Chimney Crown Repair and Replacement in New Jersey

The crown is the slab on top of the chimney that sheds water away from the flue and the brick. It takes more weather than any other part of the house. Many crowns in New Jersey were built as a thin layer of mortar swept up around the flue tile rather than a properly formed concrete cap, and those crack within a few winters.

Once a crown cracks, water runs straight down into the stack. Small hairline cracks can be sealed with a flexible crown coating. A crown that is broken up, crumbling or too thin to shed water needs to be removed and poured new, with an overhang and a drip edge so water falls clear of the brick. We tell you which of the two your crown needs after seeing it up close.

Signs you need this

• Cracks across the top of the chimney
• Pieces of concrete on the roof or in the gutter
• Water in the firebox after rain
• Brick spalling near the top of the stack
• Flue tile loose where it meets the crown

How we do it

1. Look from the roofWe inspect the crown up close for free and photograph each crack.
2. Choose seal or replaceSound crowns with fine cracks get sealed; broken or thin crowns get replaced.
3. Form and pourA new crown is formed with an overhang and drip edge, with a gap around the flue tile.
4. Cap and finishA cap goes on to keep rain out of the flue, and the crown cures before any heavy rain.

Why do crowns at the Shore crack so often?

Water and freezing. Toms River averages about 52 inches of precipitation a year and over 100 freeze-thaw cycles (NOAA 1991-2020), so water soaks into a crown and then freezes inside it again and again. Wind-driven rain off the ocean makes it worse.

After Superstorm Sandy damaged tens of thousands of Shore homes, many were repaired quickly. Crowns finished in a hurry, or never replaced at all, are common on houses we see in Ocean and Monmouth counties.

Is my chimney top a crown or a chase cover?

Brick and stone chimneys have a masonry or concrete crown. Factory-built fireplaces, common in homes built from the 1970s on, sit inside a wood-framed chase covered in siding, and the top is a metal chase cover instead of a crown. Ocean County's housing has a median build year of 1982, so we see a lot of chases there.

A rusted chase cover leaks the same way a cracked crown does. A new chase cover typically runs $300 to $700, and stainless steel lasts much longer than galvanized in salt air.

Can I seal a cracked crown myself?

You can buy crown coatings, but working on a roof is dangerous, and coating over a crown that is breaking up only hides the problem. Sealing works well on sound crowns with fine cracks, cleaned and dried first.

If the crown is loose, crumbling or sloped toward the flue, it needs replacing. We tell you which case you are in and show you the photos, so you are not paying for a coating that will fail in a year.