This copper chimney cap projects was for Gary and Susan Reeves in Springfield, Illinois. They had their chimney rebuilt and covered with natural stone. This was the first of it's kind, being a simplified Tuscany arch style design with a shallow inset spark arrest screen. He said they do not plan to use the chimney much, but they wanted a nice looking cover for it.

They would have loved to get a fancier chimney cap, like our Tuscany arch style that has been so popular, but their funds were limited and they could not seem to justify the added expense. They had just requested a quote for a simple low profile chimney cap like I made for LEA Construction to help minimize this cost.

Here is the base/skirt being formed with a 1x6 Ipe hardwood board inside for added strength, weight, and to thread the screws through for fastening it to the chimney. This is a detail you are not likely to find with any other sheet metal shop, as they will not have the tooling to cut wood like this and would not want to go to this trouble, but it makes these substantially better for staying in place in an extreme wind storm.

I kept in mind what they had really wanted, and decided on my own to design them a simplified cross blend between those two styles for a much more dynamic look with minimal added cost. They were delighted with the results. The hipped roof framework is build over the mid-section with copper U shaped braces and then skinned with copper.

I also covered the roof bracing a bit different than I had done in the past; in stead of making the roof skin with the seams over each corner bend, I decided to cover each end with a singe seamless piece that was a bit trickier to bend. Then draped a rectangular sheet over these 2 ends. It is interesting how I had left the roof line with this small jut out past the ends of the hipped roof line. I had intended to snip them and fold them down over the end pieces, but sent the clients photos of it to see if they like it wanted me to leave it that way. I let them know it would be easy for them to snip and bend it down after it arrived, if they did not like that look after seeing it in person, so that's what we decided to do.

Although, if I had intended this look I would have extended it out a few inches further over each end for a more noticeable appearance along with the ends folded straight down for added strength and to look more like a mini rake edge board. As you will see below their house is a gable end designed roof line that is a lot steeper, so it would have bee more suiting to have made the roof of this chimney cap in this same style, but that would have taken more copper and a larger shipping crate, which would have added at least $500 to the cost.

Here is the break down:
$124 - 26.5# of wood
$295 - 7.5# of stainless steel screens, 14.75 sq' X $20
$640 - 32# of copper in the base and corner pieces
$620 - 31# of copper in the eaves and roof framework
$580 - 29# of copper in the roof skin
$350 - wood crate
$350 - shipping
$2,959 total - $2,000 paid $959 balance due
The 92# divided by 1.25 = 73.6 square feet of copper X $25 = $1,840 for the copper portion.

Cost for this project: $2,959 w/crate & shipping to a residence w/hydraulic lift-gate service
Remarkably this was only $8 over what I had quoted for a simpler low profile design

From: Gary Reeves <captnfireeater@sbcglobal.n*t>
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008
Subject: Reeves chimney cap photos