You wouldn’t just leave a hole in your roof because you know that precipitation, cold air, animals, or leaves and twigs would get in through the hole. But doesn’t it seem like that’s exactly what your chimney is? A hole that lets stuff in. That’s why a chimney cap is so important. Your chimney is designed to be topped by the chimney crown. This is the solid piece of concrete material at the very 
top of your brick chimney. It actually has a great design which directs rain off its sloped sides and away from the point where the roof meets the roof because that spot would be particularly susceptible to leaks. But it does nothing to keep precipitation out of the opening itself. That’s the job of the chimney cap.
Structure of a Chimney Cap
Not every chimney has a chimney cap. This is something that the homeowner can purchase and add to the chimney structure. It sits on top of the chimney crown. It is designed like a little one-room shed, with a solid roof with sloped sides to direct precipitation towards the chimney crown. Because the purpose of the chimney is to allow smoke to leave, the chimney cap is designed with metal grated sides so that the smoke is released but outdoor things are kept out. This is a great way to ensure that stray debris, leaves, twigs, and animals are kept out of your home.
Now is a great time to be thinking about chimney caps because it’s chimney swift season. Chimney swifts are a unique little bird, shaped like a cigar, and resembling a smoky smudge. They aren’t much bigger than a sparrow or a robin, but they do have long, narrow wings. A swift spends most of its life in flight, in part because it can’t perch, but instead clings to walls when it lands to roost. In fact, a chimney swift even eats, drinks, and cleans itself in flight. These little travelers migrate to Peru every winter, then head back up north to build their nests and raise their young. Because they can’t perch, they need to look for hollow logs or caves to build their nests, but these sites are in short supply in modern-day America. That’s why the innovative swift began to use chimneys to build their nests instead. Chimney swifts also tend to go back to the same nest again and again if it’s available, so if they start out in your chimney, they’ll come back year after year unless you stop that from happening.
Prevention
Chimney sweeps are noisy nest makers and their babies are noisy, also. Other animals can make lots of noise while they’re raising little ones as well. There is also some smell associated with having animals in your chimney. If all of this is more than you want to deal with year after year, give Chim Cheroo Chimney Service Inc a call and we will make sure you have a chimney cap that keeps critters, leaves and twigs, and other debris out of your chimney.