Olympia Chimney Chimney Cap Installation Nationwide

Olympia Chimney Chimney Cap Installation: The Hempstead Owner’s Guide

We stock and install Olympia Chimney-compatible caps throughout Hempstead, and most installations run between $285 and $495 depending on the flue size and the cap model your setup calls for. We carry the common Olympia sizes on the truck, and if your cap is a standard round or square flue fit, we can usually get it done in a single visit. The way most Hempstead homeowners find out their cap has failed is simple: they hear rain dripping down the flue, or they spot a rusted piece of metal in the yard after a nor’easter.

Call (516) 963-1068

Wendell Pike has been on enough roofs in Nassau County to say this plainly: a chimney cap is cheap insurance compared to what water does once it gets inside the flue. And if it doesn’t need doing, he’ll tell you.

Key Takeaways

• Olympia Chimney caps rust at the base first, especially near the salt air that pushes in from the South Shore.
• We match by measuring the flue tile, not by guessing from a photo.
• Most cap replacements in Hempstead take under an hour once we’re on the roof.
• You get the 90-Day Done Right Promise on every cap we install, in writing.

Which Olympia Chimney Models This Applies To

Olympia Chimney makes caps for both round and square flue tiles, and the most common ones we see on Hempstead homes are the vacuum-formed stainless models built for standard terra-cotta clay liners: 8×8, 9×13, 13×13, and the round 6-inch, 7-inch, and 8-inch sizes. The trick to getting the right cap is knowing your flue tile’s outside diameter, not the cap’s bolt spacing. Olympia caps use a pressure-fit base with a side locking bolt, and if someone eyeballs the size instead of measuring, you end up with a cap that rattles in the wind or pops off during the first cold snap.

We are an independent service provider, not affiliated with Olympia Chimney, but their cap dimensions are straightforward enough that we stock the most common sizes and can match the rest from our supply house within a day or two. One compatibility gotcha we run into regularly in Hempstead’s older housing stock: many of the homes near Hofstra and in the neighborhoods south of Hempstead Turnpike have original clay flue tiles that have spalled at the top edge. The tile will measure 13×13 on the inside, but the outside corners are chipped and rounded. A standard Olympia cap base won’t seat flush on that, and we’ll add a flue tile cap adapter or a custom bracket rather than lean on the locking bolt and hope for the best. Wendell learned early at Southwestern College that the bolt is not what holds the cap on. The fit is.

The OEM versus aftermarket question comes up now and then. Olympia’s vacuum-formed stainless caps are solid, but they’re also thin at the base weld points. In a coastal-weather town like Hempstead, we’ve seen the factory weld at the base ring fail within five years. When that happens, we’re happy to install an Olympia replacement if that’s what you want. But we also stock Copperfield and Famco caps, which use heavier gauge stainless at the base and tend to outlast the original in salt-adjacent air. We’ll show you both, give you the honest price difference, and let you decide.

Signs Your Olympia Chimney Chimney Cap Installation Is Failing

• Rust streaks running down the flue tile. The Olympia cap’s base ring is usually the first thing to go. Once the stainless coating thins and the underlying steel starts to oxidize, you’ll see orange streaks on the tile below. That means water is wicking under the cap, not past it.
• You can hear the cap rattle on a windy night. The side locking bolt has loosened or the flue tile corners have spalled. Either way, the cap is moving, and every gust is working it a little more. On a Hempstead street with mature trees, one good noreaster can finish the job.
• Rain dripping inside the fireplace, even when the damper is closed. A cap that shifted or lost its lid lets water straight down the flue. You might also catch that damp, sooty smell in the living room on humid summer mornings.
• Leaves, twigs, or acorns in the firebox. Squirrels in Hempstead are persistent, and a cap with a bent screen or missing hood is an open door. They will nest in a flue, and we’ve pulled out nests that filled an entire 12×12 liner.
• Visible cracks in the cap’s hood or a missing spark arrestor screen. These are mechanical failures, not cosmetic ones. Once the screen is compromised, embers can reach whatever is on or near your roof, and a cracked hood lets water pool inside the cap body.

Replacement Cost & What’s Included

In Hempstead, an Olympia Chimney cap replacement with labor typically runs $285 to $495. The cap itself is usually $90 to $190 for standard sizes, and the labor covers getting on the roof, removing the old cap, measuring the flue tile, cleaning the tile top, seating the new cap, and tightening the lock bolt properly. The rest of the range comes down to roof access, flue tile condition, and whether we need an adapter or a custom bracket for a spalled tile.

Every cap installation comes with the 90-Day Done Right Promise. If the cap shifts, rattles, or leaks within 90 days, one call brings Wendell back at no additional cost. You also get the standing offers: $40 off any repair over $200 and 10% off always for seniors and veterans. The price we quote on the phone is the price on the invoice, before a single tool comes off the truck.

Call (516) 963-1068 for an exact quote. Estimates are free, and there’s no trip charge inside the county.

DIY or Call Us?

If you can safely get on your roof and inspect the cap from the ladder, there are a few things worth checking: rust at the base ring, loose bolts, bent or missing screens, and cracked hood welds. But here’s the honest split for this particular part. Climbing a roof in Hempstead’s winter months, when most cap failures surface, is a different job than doing it on a dry June afternoon. And a poor fit is worse than no cap at all, because a loose cap vibrates, scores the flue tile, and eventually tears itself apart. If the roof pitch is steep, the chimney stack is tall, or you’re not comfortable on a ladder with both hands on the cap, call us instead. This is not a job to learn by feel.

Top Hat Chimney has been doing this since 1999. The sweep who shows up at your door in Hempstead will be someone whose name you know. Call (516) 963-1068 and ask for Wendell. He’ll tell you straight whether the cap can wait or if it’s time to swap it.

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