What is a Chimney Cap?
A chimney cap is a protective covering which fits at the top of your chimney enclosure. They are typically fashioned out of stainless steel, copper, or galvanized
metals; and come designed with a mesh screen to inhibit airborne hearth sparks, nesting outdoor animals, and damaging precipitation and debris from interfering with
the overall safety and longetivity of your fireplace’s necessary venting system.
Why is it so crucial to keep sparks confined to your chimney and these other elements out? While you are toasting marshmallows and sharing intimate discussions by the
glow of your fireplace’s hearth, quite a bit more is happening in the venting chamber of your chimney. The sparks produced from burning wood or faux logs will
sometimes reach to your chimney’s top, and if not properly stopped, can ignite the flammable material surrounding your chimney wall, such as your roof and house’s
construction. And all it takes is one airborne spark. Nesting animals such as squirrels and birds can find a sheltered refuge in your chimney’s top, usually without
anyone being the wiser...until it’s too late. A chimney cap prevents them and their detrimental waste from taking up residence, thereby preventing foul odors and the
mites that waste brings. Your chimney top is also exposed to rain, snow, hail, and violent gusts of wind; year after year. Without a chimney cap to insulate your
chimney from its effects, rain can soak into the mortar joints of your chimney’s construction, thereby loosening the bricks or stone of your masonry chimney. Or if you
have a metal chimney, precipitation will lead to damaging rust; thereby rapidly deteriorating your chimney. Violent wind gusts whip leaves and assorted debris into
your chimney. These flammable materials can rapidly suffocate your flue from its necessary fire by-product venting, leading to dangerous chimney fires and downdrafting
of the trapped smoke into your home. Buying a chimney cap is a priceless and easy solution to preventing a whole Pandora’s Box-full of natural evils, such as: fire,
disease, costly repair, and strife from entering the safe harbor of your family’s cozy home.
Types of Chimneys
The first step in finding yourself a chimney cap is determining what type of chimney your house has. This will determine what type of chimney cap will fit best. The
most common type of chimney is a masonry chimney, which is constructed of brick, stone, or concrete. Metal Chimneys or factory-built chimneys are mass-produced,
typically come with a pre-fit chimney cap, and must be used with one, due to the fact that metal is less resilient in relation to Mother Nature’s elements. Typically,
for masonry chimneys, you’ll find that their corresponding chimney caps come in three basic sizes: 8” x 8”, 8” x 12” and 12” x 12”, though custom styles and fits are
available also.
Types of Flues
Whether you have a masonry or factory-made metal chimney, it is also necessary to determine what type of flue it works from. This can be determined by simply looking
down into your chimney’s depths.
Masonry chimneys will have either single or multi flues, and these flues will be either extended or not. The most common is the single flue chimney with an extended
flue. This flue will simply and visibly extend out the top of your chimney, allowing easy chimney cap installation and fit by screws which tighten to the flue’s
construction. Single flue chimneys without extended flues have a recessed interior flue construction and will require what is called a leg kit or bracket to for
installation of your chimney cap. The decision about whether you enlist a leg kit or brackets is yours, but brackets are recommended as they provide more resiliency
under varying wind and weather conditions. Multi flue chimneys with or without extended flues will, as the type suggests, have more than one flue (typically two)
either protruding from your chimney top or recessed in its interior.
Factory-produced Metal Chimney will have one of three basic types of flue construction: double-wall solid-pack insulated chimney pipe, double-wall air-insulated
chimney pipe, or triple-wall air-insulated chimney pipe. Looking down into the chimney, you’ll see either two or three layers or walls of metal. If there is a metal
cap or insulation material between these layers, you have yourself a solid-pack insulated flue system. If there is nothing but air between your flue walls, it is an
air-insulated flue system.
