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Reasons to Install a Chimney Cap
What Is a Chimney Cap and Why is It Important?
Keeping your chimneys in good shape throughout the year is necessary. The chimney cap plays a major role in ensuring your chimney remains damage-free and clean for use in winters. Installing a chimney cap will improve the quality of your home by preventing interior damage and eliminating an open pathway for critters.
What is a Chimney Cap?
Chimney caps act as a protective layer on top of your chimney. They’re made using different mesh materials and can be customized according to your home’s exterior. You’ll find them widely available in copper and stainless steel materials. Chimney caps help prevent chimney damage when the chimney’s not in use. It covers the exit point of the chimney, limiting external elements from entering.
What Is a Chimney Cap?
A chimney cap typically sits right on top of the chimney crown, which is located on the top of the chimney. Under the cap is the flue, which is the pipe/duct that allows smoke to leave the home. An uncapped chimney, though, can let rain and precipitation flow into your home. Usually made of steel or copper mesh, chimney caps are protectors of the chimney and entire house installing a chimney cap is a smart way to help maintain your chimney and home.
Save Money
When it gets chilly (or snowy), we love to get all warm and bundled up. If you don’t have a chimney cap, getting warm may be difficult. The reason for this is that when it’s cold and windy, downdrafts can affect your home’s temperature and your energy bills shoot up. Not only are these cold gusts uncomfortable, but they also can cause smoke, ember, and ash to blow into your house and damage your home. With a chimney cap, your home temperature will be more stable and in turn, your energy bills will decrease.
Stop Drafts From Entering Your Home
One of the most common annoyances that people face with their chimneys is when it’s windy outside and drafts sneak into their home while they’re using their fireplace. Not only does this make your fire less efficient, it creates a health hazard because smoke can get blown back into your home. With the addition of a chimney cap, you can get rid of your draft problem or prevent any drafts from entering in the first place. If it’s often quite windy outside, so it only makes sense to install a chimney cap to avoid any problems.
Prevent Fires
Chimney caps help control sparks and consequently prevent fires. This is a two-sided relationship: The chimney cap keeps embers from coming into the chimney, but also prevents embers from going up and out of the chimney onto the roof, which decreases the likelihood of having a roof fire.
Reduce Moisture
When you have an uncapped chimney and rain, the result is inevitably increased moisture in the house. Excess water in your chimney can also lead to issues such as damage to your chimney liners, dampers, and chimney mortar joints. Use a handful of chimney maintenance tips to ensure your fireplace is always in tip-top shape. Moisture can also damage your walls and ceiling. Plus, it can lead to mold and mildew growth which can spread to your home and be a health hazard. By installing a chimney cap, you’ll prevent structural water damage that would likely result in moisture damage and costly repairs later.
Keep Animals Out
Another very common chimney problem is when animals and debris get in your chimney. Obviously, anytime wild animals get inside your home it’s a problem. Although you might question whether animals would be attracted to the chimney, out of which gusts of smoke shoot, the dark, warm environment majorly appeals to critters. When animals make their way into the chimney, they can get stuck and cause extreme clogging and bad odors. Often, they can get stuck in your chimney and end up dying which leaves a smelly, rotting corpse behind. Plus, they can damage other parts of your chimney if they get inside. Another thing that will get avoided with a chimney cap is any debris build-up such as leaves and branches. You need the inside of your chimney to be as clean as possible so that you can enjoy your fireplace with no worries.
Preserve Your Chimney Liner
A chimney typically has a lining that is either clay, ceramic, or metal, and its purpose is protecting the chimney walls and containing smoke and debris. Chimney liners limit the amount of heat transfer within the chimney, ultimately preventing fire hazards. A chimney cap will help maintain your chimney liner by reducing the amount of debris and excess water that passes through the chimney. Consequently, this preserves your chimney’s performance quality, and is more cost-effective than repairing a damaged chimney liner.
Keep Water Out
Moisture is your chimney’s worst nightmare. When water has an easy path into your chimney, the problems that’ll arise if you don’t take care of it can end up costing thousands in repairs. Your brick and mortar will deteriorate faster and your liner and damper can become damaged. Plus, whenever there’s buildup of water in your home, the possibility of mold and mildew growth becomes greater. A chimney cap will keep rain water out of your chimney which will lead to a longer and healthier life for all aspects of your fireplace and chimney.
Cost to DIY Chimney Cap Installation vs. Hire a Pro
If you have done your research and are pretty much a homeowner expert, you can certainly install a chimney cap yourself. However, if you are not as confident, worried about safety, have questions, and/or want to request additional services, you’ll want to call a roofing professional.