What's Included

Fitting a top damper to your Whites Landing chimney

Using the damper with a wood fire

The Consumer Product Safety Commission's advice is to open the damper before the fire is lit, keep it open until the ashes have cooled, and never shut it at bedtime over warm ashes. The smoke and gases from the fire need that open flue to leave the house.

With a top damper the rule is the same, only the handle is in a different place. Our team shows you how to confirm the damper on your Whites Landing chimney is open before you light a fire, and how to leave it open overnight while the ashes cool.

Factory-built chimneys and top dampers

A factory-built fireplace and its chimney are tested and listed together, and the parts at the top belong to that listing. Section R1005.2 of Florida's residential code bars decorative shrouds from factory-built chimneys unless the shroud carries a listing and label for that exact chimney system.

We apply the same caution to anything else added at the top. If your Whites Landing home has a factory-built fireplace, our team checks the maker's documentation for approved top dampers before recommending one, and if none is approved, we say so and suggest another route.

A fireplace you seldom light

Plenty of fireplaces sit unused for long stretches. An open flue over that time lets in rain, insects and debris and lets conditioned air escape, and a damper that seals keeps the chimney closed until the next fire.

Before you light your Whites Landing fireplace after a long break, open the damper and look up the flue with a flashlight for anything that has fallen in, and have the chimney inspected if it has been a while. A free inspection from our team covers the damper, the flue and the firebox.

Keeping insects and debris out of the flue

A closed top damper shuts the flue at the top, and the Lyemance listing names insects among what its gasketed seal keeps out. That helps between fires, when an open flue can collect nests, leaves and whatever the wind drops into it.

When the damper is open for a fire, the flue is open too unless a screened cap covers it. Our team clears debris from the top of your Whites Landing chimney before the damper goes on and recommends a screened cap where the damper design leaves the flue uncovered.