Chimney Cap Installation in Woodland Hills - Custom Fit, Lifetime Warranty

A homeowner along the Moorpark Street corridor called us after converting their wood-burning fireplace to a gas log set. The installer handled the burner and valves but never touched the chimney itself. When the homeowner looked up from their backyard, they noticed the old clay flue tile was completely exposed to the sky. No cap, no spark arrestor, nothing keeping rain or animals out. Raccoons had already started nesting in the smoke chamber. The original galvanized cap had rusted through years earlier, and nobody replaced it during the conversion. This is a pattern we see constantly in the Ventura Boulevard flats and into Tujunga Village, where 1950s and 1960s ranch homes with masonry chimneys get gas log upgrades without any work done above the roofline.

The homeowner assumed the gas log installer would handle everything chimney-related. That's a reasonable expectation, but gas appliance technicians rarely deal with the masonry flue system itself. What worried this homeowner most was water. Southern California gets its rain in short, heavy bursts, and an uncapped masonry flue channels water straight onto the firebox floor and into mortar joints. Add a few years of moisture cycling through that brick, and you're looking at a chimney repair bill that dwarfs the cost of a proper cap. They wanted the right fix, done once, before the next rainy season.

We started with a Level 2 chimney inspection, which NFPA 211 requires whenever there's been a change in the fuel type or appliance. Our camera scan confirmed the clay flue liner was intact but showed moderate spalling on the interior walls from years of moisture exposure. The existing crown had hairline cracks. For the cap itself, we measured the exterior flue tile dimensions on-site. Masonry flues from this era in Studio City are rarely standard sizes, so off-the-shelf caps from a hardware store almost never fit correctly. We fabricated a single-flue stainless steel cap with a mesh spark arrestor that meets Los Angeles fire code requirements. Stainless steel was the clear choice here over galvanized. Galvanized caps in this part of the Valley corrode faster than most homeowners expect, often failing within five to seven years.

The spark arrestor screen keeps embers contained if the homeowner ever converts back to wood burning, and it blocks birds, raccoons, and debris year-round. We secured the cap with masonry screws into the crown rather than friction-fit clamps, which tend to loosen during Santa Ana wind events. The finished installation passed visual inspection on the spot. We also recommended a crown sealant application to stop those hairline cracks from spreading. The entire visit, from camera inspection to installed cap, took about two and a half hours. If your masonry chimney had gas logs added without any cap work, get a proper inspection before water does the expensive damage for you.