steel lintel on top of fireplace

They are not normally stainless steel, however, looks like you can order them as such.

They are normally galvanized.

http://iglintels.com/lintels/standard-lintels/stainless-steel-lintels/

Post a picture of what you have now.
Makes no since to me to try and replace it now.
Wire brush, use rusty metal primer and repaint.

Stainless steel lintels are normally used on the seafront, although a lot of the galvanised ones I've removed on houses around 40 years old have a bit of rust on them.

If the lintel is rusted to the point where is needs to be replaced I would say you have major issue with water intrusion that need to be addressed. Then you can use new steel lintel as before.

Is that the top of a chimney? I don't think I have ever seen one built like that before.
I should be rebuilt with a pitch so water drains off.

+1

And made of something more resistant to the acid containing combustion by products.

right top of chimney. just has this plate with one layer of bricks and a patty of mortar on top of bricks. house built in 1982. chimney not really used. any recommendations , especially on type of plate or others?

How many flues are there?

Why not just demo that top, make a proper crown, and put flue covers on the clay flues coming up?

just one flue. what is best choice of chimney flue cover? a metal one? and (as you can see my knowledge is below limited) what exactly do you mean by demo?.
thanks

mahaffeymj said:

what exactly do you mean by demo?.
thanks

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You don't want to know :biggrin2:

mahaffeymj said:

just one flue. what is best choice of chimney flue cover? a metal one? and (as you can see my knowledge is below limited) what exactly do you mean by demo?.
thanks

Click to expand...

Take the top layer of bricks off of that plate, trying to salvage as many as you can without damaging, so that you can reuse. Then take the plate off. If able to get a scaffold up, easier to do then renting a lift.

Any local mason contractor that does fireplaces, can give you a bid on doing something different. Also they would do a flu inspection to see if you need to fix any problems in the liner.

Just grab a pencil and paper and sketch out a better design. Look around and see if there are any around where you live that you may want to use to give the house a fresh look.

thanks. looking online and see some. was looking at stainless steel. any ideas on places/ websites for cover or shroud. seems mine may be too big for the lowes/hd's

Local Metal shop. This is something that it helps to always use local small businesses, because they love to show off their work to others. Plus it starts a great conversation with the neighbors when they ask who did the work.

damn those look nice. you need move south. was also looking at this one http://www.woodlanddirect.com/Chimney/Decorative-Caps-Shrouds/Custom-Shroud-8
as i have chimney swifts roost there in summer that keeps down insects. it has open sides. what do you think about it? any thought/ideas there? . thanks

Metal grid for keeping out the house guests out and alsoserves as a Spark areester.

That was just some random place I found with a google search. I'm sure there is probably something local to you. As was mentioned a local metal shop could probably do something. Even a siding company with metal working tools could do it or recommend someone. Look at local fireplace shops as well.