Sweep & inspection
Caps & crowns
Flue relining
Masonry repair
Gas fireplace serviceLevel 1 sweep and inspection to the NFPA 211 annual standard - flue, crown, cap, and flashing checked and photographed
Chimney sweep logs do not sweep chimneys. They loosen some creosote - which then falls where a brush and vacuum still have to collect it.
HeatShield Chimney Cap Installation: The Marietta Owner’s Guide
If you have a HeatShield chimney cap that’s rusted through, blown loose, or letting rain pour down your flue, we install HeatShield-compatible caps in Marietta for a typical installed price of $340 to $680, parts included. Most replacements take under two hours once we’re on site, and we keep common HeatShield sizes on the truck so we’re not making you wait on a second visit. The way most Marietta homeowners discover the failure is simple: they hear dripping inside the fireplace after a storm, or they spot rust streaks staining the crown from the street, or a neighbor mentions seeing the cap tilted sideways after the last big wind that rolled through Cobb County.
Which HeatShield Models This Applies To
HeatShield caps are built around the flue tile’s outside dimensions, not the liner’s inside diameter, which trips up a lot of DIY buyers. If your flue tile measures 13″ x 13″ outside, you need a cap with a base that actually fits over that 13×13, typically with a ½” to ¾” clearance on each side for the mounting screws to bite. HeatShield’s stainless steel and copper caps come in standard base sizes from about 8″ x 8″ up to 17″ x 17″, and they use a slip-over base rather than a top-mount plate, which matters when your crown has settled or cracked, a condition we see constantly in older Marietta neighborhoods where clay crowns have been baking in Georgia sun for 30 years.
For OEM versus aftermarket: HeatShield caps are good stainless, usually 304-grade on their mid-tier line, and a genuine HeatShield cap does exactly what the name says. But if your original was an older galvanized HeatShield and you’re replacing because of rust, we’ll often recommend stepping to a 304 stainless aftermarket equivalent from a brand like Copperfield or Famco, which we also stock, because they hold up longer in the humid, storm-heavy seasons we get here and they typically cost $40 to $90 less for the same dimensions. Ruben Castellano will tell you plainly: if the part number on your old cap’s tag starts with “HS-“, we can match it without guesswork. If the tag’s gone, we measure on site.
Styles & brands we work with





Signs Your HeatShield Chimney Cap Installation Is Failing
- Water inside the firebox after rain. This almost always means the cap’s hood has rusted through or the mesh sides have torn away from the base. The water enters through the top and runs down the flue walls, which is exactly how you end up with a liner that needs a lot more than a sweep.
- Visible rust streaks on the chimney crown. That’s the cap’s base plate deteriorating and bleeding down onto the masonry. By the time you can see it from the ground, the base is usually compromised enough that the cap is shifting in the wind.
- Cap tilted or leaning to one side. High winds and a few freeze-thaw cycles in a Marietta winter will loosen the mounting screws, especially if the crown underneath was already spalling. A leaning cap isn’t just dragging down curb appeal; it’s letting rain drive directly into the flue opening.
- Birds or squirrels inside the fireplace. Once the side mesh develops a hole, usually from rust or from an animal working at a seam, you’ve got an open entry. We’ve pulled nest material out of flues in the Kennesaw Avenue corridor that filled two contractor bags.
- Debris falling into the firebox between fires. If the cap’s mesh has failed or the hood has separated at its seams, you’ll see bits of leaves, twigs, or even roof gravel collecting in the firebox. That debris is fuel for a chimney fire once the season starts.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
For a standard single-flue HeatShield-compatible stainless cap install in Marietta, you’re looking at $340 to $480 all-in. A larger multi-flue setup or a copper cap upgrade runs $520 to $680. The range depends on three things: flue tile size, how much of the old cap’s mounting hardware needs to be extracted, and whether the crown needs minor patching around the new base, which we’ll do as part of the job rather than sending you to a mason. Every quote includes the cap, all stainless mounting hardware, removal and disposal of the old cap, and a written price before we touch anything. The installation itself carries our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the cap shifts, loosens, or leaks within a year, we come back and make it right at no charge. That’s not a verbal assurance; it’s on the paperwork.
DIY or Call Us?
If you’re comfortable on a ladder and you want to check the cap yourself, you can safely look for the tell signs from the ground or a lower-roof vantage point: rust, tilt, or missing mesh. What you shouldn’t do is climb onto the chimney chase with a drill and try to swap a cap that’s seized into old masonry. The fasteners on a 15-year-old HeatShield are often rust-welded into the crown, and one slip on a wet Georgia roof turns a $400 job into an emergency room visit. Our technicians carry extraction tools and 304 stainless replacement hardware, and they’re background-checked and identity-verified under the Threshold Standard, so you’ll know the name and see the photo of who’s coming before the truck pulls up. If the cap is bad, call us at (229) 350-8952 and we’ll get it measured and quoted.
FAQs
A galvanized HeatShield cap in our climate typically lasts 8 to 12 years before rust compromises the base. A 304 stainless version will go 18 to 25 years with normal exposure. Marietta’s humidity and heavy storm cycles accelerate galvanized failure faster than you’d see in a dry climate. Call (229) 350-8952 and we’ll tell you which material you had and what we’d recommend as the replacement.
If only the mesh is torn and the hood and base are still structurally sound, a repair is sometimes possible on stainless caps. But once the base plate has rusted through or the hood is separated at its seam, repair is throwing money at a part that’s already done. We’ll show you the corrosion up close before any recommendation.
Most single-flue HeatShield cap installations take 45 to 90 minutes on site. That includes removing the old cap, cleaning the mounting area, addressing minor crown spalling around the base, and installing the new hardware. Multi-flue caps or cases with significant masonry damage push closer to two hours.
We keep the most common HeatShield-compatible sizes in 304 stainless on the truck: 8×8, 9×9, 10×10, 13×13, and a couple of larger multi-flue bases. If you need a copper cap or an unusual size, we order it and typically install within a week. We also stock equivalents from DuraFlex, Gelco, and Copperfield if a name-brand swap makes more sense for your flue.
If your HeatShield cap is shot, don’t wait for the next storm to prove it. Call (229) 350-8952 and we’ll get you a straight answer, a written price, and a name and photo of the technician before anyone steps foot on your property.
Written by Ruben Castellano, Owner, Alcott Chimney Marietta at Alcott Chimney Marietta, serving Marietta and nearby areas.