Chimney Crown Repair & Replacement
Your Most Trusted Chimney Top Replacement Experts Since 1987
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What is a Chimney’s Crown Cap Made of?
The chimneys crown is a concrete slab built to stop water and protect the bricks that surround your chimney flue. Since your crown and cap is at the very top of your masonry structure, it acts like a helmet or a solid umbrella for the entire fireplace and chimney system. The crown essentially becomes the protector, responsible for keeping the inside of your fireplace and flue safe and dry.
Why Fix Your Chimney’s Crown?
People often make the mistake of putting off small repairs or improvements for a later date and then end up regretting that decision years later when they realize how tiny cracks or damages to a crown allows access to the rest of the home. Visit our Chimney Anatomy page to see how all parts work together.
When homeowners choose to hold off on repairs (sealing or replacing, etc.), our inspectors eventually return to find that rain, freeze/thaw damage, and chimney leaks only got worse over time. Leading to more costly repairs that could have been easily avoided.
Annual Inspections and regular maintenance are the best way to prevent needing major repairs.
The Cost of Delaying Repairs
Regular maintenance and Chimney Repair is necessary to avoid the need to completely rebuild your masonry chimney in the future. Rebuilds can be very expensive, and we try to help people avoid the need for a project of that magnitude.
Holding off on small repairs can also even affect the resale value of a home if you ever intend to sell your property. Remember: the longer any household item remains in disrepair, the bigger the price tag when you decide to fix it. The same is true for fireplaces and their chimneys.
Crown repairs can save you money by preventing other parts of the system from needing fixed.
How Much Does it Cost to Replace a Chimney Crown?
The price of Chimney Crown Repair starts in the range of $2500-$3500. Project costs will vary based on several different factors. Each unit must be fully inspected before quotes can be determined. Please call our office at 913-642-6171 to discuss your crown replacement or repairs project or schedule an inspection appointment today.
Trust Your Local Chimney Experts
Our Certified Repair Technicians can repair the old crown if it’s not too damaged. Or we can do a complete crown replacement; Install a brand new, hand-built, over-hanging chimney crown pour.
Servicing homes across Kansas City for over 3 decades! We can help you too!
Try the Chimney Detective Tool today and get a free chimney problem diagnosis!
4 Signs Crown Repair is Necessary for Your Chimney
The crown cap is the shield that protects your home from damages caused by having an opening in your roof known as the flue. When the top/crown is not at its best, then it becomes susceptible to a variety of problems.
It’s important to guard against seasonal elements. Moisture gets inside your residence through a faulty cap, cracks, and crevices in cement or mortar joints. All of which have the potential to cause serious but avoidable damage to your home, fireplace, or furnace (depending on what types of chimneys you have in your house).
1. Cracked Chimney Crown
The most obvious sign is one most homeowners won’t see unless they spend time on the roof! When cracks start to appear in concrete crowns and mortar joints of a brick structure, then it allows both water to get inside and start wreaking havoc on your home’s heating system!
2. Rusted Firebox, Doors, or Damper
If your fireplace is starting to rust, then water is getting inside your home’s chimney. Rust may start on the metal part of glass doors, damper, or firebox inside your fireplace. When we see rust in certain places we can determine the damage has been there long enough that the rust can now be seen visually.
3. Stained Ceilings and Wallpaper
If you see moldy water spot stains on your wallpaper or moisture starting to collapse your ceiling, then it’s easy to see you have a big problem, but it may be difficult to know what’s causing the issue. It’s time to call your local chimney sweep to inspect for a leak (which could be caused by cracks in the crown or damage to the cap).
4. Damaged Mortar Joints
When not properly protected, moisture gets inside your chimney’s mortar joints causing damage. Which leads to a deteriorating brick structure and eventually spalling brickwork.
Full Service Chimney’s Signature Overhanging Crown Pour helps shed water away from your brick stack to prevent mortar joint damage to the top of your chimney.
2 Common Problems that Result in Chimney Crown Replacement
When damage occurs to the top of a chimney, water soon begins to damage other areas of the structure and other parts of your home. While there are more signs and symptoms, the two most common problems we see with chimney crowns are leaks and deteriorating crown seals.
1. Leaking
Leaks are often caused by a problem with the chimney crown. More often than not, your crown was made from leftover mortar from the chimney construction (or a poor attempt at reconstruction).
Mortar cap crowns frequently form hairline cracks the very same night they set up! In no time, these small cracks begin to leak, fill with rainwater, freeze and then widen. Regrettably, a broken crown turns into loose brickwork at the top of the chimney in a few short years.
2. Seal is Failing or Has Failed
A Chimney Crown Seal is the most common chimney cap repair that we offer to customers who need chimney top service. Quality crown seal is the proper repair for cement chimney caps that have only small cracks but are otherwise sturdy.
By taking care of small cracks in a leaky chimney crown early, we can avoid additional leaks and a more extensive, more expensive repairs later!
BUT What If You Could Stop the Damage Before It Starts? Or at the very least reduce the chances of water entering your home due to crown issues…
Prevent Water Leaks By Installing a Proper Crown Cap
Unfortunately, complete chimney rebuilding (from the roof up) is a common service we offer because too often, people do not know about crown issues until it’s much too late. All from what may have started a few years before as “just a few small cracks in the chimney’s crown”.
In addition to causing brick damage, leaks due to a damaged crown will lead to rusted fireplace doors, ruined dampers that cannot be opened or shut because they’re so rusty, or loose bricks in the fireplace’s firebox.
While repairs and replacement of mortar caps and crowns are eventually necessary for most chimneys, Full Service Chimney makes repair and maintenance fast and easy.
What Our Customers Say
"Very professional, prompt, thorough, and remarkably nice people. Their communication consistency and quality was noticeably better than other service providers I've dealt with before (not specifically chimney servicers), and the field guys were able to explain everything in a simple and concise way. They will definitely be my go to in the future. Thanks! Send my regards to the pupp..."
"I had Full Service Chimney come to my home to do an inspection and cleaning of my fireplace/chimney. Sam was very helpful. He showed up at the quoted time, which was great since I had to come home from work. He was quick, but thorough. As a first-time homeowner who has never had a fireplace, he helped walk me through the ins and outs of my fireplace and how it works. He made sure to..."
"We hired Full Service Chimney to repair flu's in three fireplaces at our lake house that were built incorrectly and would never draw the smoke, hence for 5 years we rarely if ever used them. Now they all three work perfectly!! These guys are incredibly professional, reliable and they communicate effectively every step of th..."
"They a great job and we’re very professional. I will definitely use Full Service Chimney again."
"They did a great job... very professional! Jacob and his crew stuck to it in spite of the rain to get it done right."
Your Crown Repair Experts
Full Service Chimney technicians have repaired/replaced crown caps on chimneys in the KC Metro area for over three decades!
Our team can help you diagnose and solve your chimney problems with a simple repair or complete crown replacement. Call now!