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Chimney Caps - everything you wanted to know about
Why install a chimney cap?
1) Keeps rain water from coming down your chimney. Rain water can damage many components of your chimney. Many times rain water can damage stainless steel liners, dampers and can even saturate mortar joints. Water can soak inside a chimney and produce mold and other non-pleasant results.
2) Keeps animals out of your chimney flue. Many times animals can make a home inside your chimney. These animals include birds, raccoons, and squirrels. Sometimes the animals can not get out of the chimney and will die. This problem produces maggots, flies, and usually results in a fairly nasty odor. A professionally installed chimney cap is sized for a custom fit to prevent animal intrusion.
3) Prevents wind induced downdrafts. Many times wind will blow in a certain direction and can cause downdrafts. If your fireplace is drafting smoke, wind may be blowing smoke back into your home. The flat portion of the top of a chimney cap is designed to prevent wind induced down drafts.
4) Spark arresting. Many times people refer to a chimney cap as a spark arrestor. This is a fancy term that tells you that your chimney cap can prevent many lit embers that travel up your chimney from landing on your roof. These embers can catch your roof on fire.
5) Keeps out leaves, branches and twigs which can lead to blockage.
What types of chimney caps are there?
There are basically two types of chimneys and chimney caps to install on these chimneys.
Prefabricated chimneys:
A prefabricated chimney is a factory built chimney that is installed in modern homes. Prefabricated chimney we designed in the mid 1980’s and are currently installed in many homes. Building codes require chimney caps to be installed with a prefabricated chimney. If your chimney is not brick on the outside, you likely have a prefabricated chimney. Many homeowners call these “fake” chimneys. I guess they call them fake because they do not look like the traditional brick and mortar chimney. The chimney caps on these chimneys usually last a long time. If you see rust at the top of these chimneys, it is likely because the chimney chase cover is rusting which is a different problem. If you need a chimney cap, a professional will need to determine the make and model number of your chimney which is located on a metal plate inside your firebox. We can then order your chimney cap to fit your fireplace.
Masonry chimneys
Masonry chimneys have an exterior brick façade. Sometimes these chimneys have a single flue venting from the top and sometimes they can vent multiple flues. Usually multi-flue masonry chimneys vent regular fireplaces and sometimes oil or gas burning appliances. These chimneys require special attention if you want to install chimney caps.
Single flue masonry chimneys with extending flue tile:
The easiest chimney cap to size and install is a single flue masonry chimney. Simply measure the exterior dimensions of the extending chimney flue and bolt a chimney cap to the top of this flue. The most common sizes in inches are: 8x8, 8x13, 13x13, 8x17, and13x18.
Multi-flue masonry chimneys or non-extending flue tiles:
The installation of a multi-flue chimney cap is more difficult. If the flues are spaced enough apart, you might be able to install individual chimney caps on each flue. However, many times the flues are very close to each other and you need to install a chimney cap to cover the entire top portion of the chimney. A multi-flue chimney cap bolts to the chimney crown using high density tap con bolts. Further, to provide more adhesion, the cap is sealed to the chimney crown using liquid nail adhesion. To correctly install a multi-flue chimney cap, you will need five dimensions.
Dimension required:
L1- Overall length of the chimney.
L2- Overall length of the flue tiles.
W1- Overall width of the chimney.
W2- Overall width of the flue tiles.
H – Height of the tallest flue tile.
When you purchase your multi-flue chimney cap, it is a very tricky business. If you order the cap too long, it might hang off the sides of the chimney. If you order it too short, it might not be long enough to fit over the flue tiles. These chimney caps make nice paper weights because you will need to order new chimney caps and refunds are not an option with nearly all chimney cap suppliers. Many of these caps are custom made and once they are made, they are yours forever. Another problem people do not understand is how important it is to measure the height of the flue. If your flue sticks out of the chimney more than 3 inches, you might want to consider buying a taller multi-flue chimney cap. Multi-flue chimney caps are either 8 inch standard height or 12 inch extended height. If your flue tile is over 7 inches tall, you should cut the tile to proper size using a diamond bit saw. The height of your chimney cap should be 4 inches taller than the height of the flue measured from lowest point on the chimney crown. Be careful, many times the crown rises where the flue extends but the cap is bolted to a lower part of the crown. The measurement should be where the cap is being placed.
Special problem: No crown!
Every blue moon, you get a chimney with no crown. You better make perfect measurements to solve this problem. Basically, you need to fit a multi-flue chimney cap on the exterior brick of the chimney. The overall length of chimney is the same. But the chimney of the flue length is less two courses of brick. Best solution is to use “swing tabs” and order the length 3 inches less than the overall length. Likely you will have one tab swing in and one tab swing out. Good luck!
Three types of chimney cap material – Galvanized, Stainless and Copper.
Galvanized: Run! Galvanized chimney caps rust and do not last very long. When they rust, the bolts rust and are prone to blow off the chimney. Further, the rust will flow down the chimney and discolor the chimney. We will not even sell these chimney caps. Again, run!
Stainless steel: Most of the chimney caps manufactured today are stainless steel. They have a silver color and many times have a manufacture’s lifetime warrantee. These are the chimney caps most professionals sell and install.
Copper: Wow, are you rich or something? One out of 100 of our clients will order a copper chimney cap. They look great but they are quite expensive. Usually, the cost of copper compared to stainless steel is usually three times as much. People only install copper if they have copper flashing in other areas of their home. They sure do look good!
Call us today and we can send you a chimney cap. If you need it installed, that’s not a problem.
Chimney Caps - everything you wanted to know about
