The crown is supposed to be a Somerset chimney umbrella, but a thin or cracked one does the opposite, channeling water into the flue and the brick. Our crown work ranges from a flexible-membrane patch on a sound slab to a complete rebuild with a proper drip edge and overhang. Older Somerset homes frequently have crowns that were patched with the wrong material before, and that failed patch is part of what we fix. You will understand exactly what shape your crown is in, backed by pictures from the roof. Phone 908-228-9754 for honest crown repair on your Somerset chimney.
- Flexible crown coating
- Full crown rebuilds with overhang
- Freeze-thaw-rated materials
- Photos from the roof
- Honest seal-or-rebuild call
The Case for Staying On Top of It
The crown is the sloped concrete (or sometimes mortar) cap covering the top of the chimney, with the flue tiles projecting through it. Its entire job is to shed water away from the masonry below. A properly built crown has an overhang with a drip edge so water falls clear of the brick; a poorly built one — flat, thin, or flush with the brick face — channels water straight down into the stack. Many of the crowns we see on older Somerset chimneys were never built to shed water properly in the first place.
Masonry and water do not mix well, and a Somerset chimney lives outdoors taking weather from every side. Rain driven against the brick, snow melting and refreezing on the crown, and the constant temperature swings of a NJ year all conspire to open the chimney up to moisture. The chimneys that last are the ones whose owners address the small problems before the freeze-thaw cycle compounds them.
What We Actually Do
Deciding between sealing and rebuilding a crown comes down to how far gone it is. Hairline cracks on an otherwise sound crown can be sealed with a flexible, paintable membrane that bridges the cracks and moves with the masonry as it expands and contracts. A crown that is heavily cracked, crumbling, or missing chunks needs to come off and be rebuilt — properly formed this time, with the overhang and drip edge it should have had. We tell you honestly which one yours needs.
A rebuilt crown is poured, not patched. We form it with a proper slope and an overhang that extends past the brick face, and we use materials rated for NJ freeze-thaw rather than ordinary mortar that will crack again in a season or two. A correctly rebuilt crown is the kind of repair you do once and forget about for decades, which is exactly the standard we build to.
Chimneys Around Somerset
Our service area runs through Somerset and the neighboring Somerset County communities, where the chimneys tend to be old, hard-working, and overdue for attention. The wood-burning culture here keeps fireplaces in regular use, and that use — combined with the local climate — gives these chimneys a particular set of wear patterns we have learned to look for first.
Keeping the Fire Where It Belongs
Safety is the thread running through all of it. Sweep the flue and you remove the fuel for a chimney fire. Inspect it and you catch a cracked liner before it lets heat into the walls. Cap it and you keep sparks off the roof. Reline it and you restore the barrier between the fire and your home. Every chimney service exists for a safety reason, and that is the lens we bring to your Somerset home.
Most Somerset homeowners only think about their chimney when something seems wrong, which makes them easy targets for the scare-tactic end of this trade. Proshield Chimney Works refuses to work that way. We grade what we find honestly, we explain the difference between a problem that needs fixing now and one that can wait a season, and we put it all in writing. An honest assessment is worth more than a fast sale.
One crew for the whole chimney
A chimney is a system, so chimney crown repair rarely stands alone — it connects to flue cleaning, Level 2 inspection, chimney leak repair, spark arrestor cap, chimney liner, and our crew handles all of it under one roof. We bring the same service to New Brunswick chimney crown repair, Chimney Crown Repair in North Brunswick, Chimney Crown Repair in Franklin Township, Chimney Crown Repair in Edison and everywhere else across Somerset County.
If you searched for a local chimney crew near you, you have reached a local crew — call 908-228-9754 any time. For background, read Why Your Somerset Fireplace Smokes Back Into the Room on our blog, or head back to our Somerset home page to see everything we do.
