Chimney Crown Repair in Burlington
The one horizontal surface on the chimney is the one holding the water
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5.0 · 53 Burlington reviews
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CSIA & NFPA certified
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1-year workmanship warranty
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Licensed · $2M insured
Pricing, before you commit
Crack, or failure?
A crown with surface crazing is patched and sealed. A crown that has broken through comes off. Those are different jobs at different prices, and only one of them can be judged from the ground.
Estimate preview
Live
chimney-crown-repair
Measured on site
Inspection (credited)
−$49
Typical job
Patch, rebuild, or chase cover
Final price quoted in writing before any work.
The craft, done properly
CHIMNEY CROWN REPAIR IN BURLINGTON, MA
Everything else on a chimney sheds water because it is vertical. The crown is the exception — the sloped slab across the top of the masonry, and the only surface up there that rain can actually sit on. When it cracks, water does not run off the chimney. It runs into it, down inside the brickwork, where nothing dries and nothing can be seen.
It is worth separating the crown from the cap, because the two get confused constantly. The cap covers the flue opening and keeps rain out of the chimney's interior. The crown covers the masonry around that opening and keeps water out of the structure. They sit inches apart and they do different jobs, and replacing one does nothing about the other.
Surface cracks on a crown that is still structurally sound are prepped, patched, and finished with a crown coat sealer. A crown that has failed structurally comes off and is rebuilt, and every crown we rebuild gets a minimum one-inch drip-edge overhang and a crown coat seal with no exceptions. Crowns are measured at their widest points on site, because the price follows the actual slab rather than an estimate. Method in full on our crown repair service page.
Crown rebuilt with a one-inch drip edge and sealed
The Work
The overhang is the part that decides how long it lasts.
A crown poured flush with the face of the brick sends every drop that lands on it straight down the chimney. A crown with a proper overhang throws that water clear. It is a difference of one inch of concrete and it separates a crown that lasts decades from one that quietly damages the masonry underneath it for years.
Which is why crown work rarely arrives on its own. Water that has been running down the face has usually opened the joints below, so repointing is often quoted alongside it, and sealing the masonry follows both rather than preceding either. Where the slab is intact and only the surface has crazed, sealing it is preventive work and costs a fraction of a rebuild — that is the version worth catching.
Crown work runs from both Massachusetts offices — Wellesley covers the towns to the south, and the state page has the full area. Local services are listed on the Burlington page.
When to book
Signs a Burlington chimney crown needs attention.
A crown fails from above, so it stays invisible from the ground until the consequences have already reached the brick. These are what the technician photographs from the roof.
The second one is the sign nobody spots, because nothing about it looks broken. A crown without an overhang was built that way rather than worn that way, and it will go on failing until the overhang exists.
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Most crowns we replace failed because someone poured them flush with the brick. That inch of overhang is the whole point — without it, the crown is just a lid.
Company Owner
The Brown Chimney Standard · Burlington
Your Burlington crew, based on Burlington Woods.
Off Route 128, where the town starts
Our office is in Burlington Woods, minutes from the highway that built this town. Town Center, Mill Pond, and Fox Hill are all a short drive from the door — nobody is dispatching a truck from Boston to reach you.
5.0 from 53 Burlington reviews
Rated by the people who live here, from Beacon Village and Pine Glen across to Francis Wyman and the streets off Cambridge.
A town that arrived in one generation
Route 128 was finished in 1954. Burlington had 3,250 residents in 1950 and 19,473 by 1965. Most of the chimneys we work on went up inside that window, and they age as a group rather than one at a time.
Written, photo-backed report
Every job ends with a PDF. Great for insurance, great for selling the home, great for peace of mind.
What to expect
What happens during a Burlington crown repair.
The crown is measured at its widest points on site, because the number comes from the slab rather than from a guess. Most jobs are a single day. There is a season to this work — patching and sealing need dry, above-freezing conditions to cure properly, so late autumn scheduling gets watched carefully rather than promised loosely.
01
Crown measurement
The crown is measured at its widest points on the roof. Price follows that measurement, so the number is built from your chimney rather than a rounded guess.
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02
Repair or rebuild call
Surface cracks on a structurally sound crown get patched. Structural failure gets a full rebuild — you get the honest read and both prices in writing before choosing.
03
Crack prep & patching
Cracks are cleaned, opened where needed, and prepped for bonding. Loose material comes off so the patch keys into sound concrete instead of sitting on debris.
04
Crown coat & drip edge
Crown coat sealant is applied across the full surface, and the drip edge is repaired or rebuilt to a one-inch minimum overhang — no exceptions. That overhang is what throws water clear of the brick below.
05
Photo report & warranty
The finished crown is photographed from the roof and added to your report, with the 1-year workmanship warranty on all labor performed in writing.
For transparency
What crown repair does not cover.
The cap. It sits above the crown and covers a different thing. Where the cap is missing or corroded, that is quoted on its own while the technician is already at the top.
The joints below. Water shedding off a failed crown almost always opens the mortar beneath it, and repointing is a separate line rather than an assumption folded into the crown price.
Rebuilding the stack. Where the masonry under the crown has gone rather than just the slab, pricing moves to brick count with a written estimate before booking.
FAQs
Common questions about chimney crown repair in Burlington
What is the difference between the crown and the cap?
The cap covers the flue opening and keeps rain out of the chimney's interior. The crown is the slab of masonry around it and keeps water out of the structure. They are inches apart, they are made of different materials, and fixing one does nothing for the other.
What is a drip edge and why does it keep coming up?
It is the overhang — the crown projecting past the face of the brick so water falls clear rather than running down the chimney. Every crown we rebuild gets at least an inch of it. A large share of the failed crowns we take off never had any at all.
Can it be sealed instead of rebuilt?
If it is structurally intact, yes. Cleaning and a full crown coat application is preventive maintenance and it is the cheaper end of this service by a wide margin. Once the slab has cracked through, sealing it only conceals the problem for a season.
Is there a wrong time of year for this?
Late in the season, yes. Patching and sealing need dry conditions above freezing to cure properly. We would rather move a date into spring than apply material that will not set, and we say so rather than taking the booking regardless.
Can you quote it without going on the roof?
No. A crown cannot be judged from the ground and it has to be measured at its widest points for a price to mean anything. That is part of the $49 inspection, and the fee credits toward the work if you proceed.
Related Services
Often booked with Burlington crown work.
A safer hearth — for 2026
One inch of overhang. Decades of difference.
Every crown Brown Chimney rebuilds gets a minimum one-inch drip edge and a crown coat seal, measured on site and quoted in writing first. 1-year workmanship warranty on structural labor. Call 781-547-7784.