Beacon Hill, King County
Clearing a Beacon Hill dryer vent is billed between $105 and $259. The bottom of that range fits a few feet of duct going from a basement laundry straight out the wall. Extra elbows, a long ceiling run, a roof outlet or nesting material packed into the hood all add time and push the bill toward $259. StarDucts, a duct company, puts the range other Seattle companies charge at $125 to $225 per vent.
Typical investment
$105–$259
Book an inspection
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.
Housing on the hill is more mixed than its old bungalows suggest. In ZIP area 98108, which takes in part of Beacon Hill, Census estimates for 2020–2024 count 62.0% of housing units as detached houses and 11.9% as attached single-family units such as townhouses. In ZIP area 98144, which covers the north end of the hill along with Mount Baker, only 39.3% are detached and 18.5% sit in buildings of 50 or more units. Each of those layouts routes a dryer differently: a few feet out a basement wall in a 1920s house, a long run up through a townhouse to the roof, or a duct that crosses a ceiling before it finds an outside wall. The longer and more crooked the run, the faster it clogs.
Dryer fires are not spread evenly over the year. The U.S. Fire Administration's figures climb during the colder half of the year and reach their high point in January, with 11% of the yearly count. That is also the month WeatherSpark finds the sky over Boeing Field, at the foot of Beacon Hill, mostly cloudy or worse 72% of the time, when very little laundry dries on a line and the machine does all of it.
The outside end of the duct has its own weather problem. At the same station the prevailing wind comes out of the south from September 19 until July 8. An outlet hood mounted on a wall that faces into it catches rain on its flap for months, and lint that meets damp air at the outlet turns into a packed felt that holds the flap shut. On the hill we open every hood and check that its flap still swings freely.
Every dryer vent cleaning 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's residential code sets out what the duct should be: smooth-walled metal, 4 inches across, no longer than 35 feet from the dryer to the outlet once each fitting's allowance is subtracted, and ending outdoors, never in an attic or crawlspace. What we find in older houses is often a white vinyl or crinkled foil hose snaking behind the machine, a joint held with screws that catch lint, or a run that stops short in the basement. Across the country, dryers start roughly 2,900 house fires a year by the federal fire agency's count, and lint left in place is the most cited contributing factor, in 34% of them.
With the dryer running, an anemometer reads the air where it leaves the house. The cleaning has to improve on that reading.
The machine is eased away from the wall and disconnected. The transition hose is checked for kinks, crushing and the wrong material.
A rotary brush on flexible rods travels the duct from the inside end while a vacuum collects what comes loose.
The hood is opened from outside or from the roof, nests and packed lint are removed, and the flap is checked for free movement.
The dryer goes back with its hose straightened or replaced, and a second airflow reading shows the gain.
Some dryer ducts leave through the roof, a routing common in townhouses and other stacked layouts. OSU Extension's moss article warns that moss can raise asphalt shingles and let water in under them, and a roof outlet is a seam in the shingles that must stay sealed. Warm, damp exhaust and lint around the jack give growth an easy start.
A roof outlet is also the hardest kind to keep clear, which is one reason the city's residential code limits how long the duct may run. When we clean one, we clear the lint and moss from the cap, look at the shingles around the jack and photograph both, so you know whether a roofer needs to see it.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dryer Vent Cleaning | $105–$259 | Full run cleaned; roof or upper-floor terminations at the top |
| 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.
$105 to $259 per vent. The duct's length, its count of elbows and its exit point set the figure.
Once a year is reasonable for an average household. Heavy laundry use, extended runs and rooftop exits all justify a shorter interval.
Yes. The concealed duct should be rigid, smooth metal under Seattle's residential code, and we note on the report any section that does not meet it.
Mention it when you book. The chimney visit is its own line on the invoice, $99 plus tax for each flue we examine, and it is credited against the work if you sign the quote it produces.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
