You want a stainless steel cap. Chimney sweeps sell them. I paid
$100 installed 6 years ago. Just had ocassion to inspect it and it
looks brand new. The black galvanized or painted ones don't last at
all.



"LenS" wrote in message
...
We live in a ranch style house with a gas furnace and forced air
heating/cooling. When we had our fall furnace inspection the HVAC
fellow pronouced our furnace in fine shape (not surprising since
it's
only 5 years old) but said that he found some suspicious debris in
the
chimney. Might have been the remains of a bird, he said, and also
some
stuff that looked to him like toasted pine needles.

Anyway, he suggested that the chimney cap might be gone; eroded
perhaps, and recommended getting a new one. His company doesn't do
chimney caps and he had no suggestions for someone to do it.

We've only owned our house for a little over 5 years, and I'm a babe
in the woods at home owning and maintenance.

I looked at my chimney from the backyard but couldn't see anything.
Then I talked to a couple of my neighbors who told me that the cap
was
a sort of screen-like cover over the top of the chimney and most of
the time wasn't even visible from the ground. They also said the
HVAC
fellow might have been right, but the only way to find out would be
to
have someone actually look at the chimney from the roof.

What kind of companies do chimney caps? Roofers?

Is this an expensive thing?

What would happen if I did nothing? Is there some long-term damage
possible?

Any suggestions, comments or opinions will be welcome.

Thanks,

-Len