This is what called us to the roof: a chimney top plate scorched and rusted through, the old vent cap already loose enough to lift off, and an open flue breathing weather straight down into the system. Nobody had seen it in years, because nobody can see it from the yard. The clip is short because the diagnosis was, too.
What the camera is looking at
The pan crosses a burned, oxidized top plate on an old brick chimney, with the retired vent cap sitting on the shingles beside it. Heat and water had worked on that steel for years, and the discoloration radiating from the collar is the record of it.
Why a burned plate matters
The plate seals the top of the chase around the flue. Once it scorches and rusts through, water follows the pipe down into the chimney every storm, and heat finds paths it was never meant to take. It is the quiet kind of failure that ends in masonry damage or worse.
What happened next
The old pipe came out in one lift, a continuous flexible stainless liner went down the flue, and a new galvanized cap on a clean chase plate closed the system. The rest of this project shows each step.
