Our Process

Inside a top sealing damper job in Forest City

Rain protection while the damper is open

Not every top damper is a rain cap. The Lyemance listing points out that its original damper does not extend above the flue and offers no rain protection when the damper is open, and it sells an optional cap with a screen for that purpose. Other designs build a cap into the damper.

Where a rain cap is installed, Florida's residential code (section R1003.9.3) wants the net free area beneath it to be four times the flue outlet's net free area or more. For your Forest City chimney we explain whether the proposed damper covers the flue when open and price a cap separately if it does not.

What a top damper cannot fix

A new damper closes the flue. It does not repair a cracked liner, a deteriorated smoke chamber, a blocked flue or a failing crown, and each of those needs its own assessment before the fireplace goes back into regular use.

For your Forest City chimney, the free inspection covers the flue and the firebox as well as the old damper. If something else needs repair, it goes on the estimate as a separate line, and you decide what to do and in what order.

A clean hearth and a written record

Installing a top damper involves the roof, the flue and the firebox, with drilling in the firebrick and adhesive at the top. Our crew protects the hearth and the floor in front of the fireplace, cleans up the dust from drilling and hauls away the old parts and packaging.

You receive a written record of the work we did on your Forest City chimney, including the damper model, the flue size and the operating positions. Keep it with the damper's instructions, which we leave with you.

Roof work done with care

Fitting a top damper means working at the top of the chimney, on the roof. Our crew uses proper ladders and roof access, protects the roofing around the chimney and works only when the roof and the weather allow it.

You never need to go on the roof yourself. Our team describes what we found at the top of your Forest City chimney, and everything is written into the estimate before the work and into the record after it.