A chimney cap is the small, inexpensive piece that does an outsized amount of work, and a flue left open at the top is a flue inviting trouble. Ashmasters Chimney installs chimney caps across Upper Darby, PA that are sized to the flue they cover, fastened to stay put through a Delaware County storm, and screened to keep animals out while still letting the smoke draft freely. We treat the cap as a working part of the chimney, because in a climate of heavy rain, freeze-thaw, and the squirrels and birds that nest in any open shaft, that is exactly what it is.
- Cap sized to the actual flue rather than bought to fit roughly
- Stainless or galvanized construction to survive the weather
- Screen sized to block animals while keeping the draft clear
- Securely fastened against wind and storm
- Spark arrestor function to catch embers leaving the flue
- Free measure-up and a straight written estimate
The four jobs a cap quietly does at the top of the flue
An open flue is a hole in the top of your house, and four different problems pour straight through it. The first is water. Rain and snow that fall directly down an uncapped flue soak the liner, the smoke shelf, and the firebox, rusting the damper and accelerating the freeze-thaw damage that breaks down the masonry from the inside. The second is animals. Squirrels, raccoons, and birds find an open flue an ideal sheltered shaft to nest in, and a nest is both a draft blockage that pushes smoke and carbon monoxide back into the room and a fire hazard in its own right. A proper cap, screened correctly, shuts both of those out.
The third job is catching embers. A cap with a spark arrestor screen stops the burning bits that ride up the flue from landing on the roof, which matters a great deal on the closely spaced rowhomes around Upper Darby where a roof fire does not stay on one house. The fourth is protecting the draft itself, because a cap with the right screen size and clearance keeps the rain and animals out without choking the airflow the fire depends on. Get the cap wrong and you trade one problem for another. Get it right and it handles all four quietly for years.
Why sizing and fastening are the whole game with a cap
A cap is only as good as its fit, and a too-small or loosely fastened cap is barely better than none. We measure the actual flue opening, single or multiple, and fit a cap that covers it fully, with a screen mesh that blocks animals without restricting the draft the appliance needs. The material matters too. We use caps built to last in the weather rather than the thin ones that rust through in a few seasons and have to be replaced again, because a cap that fails is a cap that quietly lets the water and animals back in without anyone noticing until the damage is done.
Fastening is the part a cheap install skips. A cap that is not properly secured will lift or shift in the kind of wind a Delaware County storm brings, and a displaced cap stops doing its job the moment it moves. We anchor the cap to stay put through the weather these chimneys actually see. If your chimney has no cap, a rusted-through one, or a cap an animal has already pushed aside, the fix is usually quick and inexpensive, and it is one of the highest-value small jobs a chimney can have done. We will measure the flue at no charge and tell you exactly what your chimney needs in writing.
Multi-flue chimneys and the crown beneath the cap
A good many chimneys around Upper Darby carry more than one flue on a single masonry stack, a fireplace and a heating appliance, or two fireplaces, each needing its own protection at the top. When we cap a chimney we account for every flue on it rather than just the obvious one, because a flue left open is a flue letting in all the water, animals, and weather a cap is meant to stop. Whether that means an individual cap on each flue or a single larger cap built to span them all, the point is that nothing at the top is left uncovered to quietly cause the damage the rest of the cap is preventing.
The cap also works hand in hand with the crown beneath it, and a proper cap installation is a natural moment to look at both. The crown sheds water off the top of the masonry while the cap keeps it out of the flue opening, and a weakness in either one leaves the top of the chimney exposed. When we set a cap, we tell you honestly what the crown underneath looks like, so you are protecting the whole top of the chimney rather than just one part of it. Often the cap and a crown repair make sense together, and we will lay out what the top of your chimney actually needs in writing, with no pressure to do more than is warranted.
How this fits the rest of the chimney
A chimney is a system, so chimney cap installation rarely stands alone, it connects to chimney sweeping service, pre-season chimney inspection, damper repair, chimney liner replacement, masonry restoration, and our crew handles all of it under one roof. We bring the same service to Drexel Hill chimney cap installation, Chimney Cap Installation in Lansdowne, Clifton Heights chimney cap installation, Havertown chimney cap installation and everywhere else across the Upper Darby area.
If you searched for local chimney service, you have reached a local crew, call 215-650-3263 any time. For background, read Buying an Older Upper Darby, PA Home? Get the Chimney Inspected First on our blog, or head back to our Upper Darby home page to see everything we do.