Masonry repair
Sweep & inspection
Caps & crowns
Flue relining
Gas fireplace serviceLevel 1 sweep and inspection to the NFPA 211 annual standard - flue, crown, cap, and flashing checked and photographed
Chimney sweep logs do not sweep chimneys. They loosen some creosote - which then falls where a brush and vacuum still have to collect it.
DuraFlex Crown Repair: The Alpharetta Owner’s Guide
DuraFlex crown repair in Alpharetta typically runs between $385 and $640 installed, depending on the crown’s size and how much of the existing mortar bed needs to be rebuilt before the DuraFlex crown sealer goes on. We stock DuraFlex-compatible crown repair materials on our trucks and can usually complete the work the same day we inspect it. Most Alpharetta homeowners don’t discover a crown problem until they see a water stain bleeding through the ceiling near the fireplace chase, or notice chunks of mortar on the roof after a hard rain. The crown is the concrete cap that sits on top of the chimney, and when it cracks, water gets in and works its way down through your brick, your flue, and eventually your drywall. Danny Cortes has seen crowns in Windward and Crabapple that looked fine from the ground but were quietly funneling water into the attic for two or three seasons.
Which DuraFlex Models This Applies To
DuraFlex is a stainless steel chimney liner system, and the crown repair products we use are designed to work with the full DuraFlex line, including the 316L and 304 alloy flex liners and the rigid DuraFlex Pro sections. The crown itself isn’t a DuraFlex-branded product, but the crown seal and crown coat we apply are formulated to bond correctly with the stainless top plate and storm collar that already sit on your DuraFlex system. One compatibility gotcha we run into in Alpharetta: if your installer used a DuraFlex top plate with a built-in damper, the crown repair has to be built up carefully around that flange so the damper still seats and seals. Measure the outside dimensions of your chimney chase or masonry crown before you call. The common sizes we work with are 13″ x 13″, 17″ x 17″, and 21″ x 21″, but plenty of Alpharetta homes built in the 80s and 90s have custom pours that need field measurement. For the crown itself, we use a professional-grade crown sealer rather than a patch product, because a patch on a crown that’s already cracked just gives water a new seam to follow. We’re an independent chimney service company, not affiliated with DuraFlex, but we’ve installed and repaired enough of their liners to know exactly how the pieces fit together.
Styles & brands we work with





Signs Your DuraFlex Crown Repair Is Failing
- Water staining on the ceiling or wall near the fireplace. This means water has already traveled past the crown and into the chase. By the time it shows up on drywall, the crown has been compromised for at least a season, often longer.
- Chunks of mortar or concrete on the roof or in the gutter. Freeze-thaw cycles in Alpharetta winters crack crowns from the outside in. When you see pieces missing, the rain is getting straight into the brick below.
- A rust ring around the base of your DuraFlex top plate. The storm collar should keep water from running down the liner, but if the crown has settled or cracked, water pools around the plate and the stainless starts to show rust where it meets the crown surface.
- Spalling brick near the top of the chimney. When water soaks into the top few courses of brick and then freezes, the brick faces pop off. That’s a sign the crown stopped doing its job at least a winter ago.
- Damp smell inside the fireplace even when it hasn’t rained for days. A cracked crown holds water like a sponge. It evaporates slowly, and that smell comes straight down the flue into the room where your kids watch movies.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
For Alpharetta homes, a full DuraFlex crown repair on a standard masonry chimney runs $385 to $640. The range depends on three things: whether the existing crown needs partial rebuild or just a full clean-and-seal, the size of the crown surface, and whether your DuraFlex top plate needs reseating while we’re up there. Every quote includes removal of the loose crown material, a bonding primer, two coats of professional crown sealer, and resealing around the top plate and storm collar. We also take photos from the roof before and after, so you see exactly what we saw and exactly what we did, without climbing up there yourself. The work is covered under our 365-Day Done Right Promise. If the crown repair fails within a year, we’re back to make it right, no fine print. You’ll get a written price before anything starts, and that price is the price, whether the repair takes us two hours or four.
DIY or Call Us?
You can safely check a few things from the ground: look for missing mortar chunks in your flower beds, watch for water stains near the chase, and run a hand over the fireplace wall after a heavy rain to feel for dampness. That’s where the safe part ends. A crown repair means working from the top of a chimney, and on most two-story Alpharetta homes that puts you thirty feet up with a trowel in one hand and a bucket in the other. The products we use need the surface completely dry and prepped before they bond correctly, and applying them wrong just hides the crack for one more season while the water keeps moving. We get calls every spring from homeowners who tried a slip-on crown cap or a bucket of hardware store patch, and the water found its way around it by fall. A trained tech does the prep, the application, and the inspection in one visit, and you never leave the ground. Call (762) 225-2593 and we’ll come take a look.
FAQs
A properly prepped and sealed crown on a DuraFlex liner system lasts 10 to 15 years in our climate, assuming the crown was sound when the sealer went on. The biggest variable is whether water had already been getting in for years before the repair. If the brick below the crown is already spalling or the mortar joints are soft, the crown repair alone won’t stop the damage already underway. That’s why we always do a close-up inspection of the top few courses before we quote a crown job. Call (762) 225-2593 and we’ll give you an honest read on what a fresh crown will and won’t fix.
Most cracked crowns can be repaired with a professional crown sealer, especially if the cracks are hairline or the surface is rough but still solid. If the crown has separated into loose sections or the mortar bed under it has washed away, a partial rebuild is the only option that holds. We’ll tell you which one you’re dealing with after a roof-level inspection, and the photos come with the quote. Call (762) 225-2593 for a free estimate and we’ll walk you through it.
A standard DuraFlex crown repair takes two to three hours on site, including setup, prep, two coats of sealer, and clean-up. We schedule most crown repairs as a single visit, and if the weather cooperates, you’re done the same afternoon. The sealer needs a day of dry weather to cure fully, so we’ll watch the forecast with you before we book. Call (762) 225-2593 and we’ll find a clear window that works.
We keep professional-grade crown sealer, bonding primer, and the sealants needed for DuraFlex top plates stocked on our service trucks, along with replacement storm collars for the most common liner sizes. The crown coat and sealant brands we carry are the same ones we’d install for our own homes. If your job needs a special-order top plate or an uncommon storm collar size, we’ll tell you before we schedule and have it in hand before we arrive. Call (762) 225-2593 and we’ll check stock for your specific setup.
If your DuraFlex crown is failing and you want the repair done once, with a written price and a full year of backup, call us at (762) 225-2593. We’ll schedule a roof-level inspection, show you photos of what’s actually going on, and give you a straight answer about what needs to happen now and what can wait. A clean flue is a quiet house, and quiet is exactly what a family should hear on a cold night.
Written by Danny Cortes, Owner, Kindling Chimney Alpharetta at Kindling Chimney Alpharetta, serving Alpharetta and nearby areas.