Chimney Caps & Cowls in Geelong

Keeping weather and birds out of Geelong's old flues

Most of Geelong's Victorian and Edwardian chimneys were built with pots and no cap, because they were lit daily and the fire kept them dry. Now that many of these fireplaces are used a few nights a week or restored after years idle, the open pot becomes the problem: rain runs down the unlined brick, birds nest in the flue over summer, and the hearth is damp and littered by the first cold snap.

The fix is a cap that suits the pot. On an original terracotta pot we fit a cap with a bird guard that clamps or sits inside the pot without cutting it, so the roofline in a character area is unchanged. On the plainer interwar and post-war stacks, where a rusted galvanised cap is the usual finding, we replace it with a stainless or coated cap fixed to the crown with fasteners that will not corrode in the bay air.

Downdraught on a tall period stack near the waterfront is the third job. Wind coming off the bay across a two-storey roof pushes down an open flue and the fire smokes on exactly the nights you want it. An anti-downdraught cowl on the pot is the normal answer, and we check the draw with the cowl fitted and the fire lit before leaving.