Chimney Cap Installation
Wade Hampton SC

If your house has a chimney that is a wood-framed box clad in siding rather than solid brick, that is called a chase, and it is capped differently.

Inside a chase is a metal flue pipe from a factory-built fireplace. The top of the box is closed with a chase cover, a sheet-metal lid with a hole for the pipe. The pipe itself ends in a termination cap that belongs to the same chimney system. So a framed chimney has two parts at the top where a brick chimney has one.

Chase covers fail by rusting or by sagging until water pools in the middle. That water can run through a rusted seam into the framing and show up as stains on an interior wall or ceiling. A replacement cover sized to the chase, with a slope or crown that sheds water and a raised collar around the pipe, solves the problem when the framing is still sound.

A brick chimney with one clay flue tile above the crown takes a single-flue cap, fastened to the tile. Several tiles close together, or tiles flush with the crown, may call for a cap that covers the entire crown. The Chimney Safety Institute of America homeowner guidance describes a well-designed cap as one that keeps out rain and animals and acts as a spark arrestor, and those three jobs decide the screen size and lid shape.

A gas furnace or water heater vent coming through the roof or the chimney needs a cap listed for that vent. That rule comes from the 2021 International Residential Code, a model code,, and it means we never put a wood-fireplace screen over a gas vent. When a house has both a brick fireplace chimney and a separate gas vent, each one is handled on its own terms.

Rust streaks down siding below the chase top, a cover that looks dished, a termination cap that leans or is missing, stains on a wall next to the fireplace, or water on the firebox floor after rain. On brick chimneys, a cap that rattles in wind or a torn screen. Any of these can be judged from a photo taken in the yard; please do not climb onto the roof. If an animal may be in the flue, keep the damper shut and call us before lighting a fire.

A cover that has rusted through in one spot may be thin in others, so we check the whole surface rather than patching a single hole.

For chase covers, the chase dimensions, metal choice and whether the termination cap also needs replacing. For brick chimneys, flue count and size, cap style and any crown repair. Roof height and pitch affect both. Our chimney cap installation guide page covers cap types in more detail, or call 864-727-7460 to go over your chimney.