Chimney Inspection · Redmond, WA
Which chimney inspection a Redmond sale, purchase or first fire calls for
Most chimney inspections in Redmond are booked against a date — a closing, a move-in, or the first cold week in a house whose fireplace you have never lit.
The level is set by the circumstance, not by what you feel like buying. What is worth knowing locally is what the inspection is likely to be looking at in a chimney of this city's age, and which office has any say in what happens next.
Reviewed by Chimney4u editorial team · Last updated
The circumstance picks the level, not the buyer
NFPA 211 defines three inspection levels and ties each to a set of circumstances. Three of those circumstances account for most Redmond bookings.
- Nothing has changed. The annual check, or a routine cleaning, sits at Level 1: the readily accessible parts of the chimney and the accessible parts of the connected appliance.
- The house is changing hands, or the appliance is. Sale or transfer of the property is a Level 2 circumstance, as is adding an appliance or swapping in one of dissimilar type, input rating or efficiency, and so is any planned relining.
- Something happened to the chimney. A chimney fire, or a weather or seismic event likely to have caused damage, also calls for Level 2. Under heavy tree cover a limb strike belongs in that conversation rather than being watched from the ground.
What the flue scan is actually looking for here
A Level 2 requires the internal surfaces of the flue liners to be examined with image-scanning equipment. What that camera is hunting for depends on what your chimney is made of, and in Redmond that is frequently metal.
- In a clay tile flue
- Cracked tiles, collapsed tiles, tiles missing large chunks, and mortar joints between tiles that have opened up — a path from the flue toward the framing around it.
- In a listed metal flue
- Joint separation, warping, buckling and open seams. These frequently cannot be seen from either the top or the bottom of the flue, which is exactly why the scan exists rather than being an add-on.
Who the report answers to at a Redmond address
NFPA 211 is a consensus standard. Some jurisdictions adopt it directly as code and others do not, so whether a Level 2 is legally required in your transaction depends on the locally adopted code and on your purchase-and-sale contract.
One correction worth making before it costs you time: Seattle's rule on altering and repairing unreinforced masonry chimneys, Director's Rule 07-2025, is a City of Seattle rule administered by SDCI and has no application at a Redmond address. Outside Seattle the Washington State Residential Code applies, including its requirement that a masonry chimney be capped with sloped concrete, metal or stone with a drip edge and a caulked bond break around the flue liners — a finding an inspector here can reasonably note.
Before the first fire in a house you just bought
Sale or transfer is itself a Level 2 circumstance, so a house bought without a chimney report has an unknown flue rather than a clean one. Nobody can tell you what the last owner burned, or whether the flue has ever had a fire in it.
- Find out which system you inherited. Masonry with a clay tile flue and a factory-built metal system fail differently and are remedied differently.
- Have the flue looked at before it is lit. The recommendation from EPA and fire officials is an annual professional inspection and cleaning of the appliance, chimney and vent, and that applies to a lightly used flue too, because animals nest in quiet chimneys.
Local considerations in Redmond
- Redmond's adopted housing element reports a median structure year of construction of 1989 for all units and 1980 for owner-occupied units, so a scan here is often examining a listed metal flue rather than stacked clay tile.
- Where the chimney is factory-built, the UL 1777 relining path is open only if the liner's inside diameter is at least two inches smaller than the existing chimney's, so the inspection measurements can decide whether relining is available at all.
- NFPA 211 is a consensus standard rather than automatically law, and inside the city limits it is Redmond's Development Services Center that reviews and issues construction and trade permits through the city's ePermitting service.
- Seattle's Director's Rule 07-2025 on unreinforced masonry chimneys is an SDCI rule and does not reach a Redmond address; outside Seattle the Washington State Residential Code governs, including its sloped, drip-edged chimney cap requirement.
- With a Redmond mailing address outside the city limits, King County's Permitting Division is the office that issues building and mechanical permits, and it holds the permit records for Redmond Ridge.
- Redmond reports 38.1 percent tree canopy as of 2017, which makes limb strikes and a shaded, mossy roof ordinary considerations in both the trigger for an inspection and the access needed to complete one.
What the job includes
- Establishing which NFPA 211 level your circumstance calls for — annual check, sale, purchase, new appliance, planned reline, or an event — and saying why before the visit
- Examination of the readily accessible chimney structure and flue, and of the connected appliance and its chimney connection
- Identification of which chimney family you own, masonry with a clay tile flue or a listed metal system, and what that means for any remedy
- At Level 2, the accessible chimney runs inside attics, crawl spaces and basements that can be entered without demolition
- At Level 2, a camera examination of the internal flue liner surfaces, with the liner material and flue size evaluated against the appliances actually connected
- Photographs of the conditions described, taken before anything is disturbed where there are indications of a past chimney fire
- A written report naming the level completed, the flues and appliances covered, and anything that could not be reached, with the reason
- A plain conversation separating what is urgent from what can wait and what needs nothing
What it does not include
- Sweeping. An inspection reports on deposits; removing them is a separate cleaning, and it is often the inspection that tells you it is needed
- Repairs. Findings come back as a written scope and price you approve before anything is scheduled
- Opening up walls, chases or ceilings. That is a Level 3, quoted on its own, and closing the opened areas back up is a further scope
- Any statement that your chimney complies with the code adopted at your address. Confirm that with Redmond's Development Services Center, or with King County permitting outside the city limits
- Determining which jurisdiction your parcel sits in. That is a question for the city and the county, and it is worth settling before a permit is filed
- A whole-house or general home inspection, which is a different document by a different inspector
- Any statement about insurance coverage. Conditions can be documented with photographs; the claim decision belongs to your insurer
What to look for
- You are buying a Redmond house and the disclosure says nothing about the chimney
- Sale or transfer is itself a Level 2 circumstance under NFPA 211, and an unrecorded flue is an unknown liner rather than a sound one.
