Your notice, translated

An inspector found glass, a sash, a frame or a door that no longer keeps weather and people out. It is the most common item on Chicago notices, and it is rarely the only one you were given.

The City has judged your porch, stair or landing unsafe. After the 2003 porch collapse Chicago stopped being patient about these, so this is the item on your notice least likely to wait quietly.

Either something on your building needs a permit before it can be touched, or work already done was never filed. Read this as the item that blocks the rest: nothing else on your notice closes until this one does.

The mortar and brick on your outside wall have gone far enough that the City no longer considers the building maintained. This is the classic Chicago masonry citation, and the wording is broad on purpose.

An accessory structure on your property has been written up. It is often the least expensive item on the notice, and it is one owners assume the City will forget about. It does not.

Water is not leaving your building the way it is supposed to. On its own this looks like a modest item. Left alone, it is the thing that writes your next masonry violation.

Inside surfaces have been cited as damaged or unsafe, usually in a common area or a unit where an inspector was let in. If you have tenants, this one tends to arrive with a complaint attached.

A life-safety citation. The City treats a blocked exit or an unlit public stair as an immediate hazard, and these notices carry noticeably less patience than cosmetic ones.

The wall standing above your roof line is failing. On a flat-roofed Chicago building this is the most exposed masonry you own and the most likely to be written up as something that could fall.

Plumbing work has been cited. Illinois requires a licensed plumber for this, so it is one of exactly three trades we bring a partner in for rather than self-perform.

Your chimney has been cited as deteriorated, uncapped, or not tall enough. It takes weather on every side, so it is usually the first masonry on a building to fail.

Electrical work has been cited. Chicago requires a licensed electrical contractor, so we bring our partner in and fold it into the same case as everything else.

The masonry directly under and around your windows has deteriorated. It reads as a minor item on the notice. It is actually the road water takes into your wall.

A heat-season citation. Chicago enforces minimum temperatures hard from mid-September to the start of June, and these notices almost always begin with a tenant call.

The steel carrying the brick above your windows and doors is rusting, and rusting steel expands. This is the item on your notice that is genuinely getting structurally worse while you decide.

You have been cited where the building meets the ground. The City ranks these near the top of its severity scale, because everything above them depends on them.

The projecting and ornamental parts of your building have been cited. On a greystone or a classic two-flat these are precisely the features that carry the value.

Before the department will accept any repair, it wants a licensed engineer to assess the building. Until that report is filed, nothing else on your notice can move.

The flat concrete and paving around your building has been cited, either as a trip hazard or because it is draining the wrong way, back toward the building.