About the service
I install custom-fit chimney caps and spark arrestors, built to the exact opening of your flue rather than pulled off a generic shelf. Every job starts with hands-on measurement of the flue tile or liner: inside dimension, wall thickness, crown slope and any offset from centre, because a cap that rocks or gaps by even a few millimetres lets rain and embers past the mesh anyway. From those numbers I fabricate or select a housing in either 304/316 stainless steel or 16-oz copper, chosen by budget and by how the metal will react with your local rainfall chemistry and nearby coastal or industrial air — copper patinas and self-seals over years, stainless resists rust indefinitely but shows fewer character marks. The spark-arrestor screen itself is sized to code: mesh openings small enough to stop embers and nesting birds or raccoons, yet open enough in total free area that draft isn't choked — I calculate free-area percentage against your flue's cross-section rather than guessing a mesh count. Mounting is the part that actually fails on rushed jobs, so I anchor every cap to the flue crown itself with stainless lag screws or a clamp band sized to the tile, never relying on sealant alone, and I flash and caulk the crown afterward against freeze-thaw cracking. Before I call a job done I run a smoke-pencil and draft-gauge test with the appliance or fireplace lit, confirming updraft is unchanged and there's no back-pressure or spillage at the firebox opening — a cap that looks perfect but chokes draft is a carbon-monoxide risk, not a finished job. I carry a portfolio of completed installs across masonry, prefab and multi-flue chimneys, single and multi-flue caps, and can usually measure, fabricate and install within five to twelve business days of a site visit, weather permitting. Site visit, measurement and material quote are provided before any metal is cut.
