Chimney Crown Advice/Help

[jamiec]

Recently bought a house with a large chimney (6 feet wide) with a crown that was in need of repair. The previous owners had someone put a sloped crown on top of a flat crown. The sloped crown was not done well (filled with bricks just dry laid on top of the flat crown) and had deteriorated pretty badly. Since it wasn't adhered to the flat crown very well I removed in yesterday. The chimney also has flat cement cap over the flues which is in decent shape.

Need some advice on what do next. Can I add a sloped crown on top of the existing flat one and expect to adhere with a bonding agent? The flat one is in OK shape besides a crack in the middle and but it also does not overhang the brick at all.

One thought was to remove the flue cover, build a form on around the existing crown and build a sloped crown on top of the existing flat one with some overhang.

Or could leave the existing flue cover and build a crown but I don't think I could get the overhang as the brick that supports the flue cover is fairly close to the edge and the overhang wouldn't have enough support in those spots.

Or do I just take off the excsiting flat one and rebuild the crown?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[crokett™]

It would be better if you could take a pic that showed the entire top of the chimney, crown and all but it appears the flue is much smaller than the chimney and sticks up from the crown by 1 or two courses of brick. What I'd do is wire mesh on top of the existing flat crown, anchored to it, then form around the existing crown and pour and trowel a new, sloping crown. You can paint the existing with an adhesion promoter as well. The mesh should keep the new crown from cracking. It looks like the flue sticks up high enough that the new poured crown can be thick enough to minimize any cracking.

[jamiec]

Here is the whole thing

[crokett™]

ok, you've got enough height on those flues to pour and slope a new cap. Although after thinking about it, I'd add a course of to the existing cap, then add a mortared cap to the bricks and slope that.