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.
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AfterFast, Reliable Chimney Cap & Crown Across Hokendauqua
Chimney cap and crown work in Hokendauqua usually runs $325-$1,100 depending on whether we’re repairing a cracked crown or replacing a rusted cap, and most jobs are done in a single visit. If you live in one of the old worker row homes near Main Street or up toward the Lehigh River, you already know what the valley wind does to a chimney. We’re Top Hat Chimney, and Wendell Pike has been climbing onto these coal-era roofs since 1999. Call (484) 859-1367 and a live person answers, not a call center.
Before the first fire of the season, walk outside and look at your chimney crown. If you see hairline cracks running across the concrete, water is getting in. It may not show as a leak yet, but freeze-thaw cycling through a Hokendauqua winter will widen those cracks every single year. And the problem underneath is usually worse than what you can see from the ground.
Why Top Hat Chimney Is Hokendauqua’s Preferred Chimney Cap & Crown Company
The row homes along Church Street and Lehigh Street were built when the Thomas Iron Company was running blast furnaces night and day. Those chimneys were designed for coal smoke – high heat, dry exhaust, no acidic condensation. Nobody ever planned for the oil burners and gas furnaces that replaced the coal stoves. That mismatch is what we deal with on nearly every cap and crown job in Hokendauqua, and it’s exactly why our Chimney Cap & Crown work here almost always starts with a camera look inside the flue before we touch the crown.
We answer the phone around the clock. You might get Wendell himself at two in the afternoon or two in the morning. When we schedule a job in Hokendauqua, we give you a real arrival window, and if traffic on MacArthur Road slows us down, we call you before you wonder where we are.
Every job gets the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If the crown coating fails or the cap loosens within three months, one call brings our crew back. No arguing, no second invoice. Wendell puts his name and license number on the work because he runs into you at the hardware store on Saturday.
Our Chimney Cap & Crown Services in Hokendauqua
Crown Repair
A cracked crown on a Hokendauqua coal-era chimney is almost never just a surface issue. Wind-driven rain finds those hairline cracks, pools in the oversized unlined flue, and drips down to stain the ceiling of your front room. We repair the crown with a proper Portland cement mix sloped away from the flue, then we scope the flue to see what the decades of moisture have already done.
Crown Coating
For crowns that are still structurally sound but showing weather wear, we brush on a Gelco crown coat. This is the job we recommend for Hokendauqua homeowners whose crowns have minor surface spalling but no deep fractures. The coating flexes with freeze-thaw movement instead of cracking like raw concrete. A coated crown on one of these river-valley chimneys will typically buy you another ten to fifteen years before a full rebuild.
Cap Installation
Most original chimneys in this borough never had a cap – coal smoke went straight out. But an oil or gas flue left open to rain is a slow-motion wreck. We install stainless steel caps sized correctly for the flue, not whatever’s sitting in the truck. On a row home near the old Thomas Iron works, we recently fitted a Copperfield multi-flue cap after a spring storm drove water through a failed crown and into an unlined flue that had been venting an oil burner since the 1950s. The smoke chamber was glazed with third-degree creosote and the damper was shot, so we scheduled a Level 2 inspection before coating the new crown.
Cap Replacement
Old cast-iron caps rust through at the bolt holes first. Water runs down the brick, freeze-thaw spalls the crown edge, and suddenly a $400 cap replacement becomes a $900 crown rebuild. When we replace a cap in Hokendauqua, we check the crown at the same time. If we can save it with a coating, we do. If it needs repair work, we tell you with the camera footage on hand so you see it yourself.
Multi-Flue Cap
Some of the larger homes up near Northampton border Hokendauqua with two or three flues in a single chimney need a multi-flue cap that spans the whole crown. This is also the right call when a chimney vents both a fireplace and a furnace. We size it to the exact crown dimensions, not a clamp-on universal that catches wind and rattles.
Custom Cap
If you have an odd-sized flue from the 1910s or a decorative chimney on one of the older cottages, a stock cap isn’t going to fit. We order custom stainless from Olympia Chimney to match the exact measurements, and it arrives in about a week.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Hokendauqua
We install and service caps and crowns built with components from DuraFlex, Gelco, and Olympia Chimney. We stock common sizes for Hokendauqua’s older flues so we aren’t running back and forth across the Lehigh River to grab a part. What we install matches the original chimney’s dimensions and the current appliance’s venting needs, not whatever the supply house has on sale.
Common Chimney Cap & Crown Problems We See in Hokendauqua Homes
- Wind-driven rain through hairline crown cracks. The Lehigh River valley funnels wind between the rows of brick homes, and a cracked crown catches that rain like a funnel. The leak often shows up as a brown ring on plaster near the chimney chase, not directly under the flue.
