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An ornate Prahran stack can carry five pots for five fireplaces, and most households use one. FreshDuct caps the flues you use against rain and birds, closes off the ones you do not, and fits cowls for fires that smoke back, all from the roof and photographed.
Rain landing in an upstairs bedroom grate? That flue has been open to the sky for decades and needs a cap.
Stand in a Prahran lane and count the pots. A double-storey terrace can carry a row of decorative terracotta on one stack, each one the top of a flue that runs down to a lounge, a dining room or a bedroom, and nearly all of them open. When those fireplaces burned daily the flues stayed dry; now most are idle, and every open pot is a way in for rain, leaves and nesting birds.
The sensible plan is to treat each pot on its merits. The fireplace you use gets a rain cap with a bird guard, sized to the pot so it sits securely inside the decorative rim rather than perching on top of it. Idle bedroom and dining flues are capped closed with a ventilated cap that stops rain and draught but lets the flue breathe, so the chimney breast does not turn damp. Decorative pots stay in place either way.
Where a lounge fire smokes back when the wind blows down a narrow street of two-storey roofs, an anti-downdraught cowl on that pot usually settles it, and we test the draw with the cowl fitted. All of this is done from the roof above the parapet, with harness work where the height calls for it, and photographed so you can see each pot without going up.
Rain caps, bird guards, ventilated caps for idle flues and anti-downdraught cowls, fitted to the decorative pots of Prahran's terraces from the roof.
Each pot on a Prahran stack serves a different room. We trace the flue from the fireplace, identify its pot from the roof and cap that one, so the lounge keeps drawing and the idle bedroom flues are closed off properly.
Ornate terracotta pots are part of the terrace. We fit caps that sit inside or clamp to the pot rather than replacing it, so the stack looks the same from the lane and the flue is protected underneath.
A two-storey flue with an open pot carries a surprising amount of rain to the smoke shelf, where it soaks the brick and the plaster behind it. A cap on the pot stops the water at the top, where it is easiest to stop.
Real photos from Melbourne jobs — not stock, not staged.
Terrace pots are individual, so each one we cap is measured on the roof and matched with a cap or cowl that fits it, then fixed and sealed with harness work above the parapet where the height calls for it.
A photo of each capped pot comes with the job, so you can see which flues are closed, which one is working and that the decorative pots are still in place.
Documented end to end — every job, every suburb.
Flue size, terminal type and roof access checked.
The right cap or cowl for the appliance and the problem.
Firm price before any work.
Fixed and sealed from the roof, safely.
Draw checked with the cap on.
A photo of the finished cap from the roof.
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The same local team covers the suburbs around Prahran. Explore nearby areas and related FreshDuct chimney services.
Yes, with a ventilated cap. An idle flue with an open pot lets in rain and birds for years, and the damp ends up in the chimney breast. A ventilated cap stops the water and the draught while letting the flue breathe, and the pot stays where it is.
It should not. We fit caps that sit inside the pot or clamp to it rather than replacing the terracotta, so from the lane the stack reads exactly as it did. The photo from the roof shows you the cap and the pot together.
An open flue lets rain, leaves and birds straight in. A cap keeps the flue dry, keeps nests out and, on a wood heater, a spark arrestor stops embers leaving the flue.
Usually a downdraught — wind pushing back down the flue. An anti-downdraught cowl is the normal fix; we confirm the draw with a test before and after.
Yes. If we are on the roof for a sweep and the flue needs a cap, we can quote it on the spot and fit it the same visit where we have the right size.
Send your details and the office confirms a window for Prahran. No call-out fee, before and after photos, and honest advice on what your chimney needs and what it does not.
