Level 1 sweep and inspection to the NFPA 211 annual standard - flue, crown, cap, and flashing checked and photographed
Chimney sweep logs do not sweep chimneys. They loosen some creosote - which then falls where a brush and vacuum still have to collect it.
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AfterOlympia Chimney Chimney Cap Installation: The Doylestown Owner’s Guide
We stock and install Olympia Chimney-compatible chimney caps throughout Doylestown, with most installations running between $275 and $525 including the cap, fasteners, and labor from our truck. If your cap is rusted through, missing, or letting rain into the flue, we can usually get a new one on the same visit because we carry the common sizes on board. Most owners discover the problem the hard way: a drip in the firebox after a hard rainsquall, a rust streak down the brick, or birdsong coming from somewhere inside the chimney that no one wants to investigate too closely.
Before you go shopping on your own, know this: Olympia Chimney caps are built to their own tile and flue sizing conventions, and a big-box universal cap rarely seats the way it should. That gap is where water gets in and where the wind makes the whole thing rattle. We’re an independent shop, not affiliated with Olympia Chimney, but we’ve installed enough of their caps on older Doylestown homes to know which ones fit and which ones fight you.
Which Olympia Chimney Models This Applies To
Olympia Chimney has been around since the 1920s, and their caps show up most often in our area on homes with their tile-lined masonry chimneys and stainless steel liners. The caps we see are sized to fit their 8-inch, 10-inch, and 12-inch round flues, plus the 8×8, 8×12, and 12×12 square flues that are common in older Doylestown construction. If you’ve got the original paperwork or the chimney cleanout door is still legible, the model number is usually stamped on a tag near the base of the chimney or on the inside of the cleanout frame.
The practical way to identify what you need is simpler than reading a parts catalog: measure the outside dimensions of the flue tile, not the inside opening. An 8×8 tile outside dimension usually takes a cap built for a 7.5 to 8 inch ID flue, and so on. Olympia’s legacy caps tend to run just a hair narrower at the skirt than the generics, which matters when the tile has shifted even slightly, as they do on the older West Side homes around the Mercer Museum. That’s where a universal cap will bind on one corner and leave daylight on the other.
As for OEM versus aftermarket: Olympia still makes parts for their current lines, but for a chimney that’s been out in Pennsylvania weather for fifteen or twenty years, a quality stainless aftermarket equivalent often outlasts what came off the roof. We’ll lay out both options and the cost difference before any tool comes out. We also stock compatible parts for DuraFlex, HeatShield, and Gelco liners, so if the cap isn’t the only thing that’s tired, we can show you that too.
Signs Your Olympia Chimney Chimney Cap Installation Is Failing
Here’s what we find when we get called out to Doylestown homes with cap problems. If any of these sound familiar, the cap is usually the first place we look.
- Water in the firebox after a hard rain. The cap’s hood or screening has failed and rain is going straight down the flue. If you see drips in the firebox, the cap is the prime suspect, but the crown may be sharing the blame.
- Rust streaks down the chimney brick. The cap skirt or fasteners are corroding and the rust is bleeding into the masonry. On older brick like the Victorians near downtown Doylestown, that stain can set permanently if it’s not addressed before the next wet season.
- Birds, bees, or squirrels making noise in the flue. The mesh screen on the cap has a hole in it or the cap has lifted off the tile. Once one critter figures out the chimney is open, the nest and the mess are never far behind.
- A cap that’s visibly tilting or has pulled free on one side. Freeze-thaw cycles around Bucks County work the fasteners loose over time. A cap that’s angled isn’t doing its job and one good windstorm can send it off the roof entirely.
- A whistling or rattling sound when the wind picks up. That’s the cap vibrating against the tile because the fit is sloppy or the fasteners have let go. Annoying, yes, but it also means air and water are getting where they shouldn’t.
Replacement Cost & What’s Included
For Olympia Chimney chimney cap installation in Doylestown, you’re looking at $275 to $525 installed for most residential chimneys. A basic stainless cap for a single round flue starts around $140 for the part, with labor and fasteners bringing the total to the $275 to $350 range. Larger multi-flue caps, taller chimneys that need more ladder work, or a cap that has to be custom-bent to fit a shifted tile will push toward the $450 to $525 end.
What’s included: the cap itself, which we’ll match to the flue or order if the size isn’t on the truck, the fasteners, the removal of the old cap, and the installation. We also take a minute to look at the crown and the top few courses of brick while we’re up there, because a new cap on a failing crown is just a nicer way to keep the water coming in. Wendell Pike sets the price before the work starts and the number you hear on the phone is the number on the invoice. Every cap job is covered by our 90-Day Done Right Promise: if it’s not right, one call brings us back at no additional cost.
DIY or Call Us?
If you’re comfortable on a ladder and the chimney is a simple one-story run, you can safely check whether the cap is loose, rusted through, or missing mesh just by looking. But installing a cap well is not a drive-by job. You’re working off a ladder, often on a roof slope, and you’re reaching over a flue that has no interest in catching you. The fasteners have to seat correctly in the tile, and if you crack a tile corner driving a bolt in, you’ve just turned a cap job into a flue repair. We’ve been called out to more than a few Doylestown homes where a well-meaning homeowner tried to save labor and ended up needing a new tile crown.
If you can see the cap from the ground and the problem is obvious, let us do the climbing. The call is free and the quote is straightforward: call (484) 600-2977 and tell us what the cap looks like, and we’ll give you a number before we ever set foot on the roof.
FAQs
Expect 10 to 15 years from a stainless cap in southeastern Pennsylvania weather, with galvanized caps failing faster, usually in the 7 to 10 year range as the coating breaks down and rust sets in. A cap exposed to constant shade or heavy tree cover can go sooner because it never fully dries. If your cap is older than a decade, it’s worth a look before the next hard rain. Call (484) 600-2977 and we’ll check it during a routine sweep.
Sometimes, but it depends on what failed. A loose cap can often be re-seated and re-fastened, and a small hole in the mesh can be patched if the surrounding metal is still sound. A rusted-through hood, a torn skirt, or a cap that’s been bent by a falling branch generally needs to be replaced. We’ll tell you which one you’ve got, and if repair will hold, we’ll say so. Call (484) 600-2977 for an honest assessment and a free estimate.
For a simple cap swap on a standard chimney, most Doylestown jobs run 45 minutes to an hour and a half from ladder up to ladder down. A multi-flue cap or a chimney that needs some crown touch-up before the cap can seat properly will add time, but we’ll give you a realistic window before we start. The job doesn’t require waiting around all day. Call (484) 600-2977 and we’ll schedule a time that works for you.
We keep the most common Olympia-compatible sizes on the truck, including 8-inch, 10-inch, and 12-inch round and the standard square flue sizes we see across Doylestown’s older homes. If your flue is an odd size or we need a specialty cap, we order it and it’s usually in hand within a few days. Call (484) 600-2977 and we’ll tell you over the phone whether we have yours on board.
If your Olympia Chimney chimney cap is failing, don’t wait for the next storm to prove it. Call Top Hat Chimney at (484) 600-2977 for a free estimate. We’ll get the right cap on your flue, quote the price before the work begins, and stand behind it with the 90-Day Done Right Promise. That’s how we’ve been doing it in Doylestown since 1999.
Written by Wendell Pike, Owner, Top Hat Chimney at Top Hat Chimney, serving Doylestown and nearby areas.