Chimney Cap and Custom Cap Installation in Delaware County and the Main Line
A properly fitted chimney cap is one of the most affordable ways to protect your chimney. It keeps animals, birds, debris, rain, and snow out of the flue, and it does it for years. Lou Curley’s Chimney Service installs single flue caps, multi-flue caps, and custom full-coverage caps across Delaware County and the Main Line. Our team is CSIA, NFI, and F.I.R.E. certified, and our founder, Lou Curley, is Pennsylvania’s first CSIA Master Chimney Sweep.
Ready to get your chimney capped or recapped? Call 610-626-2439 or book online with our team.
What Does a Chimney Cap Do?
If you look at the top of your chimney, your flue actually extends past the chimney stack and the crown. Without a cap, that flue opening is exposed to everything that lives, falls, or blows around above your roof. Every chimney needs a properly fitted cap, and here is why:
#1 Chimney caps keep out animals and birds.
A warm chimney looks like an excellent winter address to a lot of wildlife. Birds, raccoons, squirrels, bats, and chimney swifts will move into an uncapped flue, bringing nesting material, droppings, smells, and disease with them. Their nests can block exhaust gases, which causes smoke and carbon monoxide to enter the home, your heating system to shut off, or in the worst cases, a house fire. Animals that get into the chimney often cannot get out, which leads to either a removal call or worse.
#2 Chimney caps keep out debris.
Branches, leaves, pine needles, and other flammable material falls into open flues constantly. Once it builds up, it restricts the flow of exhaust gases (creating the same smoke and carbon monoxide problems as a nest) or piles up behind the damper, which makes the damper hard to open the next time you want a fire.
#3 Chimney caps keep out water and help prevent water intrusion.
Water is the most destructive force your chimney will face. It erodes the mortar between flue tiles, corrodes metal flue liners, rusts out dampers and other metal components, and damages furnace exhaust pipes. The cost of a new cap is a fraction of the cost of fixing any of those problems after the fact.
Single Flue Cap
Multi-Flue Cap
What Types of Chimney Caps Are There?
Our team evaluates your chimney and recommends the cap that is best suited to its configuration and condition. We install three main cap types:
- Single Flue Caps. Designed to cover one flue. We install stainless steel single flue caps as our standard recommendation, built to handle our winters and backed by a manufacturer’s lifetime warranty, and we carry the three most common sizes on every truck. Copper and powder-coated finishes are available as special-order options when you want a specific look.
- Multi-Flue Caps. When a chimney has multiple flues that are too close together for individual caps, or the flue tile does not stick up high enough to bolt a single flue cap on, a multi-flue cap covers them all under one piece. Stainless steel is our standard here as well, backed by the same lifetime warranty, and copper or a powder-coated finish is available by special order.
- Full-Coverage Chimney Caps. Custom-made to fit the exact dimensions of your chimney, full-coverage caps protect the entire crown, not just the flue. They include a drip edge that directs rain away from the bricks. Think of a full-coverage cap as an umbrella for the top of the chimney, where a single flue cap is more like a baseball cap.
What Is a Full-Coverage Chimney Cap?
Full-coverage caps are relatively new and have become more popular as homeowners realize how much damage water at the top of the chimney can do over time. The custom fit means more protection for the crown and the masonry below it, the drip edge means rain is directed back to the roof instead of running down the sides of the chimney, and the build quality means the cap is far less likely to come loose in high wind.
The main benefits homeowners ask about:
- Maximum Protection: Covers the entire crown to keep water, debris, and animals out.
- Durability: Custom-measured to the chimney, so it does not work loose in storms. Built from high-quality stainless steel.
- Aesthetics: A clean, finished look in standard stainless steel, with copper or powder-coated finishes available as special-order options.
How Do I Take Care of a Chimney Cap?
Cap care is easy. Schedule your annual chimney sweep and inspection with our team, and we inspect the cap at the same time we inspect the rest of the system. We check for signs of damage, loose hardware, screen damage, and wear, and we let you know if any work is needed.
Full-coverage caps in particular are worth maintaining. Because they are custom-made, replacing one is more expensive than a standard single-flue cap, so addressing small issues early extends the cap’s life.
Can I Install a Chimney Cap Myself?
This is one of those jobs where a small mistake costs a lot of money. A cap that is the wrong size, not secured correctly, or installed without a proper seat against the flue tile will let in exactly what it is supposed to keep out, which means water damage, animal infestations, and debris problems anyway.
A full-coverage cap especially has to be custom-measured and fitted to the chimney. Our team handles that measurement and the install in one visit.
When Do I Know I Need a New Chimney Cap?
After any major wind or weather event, take a look up at the chimney from the ground. If the cap looks bent, missing, off-center, or just not right, call us. We can confirm whether a storm tore the cap off or damaged it.
Otherwise, regular cleaning and inspection will catch wear before it becomes a problem. Your chimney technician can show you photos of the cap if there is damage, and that is the point to talk about a replacement.
Why Homeowners in Delaware County and the Main Line Choose Our Team
A chimney cap is an inexpensive component that does a disproportionate amount of work. Our team handles cap installs every week across Delaware County and the Main Line, our technicians hold CSIA, NFI, and F.I.R.E. certifications, and every cap we install is backed by the manufacturer’s lifetime warranty.
Request an Appointment With Us Today
Missing a cap? Bent cap after the last storm? Looking to upgrade to a full-coverage cap? Call 610-626-2439 or fill out our online appointment request form to schedule your chimney cap installation today.
For broader water-management work, our team also handles chimney leak repairs and masonry repair and waterproofing on chimneys across our service area.