- Rusted cast-iron caps failing at the bolt holes. Caps installed in the 1980s and 1990s are reaching the end of their life. Once the bolt holes rust through, the cap loosens, rattles in the wind, and eventually lands in the gutter after a nor’easter.
- Flashing separation on 1920s cottages. The original aluminum flashing on many of these small homes separates during winter storms. Water runs down the brick inside the wall cavity and shows up as a ceiling stain the following spring, long after the storm has passed.
- Oversized unlined flues under intact-looking crowns. When Hokendauqua’s row homes switched from coal to oil mid-century, no one relined the flues. The same oversized chimney that once vented a coal stove now vents an oil appliance, and decades of condensing flue gases have eaten mortar from the inside out. The crown looks fine from the roofline. The flue below it isn’t.
Pricing for Chimney Cap & Crown in Hokendauqua, PA
A straightforward cap installation in Hokendauqua runs $325-$550, including the stainless cap and the labor to climb the roof and secure it. Crown repair with patching runs $400-$700 depending on how much of the old concrete we need to chip out. A full crown rebuild, which we see often on these century-old chimneys, runs $800-$1,100. Crown coating with Gelco adds $275-$425 on top of the prep work.
Two things push Hokendauqua prices slightly higher than the county average. First, these are old chimneys – the crown work almost always reveals flue damage that needs to be addressed. Second, many of these row homes have steep pitches and tight rooflines that take longer to access safely. We give you the price before a single tool comes off the truck, and that’s the number on the invoice.
Call (484) 859-1367 for a free estimate, and remind us if you’re a senior or veteran – there’s a 10% discount that’s always on the table.
We Also Serve Cities Near Hokendauqua
If you’re right across the river in Chimney Cap & Crown in Hokendauqua or up in Northampton, Allen, Catasauqua, or Palmerton, we cover those too. Same pricing, same crew, same 90-Day Done Right Promise. Most of our Hokendauqua customers come from word of mouth, which means we’re working in your neighbor’s chimney as often as we’re working in yours.
Serving Hokendauqua, PA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Hokendauqua area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Chimney Cap & Crown in Hokendauqua
Coal burned hot and dry, so an open flue was fine-rain evaporated quickly. Your oil or gas appliance now produces cooler, wetter exhaust that condenses inside the flue. An open flue lets rain mix with that condensation, accelerating mortar deterioration from the inside. A properly sized cap keeps water out and gives your flue a fighting chance. Call (484) 859-1367 and we’ll measure the flue before ordering anything.
First, check the ground around your house for the cap-it may have landed in the yard. Second, look at the crown edge from the ground with binoculars. If you see missing chunks of concrete along the edge where the cap was bolted, the crown itself was already compromised and the storm just finished it. Don’t climb up to look; leave that to a pro. Call us and we’ll inspect the crown, the flue, and the flashing in one visit.
No. A real crown repair means chipping out the deteriorated concrete, mixing a Portland-based mortar with the right compression strength, and sloping it away from the flue at the correct angle. If any old concrete is left in place, the new patch delaminates in the first freeze-thaw cycle. And on these old chimneys, crown work often means standing on a steep roof over a two-story row home. That’s not a weekend ladder job. Wendell and his crew were doing this before Home Depot sold chimney patch kits, and we carry the right material on the truck.
Yes, but it’s not the whole answer. A cap keeps rain and animals out, but it doesn’t solve the venting mismatch between an oversized coal flue and a modern oil or gas appliance. That oversized flue lets exhaust cool and condense before it exits, and the condensation is what’s eating your mortar. A cap buys you time and stops active water intrusion. A liner is the permanent fix for the condensing flue gases. We’ll scope the flue and show you the footage before recommending either.
Yes, and for a specific local reason. On the worker-era row homes in this borough, a cracked crown has usually been leaking into the flue for years before anyone noticed. The crown replacement is simple. The hidden damage below it-the deteriorated mortar, the glazed creosote, the compromised smoke chamber-is what the Level 2 inspection documents. We found exactly that pattern on a row home near the old Thomas Iron works, where a cracked crown had been leaking into an unlined oil flue for decades. The inspection after the repair is how we know the fireplace is safe to burn before you light it.
If you live in Hokendauqua and your chimney cap is rusted through, your crown is cracked, or you just want a set of trained eyes on it before burning season, call (484) 859-1367. Wendell or one of his crew will answer, we’ll set a real arrival window, and we’ll show you the camera footage so you see exactly what we see. Estimates are free, and the number we quote is the number you pay.
Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney, serving Hokendauqua and the Lehigh River valley since 1999.