowns
Flue relining
Masonry repair
Gas fireplace serviceLevel 1 sweep and inspection to the NFPA 211 annual standard - flue, crown, cap, and flashing checked and photographed
Chimney sweep logs do not sweep chimneys. They loosen some creosote - which then falls where a brush and vacuum still have to collect it.
Gelco Chimney Cleaning in San Antonio, TX | Hadley Chimney San Antonio
We’re Hadley Chimney San Antonio, and we provide independent Gelco chimney cleaning, inspection, and Chimney Repair - San Antonio across San Antonio. We’re not a manufacturer arm – just a local crew that works on Gelco caps, dampers, and crowns every week. The thing that makes our Gelco work here different: we know San Antonio’s two distinct soil zones create two very different failure patterns, and we plan every service around which one you live in. Call (254) 276-4116 for a free estimate, and we’ll put it in writing before anyone picks up a brush.
Why San Antonio Residents Choose Us for Gelco Service
Most homeowners can’t tell a Gelco multi-flue cap from a big-box knockoff until the water starts running down the firebox wall. That’s the moment the phone rings. We’re the San Antonio Chimney Sweep crew that explains what you’re actually looking at, sends you a photo, and gives you a written price before any work begins. We weren’t trained by Gelco and we don’t claim their blessing – we’ve just spent years repairing their systems on San Antonio’s shifting clay and limestone ground, which teaches you things no manual covers.
Cory Mitchell heads up our San Antonio team. He cut his teeth in the trade in Los Angeles, learned the fundamentals at LA Trade-Tech, and has spent the better part of two decades cleaning, inspecting, and repairing chimneys across the Southwest. He’s the one who started texting customers photos of what we found before quoting a dollar, because people deserve to see the problem with their own eyes. His rule applies on every Gelco job: See the problem, understand the fix, then decide – that’s how it should work.
We answer the phone with a live person 24/7. We arrive in a tracked window, not a four-hour guess. And every Gelco repair carries our 365-day Done Right Promise: a written guarantee, plus a free second visit if the fix fails. That’s our Gelco sales & service standard, and it applies whether we’re coating a crown or replacing a rusted cap base.
Styles & brands we work with
Common Gelco Chimney Cleaning Problems We Solve in San Antonio
Here’s what we run into, week after week, on Gelco systems across the city.
- Wind-driven rain around multi-flue caps with worn silicone seals. San Antonio thunderstorms roll in hard and the wind shoves rain sideways. We see Gelco multi-flue caps on older central-San Antonio homes where the silicone seal has gone brittle, letting water slip past the cap and soak the flue liner. You’ll notice it as a drip sound inside the firebox days after the storm.
- Creosote glaze inside flues when Gelco top-mount dampers are left partially open. Hot humid summers mean people sometimes crack the damper for draft. The humid air moves through the flue, meets the residual creosote from a few winter fires, and you end up with a sticky, glazed layer that’s harder to remove than dry flaky buildup. It turns a routine cleaning into a more involved one.
- Mortar crown spalling from caps that trap moisture against the crown. In central neighborhoods with clay-heavy soil, the ground shifts a little each year. That slight chimney movement opens hairline cracks in the mortar crown. A Gelco cap sitting tight against the crown can trap condensation, and the crown starts to spall. We see this on Monte Vista homes with decorative brick chimneys more than anywhere else in the city.
- Rust-through on Gelco cap bases hidden under soot. Older San Antonio homes with decorative brick chimneys often have Gelco caps that look fine from the ground. Up close, the base is rusting from the inside out, and a layer of soot hides it. By the time it’s visible, the cap’s structural integrity is gone.
- Freeze-thaw damage on Gelco caps and crowns in the Hill Country. North of Loop 1604, late winter brings overnight freezes. Water gets into tiny cracks in the Gelco crown or the cap housing, freezes, expands, and the crack widens. Repeat a few times and you’ve got spalling that no sealant can repair. That’s a Hill Country signature problem we almost never see south of the city.
Gelco Service in San Antonio: What Local Conditions Mean for Your Equipment
Here’s the thing nobody tells you: San Antonio is really two different chimney environments, and which one you live in changes how we service your Gelco system. If you’re north of Loop 1604, you’re in the Hill Country’s limestone and rocky soil. Homes up there commonly have stone chimneys, and those stone structures go through repeated freeze-thaw cycles in late winter. Water finds its way into a tiny void in the stone or the mortar crown, freezes, expands, and pries things apart. Gelco caps and crowns up there fail from ice, not from heat. We regularly find hidden voids inside Hill Country stone chimneys that you’d never spot from the yard. It’s a very specific repair pattern.
