Damper has holes - replacement?

[javac]

My house was built in 1976 and we finally had the chimney cleaned (after being here for two years). It was pretty dirty, and the sweep noticed that there are two 1" holes in the damper. I most likey didn't notice them before with the thick coat of grime everywhere. Is this repairable?

There are some other sections that are rusting badly, so I was looking into chimney-top dampers and was wondering if anyone had experience with these. They're supposed to be more tight than in-flue ones, and we do get a lot of air coming down this chimney, making the room 5 degress colder than the rest of the house.

[majakdragon]

I have not owned one of the chimney top dampers however when I owned a previous house, I was advised to install one. My chimney sweep (who did not sell them) stated that the main reason for this type was that they had a frame that the damper sealed against instead of just a damper swiveling in a hole with air leaks all around the edge (necessary to allow movement). Watch this post for more answers from someone who may have or have had one. Good luck.

[Ken Greene]

We have an old fireplace in our camp that had a rotted damper. Our chimneysmith recomened a flue top unit also. Had him install it and it works great. We've had it for 10 years without a problem.

[javac]

Thanks for chiming in, did you get the flap kind installed or one of the ones that raises up? We've pretty much decided to get one, the question is figuring out which style to install.

[Ken Greene]

ours springs up and even with the heavy snow we can get up here it has never failed to open