Famco Chimney Cap Installation Nationwide

Famco Chimney Cap Installation: The Paterson Owner’s Guide

We stock and install Famco-compatible chimney caps across Paterson, with most replacements completed in a single visit and upfront pricing that runs $340-$780 installed depending on flue size and whether your crown needs resealing. If you’re seeing rust streaks down your brick or hearing flapping in a windstorm, the cap is likely failing and letting water into your flue. In Paterson’s freeze-thaw cycles, that water turns to cracked flue tiles by spring.

Call (973) 604-2986

Which Famco Models This Applies To

Famco builds caps across several series, and the right match depends on your flue configuration, not just the brand name on the box. We regularly see three lines in Paterson homes: the standard galvanized single-flue caps with the stamped mesh sides, the stainless-steel multi-flue models with welded seams, and the wind-directional models Famco labels “Vacu-Stack” that spin to draw smoke upward in gusty conditions.

To identify yours, check the underside of the existing cap for a stamped model number, usually near the mounting bracket. If it’s rusted beyond reading, measure the flue tile opening (not the crown) to the nearest eighth-inch. The 8×13 and 13×13 sizes dominate Paterson’s pre-war housing stock, but we’ve pulled 10×10s and odd 9×18s from homes near the Great Falls Historic District where chimneys were built to narrower specs. We carry OEM Famco and quality aftermarket equivalents from Gelco and Olympia Chimney on our trucks. Aftermarket saves roughly $80-$140 on parts and carries the same 90-Day Done Right Promise. The only reason to insist on OEM Famco is matching an existing Vacu-Stack where the directional bearing assembly must interface precisely with the base collar.

Signs Your Famco Chimney Cap Installation Is Failing

• Rust bleeding down the chimney face. Galvanized Famco caps begin losing their zinc coating after 8-12 years in northern New Jersey’s acid rain and snow load. Once rust reaches the mesh, the cap is no longer protecting your flue, it’s staining your brick.
• Mesh sides pulled away from the frame. The spot-welds on older galvanized units fatigue from thermal cycling. Gaps larger than a quarter-inch let squirrels and starlings nest in your flue, a problem we see every April in Paterson’s tree-lined neighborhoods.
• Cap sitting crooked or detached after wind. Famco’s standard mounting brackets rely on pressure screws against the flue tile. If your flue tile has hairline cracks from freeze-thaw, the bracket loses grip. A cap on the ground after a March nor’easter is a cap that was warning you for two seasons.
• Water in the firebox after heavy rain. This means the cap’s crown seal has failed, or the cap was never sized correctly for your flue projection. In Paterson’s older homes with sunken crowns, we often find the cap was shimmed with masonry caulk that cracked in the first winter.
• Smoke puffing into the room on startup. A Vacu-Stack with a seized bearing won’t spin, creating a pressure zone that pushes smoke backward down the flue. The bearing assembly is replaceable, but most homeowners don’t know to check it until the room fills with haze.

Replacement Cost & What’s Included

What drives the range: flue height above the crown (taller needs an extended base), accessibility (steep roofs around Garrett Mountain require additional safety rigging), and whether we find spalled crown concrete once the old cap comes off. We photograph everything before we quote. The number we agree to is the number on the invoice. Every cap installation carries our 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing, and the stainless units include a 20-year manufacturer’s warranty against corrosion-through.

DIY or Call Us?

There’s no high-tension danger in a chimney cap, but there’s plenty of ways to do it wrong and pay twice. An owner can safely check whether the cap is loose by sight from the ground with binoculars, or feel for wobble from the roof edge if they’re already up there for gutters. What goes wrong: buying a cap that fits the crown instead of the flue, over-tightening pressure brackets and cracking the flue tile, or sealing with the wrong caulk that traps moisture and accelerates crown decay. We’ve reinstalled three homeowner caps in Paterson this past year alone, all because the mesh was the wrong gauge for local squirrel behavior. If your roof pitch is steeper than 6:12 or you’re working above a single story, the fall risk isn’t worth the savings. Call (973) 604-2986 and we’ll get it done right the first time.

FAQs