Level 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.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterDuraFlex Chimney Cap Installation: The Clifton Owner’s Guide
We stock and install DuraFlex-compatible chimney caps in Clifton, with most jobs priced between $265 and $540 installed, including the cap itself, the mounting hardware, and a camera-scan check of the flue below the cap while we’re up there. You’ll walk away with a written price, a written scope, and a photo record of the work, and if we find something else wrong while we’re on the roof, you get a written quote for that too, not a verbal add-on. Most Clifton owners discover their cap has failed when they see water staining on the ceiling near the fireplace, or when they find chunks of the cap sitting in the yard after a nor’easter. The cap is the cheapest part of the chimney system and the first line of defense against everything else.
Key Takeaways
- Installed DuraFlex-compatible chimney cap replacement in Clifton: $265 to $540 typically
- We stock DuraFlex cap sizes on the truck, most jobs done in one visit
- Independently owned Level Two Chimney Clifton is not affiliated with DuraFlex
- Every job includes a camera inspection and documented photo record under Haven Standard Clause 4
Which DuraFlex Models This Applies To
DuraFlex caps are built to sit on their stainless steel liner systems, and the compatibility question comes down to the diameter of the liner stub sticking through your crown. We install caps for 4, 5, 5.5, 6, 7, and 8-inch liners, and the two most common sizes in Clifton are 6-inch for oil-to-gas conversions and 5.5-inch for older masonry flues that had a liner dropped in. If you’re not sure what size you have, the crimped end of the liner usually has a stamped tag a few inches down from the top, but if that tag is gone we measure the outside diameter of the stub with calipers before we ever order or pull a cap off the truck. The big gotcha with DuraFlex specifically is that their round caps are designed to friction-fit over the smooth liner stub, not over a terracotta tile, so if your masonry flue has no liner protruding above the crown, you’d need a base plate or a different cap style entirely, and we’ll tell you that in writing before we quote you anything.
Level Two Chimney Clifton is an independent service provider and installer. We source our cargo from DuraFlex, HeatShield, Gelco, and a handful of other manufacturers whose components we trust in New Jersey weather.
Signs Your DuraFlex Chimney Cap Installation Is Failing
- Water in the firebox after rain. The cap is a roof for your liner, and when its rivets let go or the screen separates from the base, rain has a direct path down the flue. In Clifton, where we get more than 45 inches of rain a year, a cap with even a half-inch gap will put water in the firebox by spring.
- Rust streaks down the sides of the cap or staining on the crown. DuraFlex caps are stainless, but the hardware and the screen can be a lower grade on older production runs. Brown staining means the cap is shedding material into your flue and needs replacement, not a wire brush.
- Birds or squirrels getting louder from the fireplace. A torn or missing screen on the cap isn’t just a noise issue. Nests inside a flue block the draft and bake creosote, and no camera scan we’ve done has ever shown a nest caused by anything except a failed cap or no cap at all.
- Visible rust at the cap-to-liner connection. That’s the point where New Jersey’s freeze-thaw cycles do the most work. Ice builds up on the crown, expands against the seam, and pries the cap loose over three or four winters. The moment you see daylight under the base, rain has a straight shot into the liner.
- Draft smells or smoking back into the room on windy days. A cap that’s tilted or partially blocking the outlet turns your flue into a venturi in odd wind directions. Clifton gets strong winds off the Passaic, and a cap that’s off-kilter just enough will send smoke indoors when the wind hits it wrong.
BeforeAfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
In Clifton, a DuraFlex-compatible replacement cap installed by our crew runs $265 to $540 depending on the liner size, whether we need a base plate to adapt the cap to your crown height, and how much we’re doing while we’re up there. A standard 6-inch round cap with a standard screen and no other work is the low end. Bigger liners, custom bases, or a cap with a heavier gauge screen to keep out the starlings push it up. We don’t charge travel time or for the camera inspection, so the price you get is the price you pay, written down before anything goes on the truck.
| Work | Typical Clifton Price |
|---|---|
| 6-inch DuraFlex-compatible cap, installed | $265 to $340 |
| 5.5-inch or 5-inch cap, installed | $275 to $350 |
| 7-inch or 8-inch cap with base plate, installed | $395 to $540 |
| Camera scan of flue while cap is off (included) | $0 |
The labor is the same whether we’re installing a cap on a liner that was already there or one we installed ourselves. We don’t do a flat “cap install” fee and then bill separately for a camera inspection. We regard the cap and the flue below it as one system, and we won’t put a cap on a liner we haven’t looked at. That’s a firm rule.
DIY or Call Us?
You can safely check a few things from the ground: look for a tilted cap with binoculars, check for rust stains on the shingles or the crown, and listen for animal noise from the fireplace. You should not go up on a two-story Clifton roof with a replacement cap and a drill unless you have fall protection that’s actually tied off and someone holding the ladder. That’s not gatekeeping, it’s just what we see on old Clifton houses with steep pitches and wet shingles. The other reason to call us is that the cap failure often isn’t the whole story. You can put a new cap on and still have water in the firebox if the crown underneath is cracked or the liner has a joint that opened up, and that’s exactly what our camera scan catches before we install the new cap, not after. Call us at (551) 282-9640 and we’ll tell you straight whether you need a cap, a crown, or something else.
FAQs
Stainless DuraFlex caps typically last 10 to 15 years in Clifton before rust, ice, or animal damage makes replacement cheaper than repair. Freeze-thaw cycles against the cap-to-crown connection are the main killer in this climate, and a cap that lasts 15 years in a mild climate will often need help by year 10 in Passaic County.
Usually not. The most common failure points are rusted rivets, a torn screen, or loosened crimp connections, and replacing individual components almost always costs more in labor than a new cap installed. We’ll tell you if we see a repairable cap, but we rarely do once it’s shown obvious failure signs. Call us at (551) 282-9640 if you want us to take a look before you decide.
Most cap replacements take 45 to 90 minutes once we’re set up, which includes replacing the cap, inspecting the flue with our camera, and documenting the work with photos. The whole visit, including the written quote review before we touch the roof, is usually under two hours.
Yes, we carry a range of common liner diameters in DuraFlex-compatible caps, plus base plates and mounting hardware. If your liner size is uncommon, we have it at our local supplier within a day or two. Either way, you’ll have a written price before we start any work.
Written by Corrine Halstead, Owner, Level Two Chimney Clifton at Level Two Chimney Clifton, serving Clifton and nearby areas.
Ready to Get a Written Price? Call Us
If you’re in Clifton and your chimney cap has failed or you suspect it has, call (551) 282-9640. We’ll schedule a visit, walk the roof if it’s safe, put a camera down your flue, and hand you a written price before anything gets installed. No verbal estimates, no pressure, no cap put on a flue we haven’t looked at. That’s how we’ve worked since 2009, and it’s why 38,000+ chimneys later, we still write down what we found and what it costs before the first tool comes out. The camera doesn’t guess. Neither do we.