Local chimney animal removal for Middleburg homes
Keep the damper shut and the fire unlit. We identify what moved into your Middleburg chimney for free, clear it out lawfully and cap the flue.
- Family owned and operated
- Free inspection and estimate
- Same-day service available
- Upfront pricing, no hidden fees
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Why Choose Us
Animal-in-the-chimney pros for Middleburg homes
- Locally owned in Jacksonville
- Family owned and operated
- 100% satisfaction guaranteed
- Free inspection and estimate
- Same-day service available
- 10% off when you book today
A chimney in Middleburg gets back in use only after a check that nothing is left higher up.
- Free inspection and estimateFinding out what is in your Middleburg flue, and which rules apply, is part of the free visit.
- Upfront pricing, no hidden feesClean-out, exclusion and cap are priced as separate lines, and any trapper is named in writing.
- Same-day service availableWhen the schedule has room, we can look at a noisy chimney the same day you call.
What the smoke shelf shows
Much of the evidence in an animal job lands on the smoke shelf, the ledge just behind the damper. Twigs and nesting fiber, droppings, feathers or fur, and soil tracked in from outside each point in a different direction. So does an empty shelf with noise overhead, which suggests the animal is higher in the flue.
On a visit in Middleburg, that debris is read before it is touched, then the flue is looked at from below and from the top. Together they show what is living there and where it got in. Anything that looks like it came from a protected species changes the timing, and the plan says so. Call (904) 920-5495 and our animal removal pros will check your Middleburg flue for free.
At the 2020 Census, Middleburg was home to 12,881 people. Middleburg sits inland, more than about six miles from the coast.
What's Included
What animal removal covers in Middleburg
- Smoke shelf checked for droppings, shell and nesting fiber
- Protected birds and bats identified before any step
- One-way exclusion device fitted where the rules call for one
- Screened cap sized to keep animals out
How It Works
From the first scratch to a closed chimney in Middleburg
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Tell us what you hear
Chirping, scratching and the time of day help us guess what is up there. Keep the damper shut and do not light a fire.
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Animal identified, rules checked
A look down from the top with a light confirms what it is. Swifts and bats have legal timing, and we explain it.
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Flue emptied, nest cleaned out
Once the animal is out, nest material and droppings come out with the firebox sealed, using brushes and a sealed, filtered vacuum.
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Screened cap closes the top
A cap with the right screen goes on each flue, and any other gap we find is written up with its repair.
Local Conditions
When an animal gets past the damper
Even a good damper leaves gaps around its plate, and an animal in the smoke chamber can push through into the room.
If something has come into a room in Middleburg, shut the doors to the rest of the house, open an outside door and leave the room.
10% off your first service when you book today
Scratching in the chimney? A booking today takes 10% off your first service.
The screen size that keeps animals out
Section R1003.9.2 of Florida's residential code is where the screen size comes from. The openings must not let a sphere half an inch across pass through, and must not block one of three-eighths of an inch. Its heat and corrosion resistance has to match 19-gauge galvanized steel or 24-gauge stainless steel, or better, and the open area of the arrestor must add up to four times the flue outlet's area or more.
A cap built to those numbers closes the flue to birds and larger animals while leaving it enough open area to draw. A screen with larger holes, or one torn open, does not.
Factory-built chimneys take listed parts
The metal chimney above a factory-built fireplace was tested and listed as a complete system, and its cap is one of the listed parts. Under the Florida Building Code, such a chimney is installed and finished off at the top exactly as its maker's instructions say (R1005.1), and decorative shrouds are not allowed there unless listed for that chimney (R1005.2).
So a generic masonry cap is not fitted to a factory-built flue, even if it seems to fit. When an animal has damaged or dislodged the cap on one, the replacement comes from the chimney's own maker, named by part and chimney model.
Openings beside the flue tile
On a masonry chimney, the cap covers only part of the top. The crown around the flue tile can crack or shrink away from it, leaving a gap into the core of the chimney. Mortar missing from the top courses opens pockets an animal can widen. And where an unused flue sits beside a capped one, the open flue becomes the entrance.
Every one of those needs its own repair: sealing or recasting the crown, repointing the top courses, capping every flue. Closing only the obvious opening leaves the others in place, and the animal comes back through them. Every flue and the full crown are checked before anything is quoted.
Free Inspection
Rules, timing and the cap, in writing
- Identification of what is in the flue, and the evidence behind it
- Damper condition after the animal is gone, with any repair priced
- Repair or refit of an existing cap that let the animal in
- Sweeping needed before the fireplace is used again
FAQ
Animals in Middleburg chimneys, your questions
Should I call a chimney company or a trapper?
For an animal in the flue, the chimney side, from identification to clean-out and the cap, is our work. If the animal has to be trapped, the person doing that is named on the estimate, so you are not left coordinating two strangers.
Does someone have to be home when you come?
Someone needs to let us in for the inside check and any clean-out, since both happen at the fireplace. The look from the roof can be done without anyone home if the chimney is safe to reach.
Our Services
More services in Middleburg
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Learn more about chimney animal removalAll services in Middleburg
One visit to learn what moved in
Our wildlife pros identify what is in your Middleburg flue and explain the rules first. Call (904) 920-5495.
Free Inspection