Chimney repair: a deteriorating cap

A common sight; crumbling cap and eroding mortar joints and bricks. A proper chimney cap would have made this chimney last many years longer. Unfortunately, most chimneys are constructed with an inadequate cap.

Once we started taking the old cap off, the rest of the story came out. The top section of the flue liner had weathered past the point of repair, which is common on the section that sits highest and takes the most water.

So off came the cap and the bad brick, in went a new top liner section, and we rebuilt the top with a proper cap and a drip edge on it. The drip edge keeps water from running down the face of the brick, which is what wears the joints out in the first place.

This chimney will outlast the original by many years.