Choosing a Chimney Cap

The neighborhood I grew up in was built in the 1950’s, so just about every house had a fireplace. I remember when my dad used to build fires and we would sit around watching The Walton’s or some other show and it would be merrily burning away. One of my favorite memories of growing up is when my mom and I would take long walks around our neighborhood. I can still remember that during the fall and winter, we would step outside and immediately smell the smoke from people using their fireplaces and see the smoke rising from their chimneys. To this day, whenever I smell that smell (say that fast three times), it brings back fond memories.

The one thing that I never really thought about was the fact that none of the chimneys in our neighborhood had a cap on them. Granted, I was a kid so why would I think about something like that? But, even as an adult, the thought just never entered my mind. I mean, who thinks about those things? Why would something like a chimney cap be important? Well, a few years ago, my mom and dad woke up and heard a loud quacking sound coming from their chimney. Naturally, they went outside and looked on their roof, fully expecting to see a duck perched on their chimney. However, when they looked up, they couldn’t see anything, yet the quacking continued. Next, my dad grabbed a ladder and a flashlight and ventured onto the roof. When he shined the flashlight into the chimney, there was the duck, stuck.