A chimney cap is the small, inexpensive part that prevents some of the most expensive chimney problems there are, and across Center City an astonishing number of stacks are missing one entirely. The cap is the metal hood and screen at the top of the flue, and its job is to keep rain out of the chimney, keep birds and squirrels from nesting in it, hold a spark arrestor screen over the opening, and stop downdrafts from pushing smoke and cold air back into the house. EmberLine Chimney Pros fits caps on chimneys throughout Philadelphia, sized to the flue and built to last on exposed downtown rooflines, because on a tall city stack an open flue is an open invitation to water and wildlife.
- Cap sized and fitted to your specific flue or flues
- Rain kept out of the flue and off the crown
- Birds, squirrels, and nesting debris locked out
- Spark arrestor screen over the opening
- Multi-flue and shared-stack caps for downtown chimneys
- Stainless and durable materials built for city exposure
Everything an open flue lets in
An uncapped flue is open to the sky, and on an exposed Center City roofline that openness costs you in several ways at once. Rain and snowmelt fall straight down the flue, soaking the smoke shelf, the damper, and the masonry from the inside, rusting metal components and accelerating the decay of a clay liner that is already a century old on many of these stacks. The same opening is an irresistible nesting site for birds and squirrels, and a nest packed into a downtown flue does double damage, blocking the draft so the fireplace smokes into the room and adding combustible material right where you least want it. Without a screen, embers can also drift out onto a tightly packed roofline, a real concern where the houses sit shoulder to shoulder.
The damage from a missing cap is the slow, compounding kind that nobody notices until it is serious. Water that drips down an open flue all winter does not announce itself the way a roof leak does, but season after season it rusts the damper shut, washes out the mortar joints between liner tiles, and feeds the freeze-thaw cycle that cracks the masonry. By the time a homeowner realizes the chimney has a problem, the cheap fix, a cap, has already failed to be installed for years, and the bill is for the damage it would have prevented. This is exactly the kind of slow loss a small part is meant to stop.
Sizing a cap for downtown and shared stacks
A cap only does its job if it fits the flue, and downtown that is rarely a stock, off-the-shelf situation. Center City stacks often carry more than one flue in a single chimney, a fireplace flue alongside a furnace or water-heater flue, and a party-wall or high-rise stack may serve several units from one masonry mass. Covering those correctly means measuring each flue and fitting either individual caps or a single multi-flue cap built to span the whole crown, with the spark screen and the clearances right so the chimney still drafts properly. A cap that is too small lets weather in around the edges, and one that is wrong for the flue can actually choke the draft, so the measuring matters as much as the part.
We fit caps in stainless and other durable materials built to survive a city roofline, because a cheap cap on an exposed Center City stack rusts or blows loose within a few seasons and you are back where you started. On a shared stack we document what we are doing so the responsibility is clear, since a cap on a multi-unit flue protects everyone tied to it. The goal is a cap that keeps water, animals, and embers out for the long haul while leaving the draft exactly as it should be, and on the right stack that small piece of metal is one of the highest-return things you can do for the whole chimney.
A small part that protects the whole chimney
Of all the work a chimney can need, a cap is among the best values, precisely because it heads off the slow, costly damage that goes unnoticed until it is severe. A cap costs a fraction of the crown sealing, relining, and masonry repair that an open, water-fed flue eventually demands, and on the exposed stacks of Center City it also keeps the nesting and downdraft problems that plague open flues from ever starting. A good cap is quiet insurance for everything below it, the liner, the damper, the smoke chamber, and the brick.
We will look at your stack, measure the flue or flues, and tell you exactly what it needs, with an honest estimate in writing. If your chimney is open at the top, or the existing cap is rusted, crushed, or missing its screen, the remedy is usually straightforward and is one of the simplest ways to add years to the life of the chimney. Where it makes sense we will fold the cap into other work we are already doing on the stack, since the crew is on the roof and the access is already set, but a cap is worth doing on its own well before the next wet season and the freeze that follows it.
One crew for the whole chimney
A chimney is a system, so chimney cap installation rarely stands alone, it connects to chimney sweeping service, chimney condition assessment, chimney repair, a new chimney liner, chimney repointing, and our crew handles all of it under one roof. We bring the same service to Chimney Cap Installation in Center City, Rittenhouse chimney cap installation, Chimney Cap Installation in Fairmount, Chimney Cap Installation in Queen Village and everywhere else across the Philadelphia area.
If you searched for local chimney service, you have reached a local crew, call 215-618-4699 any time. For background, read Converting or Closing Up a Fireplace in a Center City Rowhome on our blog, or head back to our Philadelphia home page to see everything we do.