Beacon Hill, King County
Chimney repair on Beacon Hill starts at $425. That figure covers a small job, say three or four bricks reset at the uppermost course. A stack that has to come down to the roofline and go back up costs several times more, and the difference is always explained by how many courses are involved and how the chimney is reached. Every repair quote follows a visit where the damage is photographed.
Typical investment
From $425
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Book your $99 inspection
$99 plus tax, deducted when you approve the repair
Not sure where to start
Pick what you're seeing at your Beacon Hill home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Beacon Hill homes.
Level 1: every reachable component checked, with a Level 2 camera run added if something stays unclear
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Full-height brushing with a head chosen for clay tile or metal liner
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Video survey and flue measurements taken before ordering anything
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Flue-by-flue measurements, or the whole crown for a multi-flue hood
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Cleaning and testing of the burner, pilot assembly and igniter
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Starting photos: crown on top, then each side of the stack
Learn moreRanges shown for orientation — the exact figure is written up on-site, after the inspection.
Old brick is part of the hill's own history. The city's context statements place the Hill Brick Company on the ridge's eastern slope and the Lohse Brick Company yard at the foot of Forest Street, and by 1904 small wood-frame houses already dotted the north end. A chimney on a house from the 1910 to 1929 wave has stood through a century of wet winters, so before any quote is written for a house of that vintage, three points get settled: whether the mortar still holds a screwdriver tip out, whether the stack leans away from the roof, and whether earlier patches used a hard cement mortar that has cracked the softer brick around it.
Seattle's historic context statement describes Beacon Hill as a ridge that tops out at 350 feet. Down at Boeing Field, WeatherSpark's station data shows wind blowing most often from the south between September 19 and July 8, and a windier stretch of about 6.2 months from October 16 to April 24. Put together, a hilltop chimney's south- and southwest-facing sides take the rain sideways for most of the year.
That is where we find the deepest mortar loss and the first spalled brick. The city's emergency management office notes that structural damage in a windstorm begins at about 32 mph, and that the strongest Puget Sound storms gust up to 90 mph. A stack whose windward joints are already hollow is the one that sheds bricks on such a night, so a repair quote here always states the condition of each face separately.
Every chimney repair we do in Beacon Hill includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowSeattle regulates this work more closely than most homeowners expect. Director's Rule 5-2004, issued by Seattle in the wake of the 2001 quake, allows in-kind rebuilding only for the uppermost 2 feet of an old unreinforced stack; beyond that, the repair must use reinforced masonry or switch to a factory-built metal chimney. Rise more than 3 feet over the roof and the stack must be supported at two points. Once the work goes down past the smoke chamber, the rule demands a complete rebuild to today's code, permit included, regardless of price.
We photograph the stack on every reachable face, probe the mortar and check inside the flue, because exterior damage often has an interior twin.
The quote states how many courses are being rebuilt, what reinforcement applies under the city's chimney rule and whether a permit question needs an answer from SDCI.
Staging and roof protection go up first. Brick and mortar waste is caught, not dropped.
Damaged courses come off and go back with sound brick and compatible mortar; bracing is installed where the height above the roof calls for it.
Crown, cap and flashing are checked or renewed, and you get photos of each stage.
According to Oregon State University Extension, roof moss needs shade as well as rain and does not directly damage roofing by itself. On a brick chimney the same logic applies: moss settles where mortar has already eroded enough to hold water. Scraping it off changes nothing if the joint behind it stays hollow.
The extension's plant pathologist adds that moss returns after cleaning for as long as its environment stays the same. On a shaded Beacon Hill chimney face that means the green comes back unless the joints are repaired so they stop holding water. We remove the growth, rake out the soft mortar behind it and repoint, in that order. Seattle's chimney rule points the same way: any original unreinforced brick left standing during a repair must be checked for decay and repointed wherever it has failed.
What this work is quoted at for Beacon Hill homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Beacon Hill | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| Chimney Repair | From $425 | Masonry repair — brick and mortar, scoped after diagnosis |
| Chimney Sweep | $189–$449 | Full flue swept, Level 1 inspection included |
| Chimney Inspection | $99 plus tax | Level 1 visual; Level 2 adds a full camera scan |
| Chimney Relining | From $1,900 | Full-length stainless liner, sized to the appliance |
| Chimney Cap Installation | $235–$850 | Stainless cap fitted; multi-flue and custom at the top |
Ranges are what these jobs are quoted at in Beacon Hill. The exact figure is set on site after a $99 inspection (credited toward the job if you go ahead), and you approve it before any work starts.
Beacon Hill is a Seattle neighborhood strung along a north-south ridge that reaches 350 feet, with houses built mostly from 1910 to 1929 between McClellan Street and Jefferson Park, and wartime streets of the 1940s south of Spokane Street. We work every part of it — North Beacon Hill, Mid-Beacon Hill, South Beacon Hill included.
Beacon HillKing County, WA · 47.579, -122.311
Before and after
Illustrations of what each repair changes on a typical chimney — not photos of a specific job.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Four steps, each one on paper — so you always know what happens next.
Choose a genuine opening on the crew's calendar. Confirmation is immediate.
Liner, crown, cap, flashing and masonry examined in order — each finding photographed.
One document, plain numbers, covering only the work your chimney genuinely needs.
The repair is completed, then handed over with before-and-after photos of every item.
From $425 for a small masonry repair. A partial rebuild is priced on courses, height and access, each itemized in the written quote.
Scope and cost decide, and Seattle has two figures in print. Under 4,000 dollars, says Director's Rule 5-2004 of December 2004, a chimney repair is permit-exempt. Section R105.2 of the 2021 residential code has a separate ceiling, 6,000 dollars of minor repair work in any six months. Anything that goes beneath the smoke chamber's top takes a permit at any price. We set out the scope and confirm with SDCI.
Not reliably. A lean usually means the mortar has failed across several courses, and the durable fix is to take the stack down to sound masonry and rebuild it.
Yes: $99 plus tax per chimney. Hire us for the repair quoted and the invoice drops by that $99.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
