Guides
Practical answers to the questions homeowners here actually ask, written from primary sources — the standards, the code bodies, the city departments and the weather record — and cited at the bottom of every page so you can check them.
We publish a guide when we have something sourced and useful to say, not on a schedule.
After a chimney fire, a storm, or an impact, the record you make in the first day is the record an adjuster reads. Here is what to photograph, in what order, and what the inspection report should contain.
Annual is the honest answer. Here is where that number comes from, what the once-a-year visit actually covers, which events do not wait for the calendar, and what applies to a chimney you rarely light.
In the standards the two words describe different things; almost everywhere else they are used as synonyms. By the end you will be able to tell whether two differently worded quotes describe the same work.
By the end of this you will know what makes a chimney unreinforced masonry, what triggers Seattle's rule, the three compliance paths the City allows, and why like-for-like brick is no longer the default answer.
By the end of this you will know which of the four common entry points fits the stain you are looking at, and what evidence would rule the other three out.
Next step
Tell us what you have noticed. We will look at the chimney, show you what we found, and put a price on the work before anything begins.