Chimney Cap Replacement in Deptford, NJ

What chimney cap replacement actually involves

The job starts on the roof, not the ground. We measure the flue tile outside dimension, or the clay liner's inside opening if we're going single-flue. Old cap comes off first. Many are held by rusted sheet-metal screws driven straight into the tile. Those screws crack clay. We back them out slowly, clean the top course, and check the crown underneath before anything new goes on. A cracked crown gets addressed then, not later.

Fit matters more than the cap itself. Single-flue stainless caps clamp to the tile and need a sound tile to clamp to. Multi-flue caps span the whole crown and anchor into masonry. On 60-year-old chimneys here, the mortar between clay tiles is often crumbling, so anchoring into the crown is the safer choice.

Prefab metal chase chimneys in the 1980s-2000s townhouses are a different animal. Those take a chase cover, not a cap. Flat galvanized covers pool water and rust through. Rust stains run down stucco and siding. A stainless cover with a cross-break sheds instead.

Mesh sizing is the part people skip. Too open lets squirrels and chimney swifts in. Too tight glazes shut with stage-two creosote from smoky shoulder-season fires.