Columbia City, King County
Masonry repair on a Columbia City chimney starts at $475. At that price we seal a crown with hairline cracks or refill a patch of eroded joints. A crown poured new, or fresh joints on all four faces of a tall chimney, runs higher; our written figure lists the square footage and the linear feet so you can see what the number is made of.
Typical investment
From $475
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$99 plus tax, deducted when you approve the repair
Not sure where to start
Pick what you're seeing at your Columbia City home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Columbia City 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.
Columbia's first brick building, the district's National Register file notes, was put up by Joseph Hellenthal, a bricklayer who had come from Germany in 1880. A two-story brick block followed at Rainier Avenue and Edmunds Street in 1903, and by the 1920s nearly every new storefront on the avenue was brick. Mortar in brickwork that old is often softer than a modern bagged mix. When we repoint brickwork of that age, on a commercial parapet or a house chimney, the mix is chosen to be weaker than the brick around it, so the joint gives before the brick does.
Every masonry repair (crown / repointing) we do in Columbia City includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowA crown fails slowly and from the top. The Western Regional Climate Center puts typical January lows for the Puget Sound lowlands in a 28 to 32°F band, and a winter month there offers only 4 to 8 days of clear or broken sky. Water that soaks into a cracked crown therefore sits there, near freezing, with little sun to dry it out. Each cold night widens the crack a little. Open mortar joints behave the same way on the faces of the stack, starting on the side that takes the weather.
Seattle is explicit about this trade. In Seattle's 2021 residential code, R105 puts chimney repointing on the permit-exempt list.2, and SDCI's remodeling advice says it plainly: with the structure left alone, repointing a chimney is permit-free. A crown repair or a repointing job is ordinarily that kind of work.
The line is crossed when brick has to come down. Director's Rule 5-2004 allows an old unreinforced stack to be relaid in kind for its uppermost 2 feet; deeper than that, the rule's reinforced methods apply. The same rule says any unreinforced masonry left standing during a repair has to be looked over for decay and tuckpointed where it needs it. That is the reason a rebuild quote from us carries a repointing line for the part that stays.
A building permit and a landmark review are separate things. Exterior changes inside the Columbia City Landmark District go through a Certificate of Approval first, and the district's web page is silent on repointing and on masonry cleaning. We do not read that silence as permission. For a district address we ask the Department of Neighborhoods first, and we keep the mortar color and joint profile as they were so that there is little to review.
Each face is probed, and joints that have lost depth or bond are marked.
Bad mortar is cut back to an even depth, then the joints are brushed out and wetted.
New mortar is packed in layers, tooled, and kept damp while it cures.
The crown is repaired or re-poured with slope and overhang, then photographed.
What this work is quoted at for Columbia City homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Columbia City | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| Masonry Repair (Crown / Repointing) | From $475 | Crown work, repointing and tuckpointing by surface area |
| 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 Columbia City. 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.
Columbia City is a former streetcar town in Seattle's Rainier Valley, founded in 1891 and annexed in 1907, with vernacular houses on the side streets of a brick commercial core, in a district whose buildings mostly date from 1891 to 1937.
Columbia CityKing County, WA · 47.560, -122.287
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.
In everyday use the two words describe the same job: old mortar out, new mortar in. Strictly, tuckpointing adds a fine contrasting line for appearance. Chimneys need the first.
On dry days above freezing, yes. Fresh mortar must not freeze while curing, so the job is planned around the forecast and wrapped up at night.
The visit costs $99 plus tax, and our masonry quote shrinks by those $99 when you accept it.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