Down in the flatter neighborhoods south of downtown, the problem flips. The clay-heavy soil expands and contracts with the moisture cycle. When it’s dry, the ground shrinks and pulls away from the foundation. When it rains, it swells and pushes back. Over years, that movement telegraphs straight up the chimney, cracking the mortar crown and loosening the cap. Same Gelco parts, totally different failure mode. A repair plan for a Hill Country chimney would be the wrong plan for a King William chimney. That’s why we don’t use a generic checklist – Cory and the crew read the soil zone before they read the cap.
Gelco Models & Products We Service in San Antonio
We work on all the Gelco lines you’re likely to have: the Gelco Multi-Flue Cap, the Gelco Single-Flue Cap, the Gelco Top-Mount Damper, and the Gelco Chimney Crown. We also inspect and maintain the surrounding masonry and flashing, because a cap rarely fails in isolation.
Our parts approach is simple. When OEM Gelco caps and dampers are available and structurally sound, we install them. But San Antonio’s humidity is not kind to certain sealed designs, so when the situation calls for it, we’ll recommend a quality aftermarket stainless steel replacement with added weep holes to let hidden moisture escape. We only rebuild a crown when the freeze-thaw cycling has cracked it beyond what a crown coating can save. We don’t upsell rebuilds. A camera inspection and photo report come with every service, so you see exactly what we see.
See the difference
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After
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AfterGelco Service Pricing in San Antonio
Gelco chimney cleaning in San Antonio typically runs $189 – $329 for a standard sweep and inspection, depending on flue condition and height of the roof. Cap replacement, including the Gelco or aftermarket cap and install, usually lands between $240 and $650 depending on flue size and whether we’re replacing the crown coating at the same time. Crown coating runs $190 – $450. Chimney waterproofing, which we strongly recommend for homes in Monte Vista and other central neighborhoods with older masonry, typically adds $250 – $500.
The price you get is the price you pay. We write it before any work starts. A free estimate includes a live-arrival window, a full inspection with camera documentation, and a written quote – all part of the Relay Visibility Guarantee. Call (254) 276-4116 and we’ll give you an exact number. No guessing.
Serving San Antonio, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Antonio area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs – Gelco Chimney Cleaning in San Antonio
San Antonio’s humidity and wind-driven rain demand a high-temp silicone sealant rated for continuous moisture exposure. Drier climates can get away with standard sealants that last for years. Here, a standard seal breaks down in a couple of seasons, and you get the wind-driven rain intrusion problem described above. We use marine-grade sealants on Gelco caps for exactly that reason. Call (254) 276-4116 if you’re seeing water streaks in your firebox.
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Rust along the seams means moisture has already penetrated the cap base. If the rust is surface-level, we can clean, treat, and seal the seams. If it’s rusted through, we won’t waste your money on a patch – we’ll recommend a stainless aftermarket cap with weep holes, which actually handles San Antonio humidity better than the original. Either way, our written guarantee covers the repair, with a free second visit if it fails.
It moves it, slowly. Clay soil shrinks and swells with moisture, and over years that movement cracks the mortar crown on your Gelco system. The crack starts small, then water gets in and spalling begins. That’s why we recommend crown coating as part of regular maintenance in the flatter clay-soil neighborhoods south of the city. Once the crown goes, the whole top of the chimney is exposed. Call (254) 276-4116 if you’re seeing mortar bits in your gutter or on the ground near the chimney.
It can be. If you leave the damper partially open in summer, humid air moves up the flue, which turns that thin layer of creosote into a sticky, glazed coat. It’s harder to remove and it catches fire more easily than the dry flaky kind. We see this in San Antonio all the time when people crack the damper in humid months without knowing what it does to the interior of the flue. An annual cleaning resets that. Call (254) 276-4116 to book a sweep before burning season starts.
Yes, and that’s some of the most important work we do. Stone chimneys north of Loop 1604 take freeze-thaw damage that flatland homes almost never see. We inspect for hidden voids in the stone, then check how the Gelco cap is holding up against the crown. The cap might be fine, but the stone under it may not be. We’ll document everything with photos and give you a written plan. Call (254) 276-4116 for a free estimate anywhere in San Antonio service area.
Service Areas Near San Antonio
Our crew covers San Antonio proper, plus Gelco service in Selma, Gelco service in Timberwood Park, Kirby, Terrell Hills, and Floresville. Live arrival tracking goes with us everywhere, so you know when we’re pulling up no matter which neighborhood you’re in.
Book Your Gelco Service in San Antonio Today
You’ve got a chimney that needs eyes on it. We’ll show you what we find, write down the price, and stand behind the work for 365 days. Call (254) 276-4116 and talk to a real person, any hour. A free estimate is yours for the asking.
Written by Cory Mitchell, Owner at Hadley Chimney San Antonio, serving San Antonio since 2003.