I just had a roof replaced & my roofer said my chimney crown is almost completely missing. Can just the crown be repaired or is there more involved to fix my chimney?
Answer
Possibly, but if the crown is almost completely gone, I’d want to inspect the rest of the chimney before telling you that replacing the crown alone will solve the problem. The crown is basically the roof of your chimney, so once it deteriorates badly, water can get directly into the brick and mortar underneath it. If the bricks and mortar are still in good condition, we may be able to simply install a new concrete crown and leave the rest of the chimney alone. If the upper bricks are loose, cracked, or deteriorating from years of water exposure, we may need to rebuild several courses of brick before installing the new crown. In more severe cases, deterioration can extend farther down the chimney and require a larger rebuild. The good news is that a missing crown does not automatically mean the entire chimney needs to be rebuilt. We’d inspect it first and recommend repairing only what actually needs to be repaired rather than tearing apart a perfectly good chimney.
