Getting a Kirkland chimney inspected, and finding its paper trail

The three types in NFPA 211 are defined by circumstance, not by preference. Level I is the routine annual look, limited to what is readily accessible. Level II reaches everything that can be got at without demolition and requires the inside of the flue liner to be examined with image-scanning equipment. Level III is the one that opens up concealed construction, and only where a lower level could not answer the question.

• The house is being sold or transferred. The standard makes Level II the minimum on sale or transfer, and the flue scan is what settles whether the chimney becomes a line item in the negotiation.
• You have just bought, or an appliance was changed at some point. An unknown flue is an unknown liner, and a different appliance connected to an existing flue is a Level II circumstance in its own right. What matters before the first fire is what the liner is, whether it is continuous, and whether its size and material suit what is attached.
• A windstorm or an earthquake has been through. Weather and seismic events are named circumstances, whether or not anything looks wrong from the ground. Kirkland's wet-season wind is southerly, so the loaded face is not always the one you see from the street.

Kirkland's median home was finished in 1985, and the 1970s and 1980s together account for the largest block of housing in the city — roughly 17,600 units out of about 41,900. On a great many inspections here the subject is therefore a listed metal chimney inside a sided chase, not a brick stack. The standard does not change; what it lands on does.

• Whether the system is still the system. A factory-built chimney is listed as an assembly, built to UL 103 for 1,000 degrees F continuous flue gas. Mixed manufacturers, or a firebox and chimney never listed together, are findings rather than details.
• Clearance to combustibles inside the chase. A Level II verifies clearance everywhere it can be reached, which inside a chase means framing, insulation and anything stored against it. That is why it goes into accessible attics and crawl spaces.
• The top of the chase. The chase cover and storm collar do the job a crown does on brick. A dished or rusted cover puts water into framing rather than into masonry.
• Liner size and material against what is connected. The image scan of the internal liner surfaces is part of the standard here exactly as it is on clay tile, and a factory-built chimney that has been relined needs a liner at least two inches smaller in inside diameter than the chimney itself.

An inspection tells you what the chimney is now. The question that usually follows is whether any of it was ever permitted — and in Kirkland the answer depends on the address and on the date.

1. 1

   Work permitted today

   Permits come from the City of Kirkland's own Development Services, and applications are filed on MyBuildingPermit.com, the regional portal Kirkland shares with Bellevue, Bothell, Kenmore, Issaquah, Sammamish and King County.

2. 2

   Work permitted in the north end before June 1, 2011

   Finn Hill, North Juanita and Kingsgate were unincorporated King County until they were annexed into Kirkland on that date. An insert or a chimney repair permitted there in, say, 1998 was permitted by the County, and that is where the record sits.

3. 3

   The rules behind either one

   Kirkland adopts the International Residential Code through Title 21 of its municipal code. Seattle's residential code and its Director's Rule on unreinforced masonry chimneys govern nothing on this side of the lake.

4. 4

   What to do with a gap

   No record is not proof that nothing was done, and it is not itself a defect. It is a reason to inspect at the level the circumstance calls for.

NFPA 211 is a consensus standard, and jurisdictions differ in how much of it they adopt. So whether a Level II is legally compulsory for your particular transaction depends on Kirkland's adopted codes and on the terms of your purchase-and-sale agreement — put the first to the City and the second to your agent. What is not in question is that the flue scan is what converts an argument into a document.

• Allow for one trip or two. A flue carrying heavy deposits cannot be read, so sweeping may have to happen before the scan. That is separate work on a separate visit, which matters when a contingency date is attached.
• Ask what the report has to name. Which level was actually completed, every flue and appliance it covered, and whatever could not be got at, with the reason. A report that is silent about what it could not see is not finished.
• Check who you are hiring. The standard requires a qualified agency. In Washington the enforceable check a homeowner can run is contractor registration, which can be looked up free through the state's Labor and Industries verification tool.