Standby Generators · Updated for 2026 A whole-house standby generator is one of the best upgrades a Chicago home can have — the storms and grid stress that knock out power don’t care that your sump pump and furnace need to keep running. But here’s the thing the generator brochure glosses over: the generator is…
Materials Explained · Updated for 2026 Open up a Chicago basement and you can read the house’s whole gas history in its pipe. The heavy black threaded steel from the original build. Maybe a silvery, rougher-threaded section someone added mid-century. Maybe a run of flexible yellow-jacketed tubing snaking to a newer appliance. Three materials, three…
Home Buying · Updated for 2026 You’re under contract on a Chicago home, the inspection report just landed, and there it is: a gas leak, or a gas system flagged as a concern. Your stomach drops — is the deal falling apart? Is this house a money pit? Do you walk? Take a breath. A…
Before You Dig · Updated for 2026 You’re planting a tree, setting fence posts, digging for a patio, or running a new line to the garage — and somewhere under that soil could be a gas line, an electric feed, a water main, or a fiber cable. Hit one and a Saturday project becomes an…
DIY & the Law · Updated for 2026 You’re handy. You’ve done your own plumbing, maybe some electrical. You’re looking at a gas line project — a new range branch, a dryer move, a grill line — and wondering whether you can just do it yourself and save the labor. It’s a reasonable instinct, and…
Money & Coverage · Updated for 2026 It’s a fair question and one I hear constantly: “I have homeowners insurance — won’t it cover this gas line repair?” The honest answer is a frustrating “sometimes, but usually not, and it depends entirely on why the line failed.” Insurance is built around sudden accidental events, and…
Pressure Testing · Updated for 2026 Your gas line failed its pressure test. Maybe Peoples Gas ran it after a shutoff, maybe an inspector required it, maybe a fitter tested before restoring service — and the gauge dropped when it was supposed to hold. It feels like bad news, and the bill anxiety kicks in…
Troubleshooting · Updated for 2026 You called Peoples Gas because you smelled gas. A technician came, walked the house with an instrument, found nothing, and left. And you still smell it. Now you’re second-guessing your own nose while a small worry quietly grows. Here’s the thing every Chicago gas fitter knows and most homeowners don’t:…
Pricing · Updated for 2026 Try getting a straight gas-work price out of most Chicago contractors and you’ll hear the industry’s favorite sentence: “we’d have to come out and look.” Sometimes that’s legitimate — buried lines and big buildings genuinely vary. Mostly it’s negotiation posture. This guide is the antidote: every gas service priced in…
Restoration · Updated for 2026 The Peoples Gas technician was polite, thorough — and then they shut off your gas, hung a tag on the meter, and left. Now the water’s cold, the stove’s dead, and if it’s January the house is losing degrees by the hour. The red tag is the moment most Chicagoans…
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