Chimney work in Shoreline, from Richmond Beach to Ballinger

Every service on this site is available in Shoreline. Most visits start as one of three things: a sweep, an inspection, or a leak someone has finally traced to the chimney.

Sweeping and inspection

Chimney cleaning, plus inspection of the firebox, smoke chamber, flue and exterior. This is where the scope for anything else gets written.

Water paths

Crown repair, cap installation, flashing repair, leak diagnosis and waterproofing.

Masonry and venting

Repointing, rebuild work above the roof line, and relining sized for the appliance the chimney serves.

1. 1

   Look before quoting

   The chimney is examined inside and out, from the firebox and from the roof where access allows, before any number goes on paper.

2. 2

   Written scope and price

   You get a written scope and price before work begins, and nothing starts until you approve it.

3. 3

   Photographs at both ends

   The chimney is photographed before and after, from the same angles where practical.

4. 4

   Plain findings

   Findings are split into what is urgent, what can wait, and what does not need doing.

Shoreline built out mostly in the twenty years after the Second World War and incorporated as a city only in 1995. Its typical home is older than Seattle's and considerably older than the King County median — unusual for a suburb, and it means the chimneys here skew mid-century rather than either historic or new.

Two chimney details follow. The first is the crown — the sloped slab that caps the masonry and throws rain clear of the brick. On chimneys of this era the crown is very often a mortar wash troweled over the top course and stuck straight to the flue tile, the least durable version of the detail, because mortar has too little tensile strength for that exposure.

The second is the flue liner. A chimney of this period is normally lined with clay tile, and the year on the plans tells you nothing about whether that lining is still continuous. That is an inspection question, worth settling before anyone quotes a reline.

The city recognizes fourteen neighborhoods, and for chimney work the meaningful difference between them is exposure rather than the name on the sign. West of the ridge, Richmond Beach, Innis Arden and The Highlands step down toward the water on steep ground with open Puget Sound to the west. East of it, Ridgecrest, North City, Briarcrest, Ballinger, Parkwood and the rest sit on flatter land either side of Interstate 5. All fourteen are in the service area.

There is no Chimney4u office, yard or showroom in Shoreline. This is a service-area business covering King, Snohomish and Pierce counties, and a Shoreline job is a scheduled visit to your property. Mention access when you request one — a long shared drive, a tight approach on a bluff lot, a steep roof pitch — because it changes how the crew sets up rather than what the work is.

This is the question people most often get wrong on the King County line. Shoreline is a separate city with its own permit counter, so the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections has no role at a Shoreline address.

In practice the scope decides the paperwork. Sweeping and inspection are not construction. Repointing, a recast crown, a relined flue or a rebuild above the roof line deserve a direct answer from the city, which will take your address and a description of the work and tell you which permit, if any, applies.

• Access and setup. Roof pitch, chimney height above the roof, and how close a vehicle can get. Bluff lots and long shared drives take longer to stage.
• What the inspection finds. A sweep is a known quantity; repairs are scoped from what is actually there.
• How much masonry is involved. Spot repointing, a full face of joints, and rebuilding above the roof line are three different jobs on one chimney.
• Crown: resurface or recast. A sound crown with cracks can often be resurfaced. One that has broken up gets demolished and recast.
• Liner specification. Diameter, length, the appliance vented, and whether insulation is required all change a relining job.

Not sure which service you need? Start with an inspection — the step that turns a suspicion into a written scope.

• Most relevant here. Chimney inspection, crown repair, liner installation and masonry repair — the four that come up most on mid-century masonry.
• If you have a leak. Leak repair, flashing repair, cap installation and waterproofing, in that order.
• Nearby cities. City pages for Seattle, Bothell and Kirkland cover properties over those lines.