Thanks for the response. I hope you respond again despite my delay at getting back to you as we were on vacation. I don't know a whole lot about the anatomy of a fireplace, but I believe we have a built in cap. The chimney is brick to the top with a cover of bricks and holes for the smoke to come out of the sides. If this sounds like a cap then I have one. It is possible that my husband could not reach the top of the cap to seal that section with the water seal product. However if this were the problem wouldn't we find water inside the fireplace? Wendy