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 Fort Lauderdale Owner’s Guide
We stock and install HeatShield-compatible chimney caps throughout Fort Lauderdale, and a typical cap replacement runs $325 – $585 installed, including the cap, mounting hardware, and labor. Most jobs take under an hour once our technician is on the roof. You usually discover a failed cap when water starts staining the ceiling below the chimney, when birds get loud inside the flue, or when a rusted piece of metal lands in the yard after a storm.
HeatShield caps are built well, but Fort Lauderdale eats metal. Salt air, hurricane-driven rain, and relentless UV turn a ten-year cap into a five-year cap if it’s not stainless steel. Here is how to know exactly what you’re dealing with.
Which HeatShield Models This Applies To
HeatShield makes caps for both their ceramic cast-in-place and stainless steel liner systems. The key spec is flue inside diameter; most Fort Lauderdale homes with HeatShield liners fall between 6 and 8 inches, and the cap must match the liner, not the old terra cotta flue tile. If you have a multi-flue chimney (two liners side by side), you need a multi-flue cap, which changes the mounting method and the price.
How to identify what you have: look for the HeatShield label on the cap base or on the liner inside the top of the flue. If the label is gone (it often is after a few years of Florida sun), measure the inside diameter of the liner with a tape measure. A 6-inch liner takes a smaller cap than an 8-inch liner, and using the wrong size leaves gaps that let rain in sideways.
On OEM vs aftermarket: we install genuine HeatShield caps when the liner is a matched HeatShield system, and quality equivalents from Gelco and Copperfield when the customer prefers a different price point. We also stock and work with DuraFlex, HeatShield, Gelco, Olympia Chimney, Famco, and Copperfield parts, so we’ll tell you plainly what each option costs and how long it should last in Fort Lauderdale’s climate. Flint Chimney Co Fort Lauderdale is an independent service provider and not affiliated with HeatShield.
Styles & brands we work with





Signs Your HeatShield Chimney Cap Installation Is Failing
- Water staining around the ceiling or wall near the chimney. This tells you rain is getting past the cap and running down the inside of the flue or between the liner and the masonry. It won’t dry out on its own, and waiting turns drywall into mold.
- Rust streaks on the cap or a rust hole you can see from the ground. Galvanized caps fail in Fort Lauderdale’s salt air faster than stainless. A rust hole means the cap is done, not fixable.
- Birds, bats, or bees in the flue. The cap’s screen mesh has torn or the cap has shifted, and now the flue is an open entry point. Bats in particular can squeeze through a hole the size of a dime.
- Debris falling into the firebox. Leaves, twigs, or pieces of old mortar dropping into the fireplace means the cap screen is compromised or the cap itself is loose at the base.
- Whistling or wind noise inside the house when it’s gusty. A bent or warped cap changes how air moves across the flue opening, and a rhythmic whistle often means the cap’s damaged side is catching the wind like a bottle neck.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
In Fort Lauderdale, a HeatShield-compatible stainless steel cap replacement typically runs $325 – $585 installed. The spread comes from three things: flue diameter (6-inch caps cost less than 8-inch), single-flue vs multi-flue mounting, and roof pitch. A steep barrel-tile roof takes longer to work on safely than a flat or low-pitch roof, and that labor difference is real.
What that price includes: the cap, correct mounting hardware, our technician’s time on the roof, and sweeping of any loose debris from the flue top while we’re there. We do not add a separate “flue inspection fee” on top of a cap swap; the work around the cap is part of the install.
Every repair from Flint Chimney Co Fort Lauderdale carries a written one-year guarantee under the 365-Day Done Right Promise. If the cap fails within that year, we return at no charge. No argument, no diagnostic fee. Fort Lauderdale weather means caps are under real stress, so we want that guarantee in writing, not in a handshake.
DIY or Call Us?
Working on a chimney cap means working at height, usually on a roof that is wet, dirty, or both. That’s a serious fall risk, and it’s the first reason we don’t recommend DIY cap replacement. If you want to check your cap yourself from the ground with binoculars, that’s smart, and we encourage it. Look for rust, gaps, and missing mesh. But getting on a Fort Lauderdale roof without the right harness and roof protection is not a weekend project.
The second reason is what you can’t see from the top: the cap’s mounting point is often the liner’s first line of defense against sideways rain, and a cap installed slightly wrong will leak even if it looks straight. If you’ve checked things from the ground and want a pair of trained eyes on the repair, call us at (754) 354-1430 and we’ll come out, give you a written price, and do the work clean.
FAQs
A stainless steel HeatShield cap in Fort Lauderdale typically lasts 8 to 12 years; galvanized caps often fail in 5 to 7 years because of salt air and heavy sun. Our coastal climate shortens cap life compared to inland Florida, which is why we recommend stainless for any replacement we sell. Call (754) 354-1430 and we’ll tell you exactly what your current cap is made of and how much life it has left.
No repair makes sense on a rusted cap. Patching rust buys you a wet season at best, and the cap costs less than the labor it takes to patch it properly. Our recommendation is always replacement with a stainless cap when the current one has rusted through. Call (754) 354-1430 if you want a candid recommendation on yours.
Typical cap replacement takes under an hour on the roof, plus setup and cleanup time. You don’t need to be home for the work, but we’ll want to show you the old cap and the new cap before we start, which is our standard practice on every job. Estimates are free; call (754) 354-1430 to book a time.
We stock the most common 6-inch and 8-inch stainless steel cap sizes on our trucks, including HeatShield-compatible models and equivalents from Gelco and Copperfield when a customer asks for another brand. If your flue is an unusual size or you want a specific finish, we’ll order it and schedule the install as soon as it arrives. Call (754) 354-1430 to confirm your size before we head out.
Written by Hank Delano, Owner, Flint Chimney Co Fort Lauderdale at Flint Chimney Co Fort Lauderdale, serving Fort Lauderdale and nearby areas.