Crown rehab

[leco]

I got my stove going last winter, putting in a full insulated liner inside my flue tiled chimney. At the time, the crown was looking pretty ragged, but it was too cold out to do much about it:

That's how it looked before the liner went in on the left.

You can see there is a lot of cracking of the cement and the keyed course of bricks shows holes which could be a water issue. Pricing out having the crown redone seemed out of reach. On here, some people had recommended ChimneyRX Brushable crown repair:


I used this, and am super pleased with how it turned out. I first had to seal all the cracks with siliconized latex caulk, then brushed Chimney RX on. The product is about the consistency of joint compound, but kind of rubber-ier and with some sort of grit in it. Your first coat is supposed to go on thin, like paint, then after that, you put a thicker second coat on. Here's how it turned out (and you can see my liner cap too:



As said, super happy with it, and a big improvement. Only took an evening to get it done.

Note - I have no interest in ChimneyRX. Just liked how it worked and turned out.

 

[webby3650]

Looks nice.
You did the right thing by going over the edges with like you did. That gets overlooked most often.

 

[Supersurvey]

Nice clean job. Just curious what size tiles and what size insulated liner you have?

 

[leco]

Looks nice.
You did the right thing by going over the edges with like you did. That gets overlooked most often.

Thanks. Seemed like right thing to do. I tried to get that corner filled in so that the profile is about a 45 in hopes that the water just rolls right along.

Nice clean job. Just curious what size tiles and what size insulated liner you have?

The left is about 12x12:


The right is 6x12:


(Not sure exactly how those measurements are supposed to be taken)

I installed a 6" insulated liner. There is a post on that and my hearth build here. My stove exit is 6"

 

[Blazing]

Looks awesome!

 

[Dmitry]

Plus one on this product. Its been 3 years in my case, still looks good

 

[Nick Mystic]

Looks like a vast improvement and hopefully it will hold up well for you. I have a question: In the first photo showing the damaged crown I can see in the lower right hand corner that the second course of brick from the top has part of the center holes in the bricks showing. That was terrible initial construction since it would trap water with every rain and snow and let it soak into the rest of the chimney. In the finished photos I can't see the holes any longer, so I am wondering how you dealt with that issue? If you didn't fill them with mortar or some other material to seal them before you painted on the white sealer material you will need to pay close attention to that area when you do your annual chimney sweeps to make sure no cracks develop at that step out that would allow water back into those bricks.

 

[leco]

Nick, You're totally right about that, and one of the big reasons why I wanted to seal this guy up. I wish I had taken pics in the middle after I caulked everything. I think I wanted to caulk those all closed, but honestly not sure I did. :-o I may have just gone over it with the ChimneyRX. Even with just that, I think it will be sealed out. But you are quite correct, I will be keeping an eye on it.

 

[leco]

I think I wanted to caulk those all closed, but honestly not sure I did.

Looking at the pics again kinda jostled my memory. Pretty sure I caulked in all the holes and ran a bead around before putting the ChimneyRx over it. I am sweeping today, so I will see how it looks. Either way, you are right though, the top layer was put on really thick (per instructions) and so it is showing some cracking that you can see in the pics, esp where it went on extra thick in those corners. Next year I may skim coat it with another thin layer, or perhaps some kind of sealer.

 

[begreen]

Yes, it's a lot better and that may buy some time. However, though I'm far from a crown expert, it looks like there is no expansion/slippage gap between the flue tile and the crown. That appears to be what is causing the breakdown of the flue tile. A chimney pro will have better insight here.

 

[bholler]

Yes, it's a lot better and that may buy some time. However, though I'm far from a crown expert, it looks like there is no expansion/slippage gap between the flue tile and the crown. That appears to be what is causing the breakdown of the flue tile. A chimney pro will have better insight here.

I agree completely in my experience those products are pretty temporary fixes.