An open flue is an open invitation, and on the old uncapped stacks all over West Philadelphia that invitation gets answered by rain, snow, birds, squirrels, and the occasional stray ember blowing onto the roof. A chimney cap is the small, inexpensive piece that closes the top of the flue to all of it while still letting the smoke out. Draft Crew Phila Chimney installs caps across West Philadelphia that are sized correctly to your flue, fitted with a spark-arrestor screen, and secured to stay put through the wind these exposed stacks take. We treat the cap as the working lid of the chimney system, because in a city of tall old flues and mature trees that is exactly what it is.
- Stainless or copper caps to suit the chimney
- Spark-arrestor screen included as standard
- Sized to your specific flue, single or multi-flue
- Anchored to hold against wind on exposed stacks
- Keeps out rain, snow, birds, and animals
- Free measure-up and a written price
Everything an open flue lets into the house
A chimney without a cap is a hole in the top of your house, and it lets in far more than most homeowners realize until something goes wrong. Rain and snow fall straight down the flue, soaking the liner, rusting the damper, and pooling on the smoke shelf, where over time the moisture eats at the mortar and the metal from the inside. That same open top is the front door for wildlife. Birds, squirrels, and raccoons nest in uncapped West Philly flues every spring, packing the passage with nesting material that blocks the draft and, when a homeowner lights the first fall fire on top of it, fills the house with smoke and worse.
There is a fire risk on the other end of it too. Without a screen across the top, embers and sparks can ride the draft out of the flue and land on the roof or on a neighbor's, which on the closely spaced rows and twins of West Philadelphia is not a small concern. A cap with a proper spark-arrestor screen stops the embers going up and the weather and animals coming down in a single piece of stainless or copper. For something so inexpensive, it prevents an outsized share of the chimney problems we are otherwise called out to fix.
What a cap fitted correctly actually requires
A chimney cap is only as good as its fit, and a cap that is the wrong size or poorly secured causes nearly as much trouble as no cap at all. We measure the flue before we order anything, because the cap has to clear the flue opening so it does not choke the draft while still covering it completely against weather and animals. On the many West Philly stacks that carry more than one flue, a single multi-flue cap or a set of individual caps has to be chosen and sized to the actual arrangement up there, not assumed. We fit stainless steel, which stands up to the weather and the flue gases for the long haul, or copper where the look matters on a period home.
Securing the cap is the part a careless install skips. The tall, exposed stacks of West Philadelphia catch the full force of the wind, and a cap that is merely set on top will work loose and eventually blow off, taking your protection with it and dropping metal onto the roof. We anchor the cap to hold against that wind, check that the spark screen is intact and correctly sized, and make sure the whole assembly sits level and clears the flue. The result is a lid that stays put and keeps doing its job through every season, which is the only kind worth installing.
Why a cap pays for itself many times over
Of all the work a chimney can have done, a cap is among the best values, precisely because it heads off the expensive damage that an open flue quietly invites. The cost of a properly fitted cap is a fraction of what relining a water-soaked flue, clearing a packed animal nest, or repairing a smoke-damaged interior runs, and it prevents all three. On the old West Philly stacks that have stood open for years, fitting a cap is often the single highest-return thing a homeowner can do for the chimney, and it is usually a same-visit job.
We will measure the flue at no charge and tell you exactly what your chimney needs, with an honest price in writing. If your stack has no cap, or the one up there has rusted through, lost its screen, or worked loose in the wind, the fix is simple and the payoff is immediate. A capped flue stays dry, stays clear of nests, and keeps its embers to itself, and that is most of what keeps an old chimney out of trouble between sweeps.
The chimney this service belongs to
A chimney is a system, so chimney cap installation rarely stands alone, it connects to chimney sweep, chimney camera scan, chimney patching, stainless liner installation, brick repair, and our crew handles all of it under one roof. We bring the same service to West Philadelphia chimney cap installation, Chimney Cap Installation in University City, Overbrook chimney cap installation, Wynnefield chimney cap installation and everywhere else across the Philadelphia area.
If you searched for chimney sweep near me, you have reached a local crew, call 215-645-7658 any time. For background, read The Unused Decorative Chimney in Your West Philly Victorian: What to Do With It on our blog, or head back to our Philadelphia home page to see everything we do.