Beacon Hill, King County
Waterproofing a chimney on Beacon Hill runs $285 to $795. The spread is mostly surface area: a squat stack poking through a ranch roof on the east slope takes a fraction of the product and ladder time that a two-story exterior chimney near the crest does. The product is a repellent that still lets the brick breathe, put on with a brush or a low-pressure sprayer, and only after the brick has been cleaned and any failed joints repointed.
Typical investment
$285–$795
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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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Photo assessment sorting surface wear from structural failure
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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
Learn moreRanges shown for orientation — the exact figure is written up on-site, after the inspection.
Why bother on this hill in particular? Height and age. The ridge peaks at 350 feet in the city's own description, and a good share of its houses are old: ZIP area 98144, which Wikipedia lists for Beacon Hill along with Mount Baker, has 31.3% of its housing units dating to 1939 or earlier in the 2020–2024 American Community Survey, compared with 22.8% citywide. Brick fired a century ago is more absorbent than modern brick. On a chimney from that period we wet a small patch and time how fast it darkens. If the water vanishes within seconds, the brick is drinking, and a repellent will make a measurable difference.
A repellent needs dry brick going in and a dry day or two afterward. On Beacon Hill that narrows the calendar considerably. WeatherSpark's reading of the Boeing Field station, at the hill's foot, has the clearer part of the year starting around June 14 and running about 3.8 months, to October 8. July brings a mere 0.8 inches of rain there.
Outside that window the masonry rarely dries deep enough. On this ridge that matters, because the Western Regional Climate Center reports the lowland storm winds of the wet months arriving chiefly out of the south and southwest, and wind-driven rain soaks in instead of running off. We therefore book most treatments for summer and early fall, and when a homeowner calls in November we usually do the repairs then and schedule the repellent for the first dry stretch of the following year.
Every chimney waterproofing we do in Beacon Hill includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowThe service gets misused. A repellent is not a patch: brushed over hollow joints or a cracked crown it changes nothing, because water enters through the gap, not through the brick face. Film-forming sealers and paint are worse than nothing on old masonry, since they trap moisture behind a skin until the face of the brick pops off. Half of our waterproofing visits on the hill begin with a conversation about what has to be fixed before the product goes on.
A splash test shows how thirsty the brick is. We also walk the joints, the crown and the flashing, since any opening there has to be closed before a repellent is worth applying.
We strip soot streaks, salt bloom and moss, then give the brick time to dry out through its depth. Repellent bonds only to bare, dry masonry.
Shingles, gutters, siding and windows near the chimney are covered so the product lands only on masonry.
The repellent goes on from the bottom course upward until the brick stops absorbing it. Crown and shoulders get particular attention.
Your report records the product, date and weather with photos, so the next application is scheduled on evidence.
Oregon State University Extension's advice for roofs is to clean before applying any moss-control product, and among the products it mentions are soap-based ones. Chimney waterproofing follows the same sequence for a similar reason. Repellent sprayed over living moss coats the moss, not the brick underneath it.
Once the masonry sheds water, it also dries faster, and a surface that dries quickly is a poor home for growth. That is as far as the claim goes: the extension is clear that shade drives moss as much as rain does, and no product changes which way a chimney faces. On the north side of a Beacon Hill stack under the 72% January cloud cover WeatherSpark reports for Boeing Field, some green may return and can be brushed off at the next visit.
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 Waterproofing | $285–$795 | Breathable sealer — reapplied every 3–5 years in this climate |
| 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 Repair | From $425 | Masonry repair — brick and mortar, scoped after diagnosis |
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.
$285 to $795, depending on the chimney's exposed surface and how it is reached. Repairs needed beforehand are quoted separately.
A treatment generally needs renewing within three to five years. On the ridge, the south-facing sides of a stack weather soonest.
A breathable repellent dries clear and leaves no sheen. The visible change comes with the next rain, when water beads and runs off where it used to soak in.
If the chimney leaks and nobody knows where, yes: the cause has to be found first. The diagnostic is billed at $99 plus tax; should you then accept our written estimate for the work, that $99 is deducted.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
