Chimney Caps & Spark Arrestors in Durango, CO

Capping a Chimney That Was Never Designed to Be Capped

The Victorian chimneys in central Durango were built open. Corbelled brick, a mortar wash on top, sometimes a decorative course, and nothing over the flue at all - which was normal when they were built and is a liability now for reasons the builders could not have anticipated.

Retrofitting a cap onto one is not a matter of pressing a universal cap into the flue. Older clay tile is often cracked at the top course precisely because it has been weathering unprotected for a century, and a friction-fit cap driven into it with set screws splits what is left. On chimneys with more than one flue in a single stack the right answer is usually a fabricated multi-flue cap sitting on the crown rather than three separate caps in the tiles.

That means measuring on the roof and ordering to those measurements, which is a return visit. We would rather tell you that at the quote than surprise you with it.

Appearance, and the Historic District

Durango's downtown historic district is real and the chimneys are visible parts of contributing structures. Sweeping and stove work do not touch it, but a cap that noticeably changes the profile of a chimney can, particularly if it is a large multi-flue cover on a prominent stack.

We are not the authority on that and will not pretend to be. What we will do is flag it before anything is ordered, and where appearance matters, quote a low-profile black-finish option alongside the standard stainless so you have a choice to take to whoever needs to approve it.

Doing the Crown at the Same Time

Nine times out of ten, if a Durango chimney needs a cap it also needs attention to the crown - they have been exposed for the same century. Since both jobs happen in the same spot on the same visit, doing them together saves a setup rather than a materials cost.

The order matters more than the saving, though. A cap over a cracked crown keeps rain out of the flue but not out of the masonry, and water in the masonry is the expensive failure. If we can only do one, we will tell you to do the crown.

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