Chimney - dovecot vs pots?

[Kearn]

Just in case anyone has been this route, or installed a dovecot slab to the top of a chimney, I’d be keen to hear views…

Personally, I’d rather the aesthetic of a dovecot, but debating the best was to maximise draw / minimise rain ingress as we will have ss liners for stoves rather than open fires.

Current thinking is to terminate the liners at the first corbel brick course, so about 3 courses below the opening. Add a fall and chamfered edges to the slab to direct water off of it and possibly a slight angled mortar fillet to the top of the bricks at the opening, again to shed water away.

I can’t believe too much rain would get blown sideways into the flue liners.

Also, getting 3 pots onto the stack would be very cosy…

 

[Stevers]

We've got pots plus stainless steel cowl. We get lots of rain, but the real problem here is jackdaws, and we even had a tawny owl come down in one fireplace before the cowls went on. Whatever you do, consider jackdaws!

 

[Kearn]

We've got pots plus stainless steel cowl. We get lots of rain, but the real problem here is jackdaws, and we even had a tawny owl come down in one fireplace before the cowls went on. Whatever you do, consider jackdaws!

ha! yes - nesting is a possible issue, especially I've now decommission the attic housing estate! serious prison style mesh would go onto the sides of the dovecot. I hate the idea of metal cowls on top of clay pots.

are you getting rain down the ss liners with the cowls on?

 

[Stevers]

It's true that the cowls are no lookers, and these are chimneys for open fires, so no liner. Before the cowls went on stuff would come down the chimney when it rained heavily, but that doesn't happen now.

It's realy only that I'd seen my mother's fireplace (gas radiant fire and no liner) with about 5' of sticks in it and flue completely blocked.