Olympia Chimney Chimney Cap Installation Nationwide

Olympia Chimney Chimney Cap Installation: The Arlington Heights Owner’s Guide

We stock and install Olympia Chimney-compatible chimney caps across Arlington Heights, with most jobs running $285-$475 installed depending on flue size and whether your crown needs sealing work. If we have your cap configuration on the truck, we can often complete the swap during the same scheduled visit. Most Arlington Heights homeowners discover the problem after a windstorm sends the cap spinning on the flue or they notice water streaking down the firebox after heavy rains off the Des Plaines River watershed.

Call (331) 202-2419

Which Olympia Chimney Models This Applies To

Olympia Chimney caps are sized to their liner and flue systems, not universal. The critical match points are flue diameter (inside measurement, not outside), flue shape (round, square, or rectangular), and whether you’re running a single-flue or multi-flue configuration. The Olympia 316Ti stainless caps ship in 6″, 7″, 8″, 10″, and 12″ round; their galvanized line tops out at 8″.

Check the stamped label on your existing cap’s collar or the Olympia Chimney paperwork from your original liner install. If the label’s rusted off, measure the flue opening with a tape measure - don’t guess from the cap’s outer dimension, which runs 1.5″ to 2″ larger. We carry both OEM Olympia caps and Gelco equivalents through our Haven buying network; the Gelco 5/8″ mesh stainless caps match Olympia spec at a lower price point and carry the same lifetime warranty against rust-through in Arlington Heights’ freeze-thaw climate. Corrine Halstead and our crew have replaced enough of these to know the Olympia galvanized line typically fails at the mesh weld after five to seven Illinois winters - we’ll tell you straight if the stainless upgrade is worth the extra $90.

Signs Your Olympia Chimney Chimney Cap Installation Is Failing

• Visible rust streaks down the chimney face. Olympia’s galvanized caps start at the mesh-to-skirt weld in Arlington Heights’ salted-air winters near Rand Road. The rust runs down brick or siding and stains before the cap itself looks bad from the ground.
• Mesh screen pulling away from the cap frame. This gap lets squirrels and starlings into the flue. We’ve pulled nests from Arlington Heights flues where the homeowner heard chirping for a week before calling.
• Cap sitting crooked or loose after wind. The Olympia clamp-band system loosens as the flue liner settles, especially on homes built during the 1960s-1980s construction waves near Thomas Middle School. A spinning cap is one storm away from becoming a roof projectile.
• Water in the firebox or damp smoke shelf. Without a functioning cap, rain enters directly. In Arlington Heights’ clay-heavy soils, that moisture wicks into the smoke chamber and accelerates liner deterioration.
• Soot or creosote buildup on the cap exterior. This means the cap’s draft relief is clogged or the flue is backing up. The cap isn’t the root cause, but replacing it without inspecting the flue misses the real problem.

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Replacement Cost & What’s Included

The range depends on three things: cap size and material grade, whether your existing flue top needs re-sealing, and if we need to re-anchor the liner itself. We deliver a written price before any work starts - Haven Standard Clause 1 - and that price includes the cap, installation, a camera inspection of the flue top, and a documented photo record under Clause 4. Every cap install carries our 365-Day Done Right Promise. We source through Haven’s buying network specifically to keep customer prices honest; no retail markup games.

DIY or Call Us?

You can safely check three things from the ground with binoculars: whether the cap is level, whether mesh is separating from frame, and whether rust is visible. Don’t climb the roof. Chimney work above 15 feet on a pitched surface is where homeowners get hurt, and Arlington Heights’ older colonials along Campbell Street have steep pitches designed to shed snow.

What goes wrong with DIY cap replacement: wrong flue measurement ordering a cap that won’t seat, stripping the liner top band with an improper driver, or discovering the liner itself has dropped and needs re-anchoring - a job that requires proper ladder positioning and knowledge of NFPA 211 clearances. The camera doesn’t guess. Neither do we. Call (331) 202-2419 and we’ll scope it properly, write the price, and handle the install.

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