CBD's Birger Chimney Caps Page

This is much like the larger chimney cap I made for a local client named Bardana in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The differences besides being a little scaled down was that I made this one with a 2 stage step in base/skirt. Something I had not done for this style chimney cap before, but I think it looks very good. This order was for Bernard & Debby Birger in Collinsville, Illinois.

After finding my web site they had made a trip out here to visit their Daughter's family in Bend, Oregon. While in our State they took the time to stop in to visit with me after getting off their plane here in PDX. They laid down a $2k deposit for the work they wanted done and said they would be back in September with a Motorhome and trailer to pick these up before heading back from visiting their Daughter again after she had her new baby.

Given the long rectangular length of their brick chimney I built this one with more arches along the long sides in stead of one long arch. I designed the roof line to resemble their house with hipped 5/12 pitch, so this will look more like what the architect might have designed for this house. The client approved this design and were very pleased with the results. We discussed aesthetic options like adding 1" wider roof than the base/skirt.

Here's the before and after photos of the installed chimney cap.

Here's the 4 pieces of 5/4X6 Ipe hardwood support frame I need to build inside the copper base that helps anchor this down in high wind storms. Each board has been cut on all 4 sides at an angle. The top and bottom were cut on my table saw at a 30 degree angle and the ends were cut at a 45 degree angle to miter them together. They will be positioned down low where it should not suffer heat from the chimney and shielded from the elements.

Above right you can see the base/skirt for the chimney cap cut out and shaped with the wood being pressed down into the frame while the expanding Gorilla Glue sets. Then it is ready to be assembled into this base/skirt. It is also held in place with long rivets and I varnished the inside of the hardwood to keep it dry.

This shows the arched column mid-section just after the sheet of copper is bent. There is a good deal of math and geometry involved here, so it's all in the right proportions, and the bottom of the columns rest on the angled base just right. I was able to make these mid-section walls from just 2 separate sheets of copper for a strong structure and a clean look with few seams. This also shows the 8 arch liner formed for this 1 chimney cap and the decorative copper piping work around each support column.

It took us a few days just to build this set of columns and arches. Then there was the decorative piping to attach to each column. Each corner column required a pipe that was about 30" long. It took the majority of two 10' pipes for this one chimney cap. The column are then attached to the base with 36 SS screws and over 100 rivets.

I cut and bent the 4 piece 16 gauge stainless steel screen to set into a channel along the inside rim of the bases. These screens are what I get my hands lacerated on more than any other aspect of my work, so it's important to hide all the edges of this SS screen, so these are safe for anyone else after these are completed. The SS screen is secured to the base through the 3 layers of copper with dozens of longer rivets, and then riveted into the back of each arch and column. Once it is fully attached with hundreds of copper rivets the SS screen adds a great deal of strength to this structure. Then the eaves are made and attached, which adds a lot more strength to this long side wall.

Then there is the 9 sets of roof support braces to make and attach with SS screws and copper rivets. That's over 40' of roof substructure bracing used here that took 15 sq' of copper sheet metal. I believe this is a very important detail that is not done by most any other sheet metal shop from what I've seen. I do what I can to prepare for the worst case weather these clients are likely to encounter.

Then these were ready for the 4 piece copper roof skins to go over these braces and attach under the eaves.

The weights and cost breakdown of these pieces are as follows.

223# total weight

- 41.2# wood base/skirt

-14.4# stainless steel spark arrest screen

= 167.4# copper weight

X 0.8

= 133.92 sq' of 20oz copper used in this chimney cap

X $35

= $4,687.20 cost for the copper portion

+ $252 for the 21 ln' of 5/4 Ipe hardwood

+ $376.80 for 18.84 sq' of stainless steel screen

= $5,316 total (which is a good deal less than the $6k I had estimated)

Here is some of the installation photos this client took while it was being lifted up to the roof manually, and was kind enough to sent to me, so I could share them with you.

He reports it was a nice snug fit. Below are some shots of the rectangular fire pit cover and the gazebo roof peak cap they also wanted.

Here is a couple shots of the gazebo roof cap I made with a Merlin style finial they ordered through me at the same time, so they could come here and pick them all up together.