Hot take: the rain cap on my 1978 brick ranch saved me $400, and I almost missed it

Jordan Roberts · 2026-10-09T10:05:06.207128+00:00

So last Wednesday I was on a two story colonial over in Norwood, and the customer kept telling me water was coming down the flue and rusting out their damper. I figured it was just a cracked crown, easy fix, been doing this run for 11 years. Pulled the cap off and the thing was so rusted the hinge snapped in my hand, bird nest jammed in the screen too. I about ate it off the ladder, scared the dog in the yard half to death. Went home, ordered a stainless cap for $85, came back Friday, and it slid right on. What got me was the look on the guy's face when he saw the old one. He said he'd been putting buckets out for two winters. Two winters of buckets for an $85 part. That's the win, I guess, finding the cheap stuff that was hiding in plain sight. Any of you swap to the bolt on caps or do you still go with the screw in ones? I keep going back and forth.

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Hot take: the rain cap on my 1978 brick ranch saved me $400, and I almost missed it | Chimney Sweeps - Discusd