Wind is the enemy of chimneys. I get a lot of wind at my now over 100 year old home. Sometime in…read morethe 1980's, an owner added a wood-burning fireplace insert with a heat circulating fan. I inherited a lifetime supply of hardwood firewood from the previous owners, and I've added to it.
The wind broke and blew off the top part of my chimney cap. We were in bed when we heard a big crash and bumping on the roof. It wasn't the usual squirrels traversing my roof in the morning. Though in December, it wasn't Santa. The smoke and rain corroded the metal, and it just broke. I was very worried without the cap that the rain would ruin the fireplace, the flue, the framing, and siding.
Many chimney companies are backed up for 2 or more months, even to come look.
But Tip Top, Tobias and Mike, were able to schedule.
Tobias reassured me by phone before visiting that with my chimney cap top missing, the rain would not enter, and he was right. They came, phoning ahead, removed the old cap, measured for the replacement, and covered the flue.
Tip Top have a wealth of knowledge. These fireplace chimney kits were a complete system, usually made by small companies. The parts are not interchangeable or standard. Tip Top even has a small fabrication shop they work with for odd parts. They were able to order a stainless cap fitting a 13" outer and 8" inner concentric stainless flue pipe. You would also find similar, but smaller, concentric stainless piping on furnace and hot water flues. The fireplace, vent, flue, and cap systems are really not made to be repairable, and the companies that made them are long out of business, so set your expectations for that. It simply may not be able to be repaired. But in this case, Tip Top was able to solve it!
They ordered the cap, phoned me when they received it, about 3-4 weeks, scheduled a 2 hour time window, called 10 minutes ahead, and installed it.
On their visits they were quick and efficient. They work as a good team sequencing tools and materials for the next step. Tobias was up on the roof before I was outside. Mike had packed the construction waste before Tobias was down from the roof. They had already done 5 appointments before my noon appointment and they order them by neighborhood. There is a famous saying: "Cheap, fast, or good; pick two." Tip Top is all 3, as well as knowledgeable, communicative, and polite. Their charge, with 2 trips, and the replacement part was very reasonable.
Recommended!
Note they are a small company - voice call and text. They also join my homeowner collection of contractors and suppliers.
(I would also say, read the filtered - not recommended - reviews. Yelp filters for good reasons, and some people only write a few Yelp reviews, never getting beyond the filter. That is fine. But the filtered reviews all seem very consistent.)
