Chimney crown - need repair advice

[DStydo]

Hey all,

Bought a house last year and it looks like the crown on our chimney isn't in very good shape. House was built in late 80's, crown done up with mortar and they of course didn't leave any expansion gap between flue tile and crown. Of course, this chimney has some ridiculous corbelling going on. I also like the chit they smeared between the two flue tiles. I did check/inspect the first few courses of brick and they are tight. I have attached some pictures.

Any opinions here? I'm tempted to try and patch/rebuild with s type mortar and reseal with chimney saver/crown coat. Paying someone to redo crown is not in the budget. I've seen some youtube vids on rebuilding crowns and it doesn't seem too bad but I might have poor access to the outer side of the chimney facing the yard.

On a positive note, it doesn't look like the fireplace has been used much.

thanks,
Drew

 

[jetsam]

That's a lot better than mine was when I bought the house. $8 gets you a bag of type S and a 5 gallon bucket at home depot!

 

[DStydo]

Yeah that type s is cheap. Once I make the repair, do you guys think it makes sense to put some chimney saver on the top to sort of hold everything together? Curious to hear what other folks have done in this situation.

thanks,

Drew

 

[bholler]

Yes but type s is not the best way to do it. If i was going to do that crown i would take off the top 3 courses of brick to the widest point then form and pour a concrete crown that overhangs the brick. With a bond break between the crown and chimney and bond break and expansion joint around the clay liners.

 

[DStydo]

Im trying to envision this. After removing the first three courses, would you pour the crown 3+ courses thick or lower the overall chimney height? I was actually thinking about something similar. With the current layout, why couldn't you pour the new crown down over the top three courses of brick? Too much waste?

 

[bholler]

Im trying to envision this. After removing the first three courses, would you pour the crown 3+ courses thick or lower the overall chimney height? I was actually thinking about something similar. With the current layout, why couldn't you pour the new crown down over the top three courses of brick? Too much waste?

I would drop the overall height as long as you can if not i would relay a course or two at the width of that wide point then pour crown. Just pouring over the brick would not be very strong and there would be no way to do a proper bond break.