Rainier Valley, King County
Masonry work on a Rainier Valley chimney starts at $475. That price fits resurfacing or recasting the crown of a one-flue stack, or repointing a limited patch near the top, where the weather hits hardest. Larger areas of failed joints, replaced brick, or a crown cast new over several flues are priced by the square foot after we have seen the masonry up close.
Typical investment
From $475
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 Rainier Valley home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Rainier Valley homes.
Level 1: every reachable component checked, with a Level 2 camera run added if something stays unclear
Learn more
Full-height brushing with a head chosen for clay tile or metal liner
Learn more
Photo assessment sorting surface wear from structural failure
Learn more
Video survey and flue measurements taken before ordering anything
Learn more
Flue-by-flue measurements, or the whole crown for a multi-flue hood
Learn more
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.
Brick has deep roots at the north end of the valley. Seattle's context statements place two brickyards on the west side of Rainier Avenue there by 1905. Brick buildings followed on the avenue in the 1920s, among them the two-story masonry Deaconess Settlement of 1927 at 2103 South Atlantic Street, and in 1932 the brick-clad York Apartments went up at 3315 Rainier Avenue South to a design by Hancock & Lockman. Those are commercial and institutional buildings, not houses, and nothing in the record says what any given home's chimney is made of. What the record does show is a valley with nearly a century of masonry in it, built with mortars that do not all behave the same.
Wartime building reached the valley's edges. HistoryLink records government-built housing for the war years at three sites around the valley, Holly Park among them, and the census survey for 98118 dates 8.0 percent of today's homes dating from the 1940s, followed by larger shares in each of the next two decades.
On a stack from the 1940s or later the masonry trouble is often at the crown, not the body. A thin mortar cap troweled over the top cracks, lets water down beside the flue tile, and the joints just under it go first. When an insert has been added and its liner runs out through that crown, the seal around the liner is another place water gets in. We rebuild the crown to slope away from the flue, set a bond break between crown and tile as Seattle's code asks, and seal around any liner that passes through.
Every masonry repair (crown / repointing) we do in Rainier Valley includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowMortar for old brick should be softer than the brick, so that joints wear and get replaced instead of the faces spalling off. A hard modern mix pressed into century-old joints can do the reverse. SDCI does not ask for a permit to repoint a chimney as long as the work leaves the structure alone, and the city's chimney rule asks that any unreinforced masonry kept in place during a repair be examined and tuckpointed as needed. We follow both: we match the mortar to the brick, and we do not leave failed joints behind a fresh crown.
We scratch and probe joints at several heights to judge how far the failure goes and what mix the brick needs.
We grind or rake out bad mortar to an even depth, careful not to nick the brick.
New mortar goes in layers and is tooled to match; damaged brick is swapped for sound units.
The new top is cast with a fall away from each flue, an overhanging drip edge, and a sealed gap where tile passes through.
What this work is quoted at for Rainier Valley homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Rainier Valley | 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 Rainier Valley. 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.
Rainier Valley is a seven-mile run of low ground between two Seattle ridges, with small wood-frame houses from the streetcar years of 1891 to 1910 and ranch houses added between 1950 and 1962.
Rainier ValleyKing County, WA · 47.547, -122.279
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.
Not for repointing alone. Seattle exempts it when no structural change is made. Rebuilding sections is a different question, and we check it with SDCI.
Closely, using tinted mixes and sand chosen to suit the brick. New joints lighten as they cure, so the match settles in over a few weeks.
Only if the joints below are sound. Our inspection settles that for $99 plus tax, a fee we subtract from the masonry quote should you sign it.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