- A general home inspection covered the fireplace in one line
- A whole-house inspection normally looks at the chimney from the ground and the firebox without scanning the liner. The flue has not been examined.
- A windstorm brought a limb down anywhere near the stack
- The standard names a weather event likely to have caused damage as a Level 2 circumstance, whether or not anything looks wrong from the ground.
- An insert or stove was put in by a previous owner and nothing was scanned afterwards
- Connecting a dissimilar appliance is a Level 2 circumstance, and the flue may be the wrong size or material for what is now attached to it.
- The rain cap on top of a boxed-in chimney looks discolored or distorted
- Metal that has been much hotter than normal operation explains, which points at a chimney fire that nobody recorded.
- The report you were handed does not name a level
- The standard expects the level actually completed to be stated, along with the reason a higher one was not finished. Ask for it.
What changes the price
We do not publish a headline figure, because it would be a guess about your chimney. These are the things that genuinely move the number, and we put a real one in writing after we have looked.
- The level the circumstance calls for
- A Level 1 is a visual examination of readily accessible areas. A Level 2 adds accessible attic, crawl space and basement runs, roof access and a required camera examination, so it takes materially longer.
- How many flues the stack contains
- A Level 2 covers every flue in the chimney and the appliances connected to them, so a stack serving both a fireplace and a furnace is more work than a single-flue chimney.
- What has to come apart to see anything
- A factory-built appliance often has to be partly disassembled to reach its chimney, where an open masonry firebox does not.
- Roof access under trees, in the wet half of the year
- Pitch, height, moss and shade change the setup and the safety equipment, and occasionally decide that the roof portion has to be recorded as not completed.
- Whether the flue can be read as found
- Heavy deposits obscure the liner surface, so a flue may need cleaning before all of it can be inspected. That is separate work, and it decides whether this is one visit or two.
- What the report has to carry
- A scan recording, a photograph set assembled for a buyer or an insurer, or a report written to a closing date is more work than a routine annual visit.
Chimney Inspection in Redmond — common questions
- Is a Level 2 chimney inspection required to sell a house in Redmond?
- NFPA 211 lists sale or transfer of the property as a circumstance calling for a Level 2, but it is a consensus standard rather than automatically law: some jurisdictions adopt it directly as code and others do not. Whether it is required in your transaction depends on the locally adopted code and on your purchase-and-sale contract. Inside the city limits, Redmond's Development Services Center is the office that reviews and issues construction permits, so confirm anything code-related there rather than relying on a general answer.
- Does Seattle's chimney rule affect an inspection report on my Redmond house?
- No. Director's Rule 07-2025, the current Seattle rule on altering and repairing unreinforced masonry chimneys, is a City of Seattle rule administered by SDCI and does not apply at a Redmond address. Outside Seattle the Washington State Residential Code governs, including its requirement that a masonry chimney be capped with concrete, metal or stone, sloped to shed water, with a drip edge and a caulked bond break around the flue liners. Local amendments vary, so confirm the current requirement with Redmond's Development Services Center.
- My chimney is a metal system in a framed chase. What does the camera actually tell me?
- In a listed metal chimney the scan is looking for joint separation, warping, buckling and open seams, which frequently cannot be seen from either the top or the bottom of the flue. It also measures. A factory-built chimney is built to UL 103, and it can be relined under UL 1777 only where the liner's inside diameter is at least two inches smaller than the existing chimney's — so what the scan records may determine whether a liner is a possible remedy or whether the system itself has to be addressed.
- I have a Redmond address but I am not sure I am inside the city. Does that change the inspection?
- Not the inspection itself, but it changes who signs off on whatever the inspection recommends. King County's Permitting Division issues building and mechanical permits for unincorporated King County, and it holds the permit files for the Redmond Ridge urban planned development, while addresses inside the city limits go through Redmond's Development Services Center and its ePermitting service. Settle which jurisdiction the parcel is in before a repair scope is filed anywhere.
- We just bought the house and have never lit the fireplace. What should we book?
- Sale or transfer is a Level 2 circumstance under NFPA 211, so a scan of the flue liner is the standard's own answer for a house that has just changed hands. Beyond that, EPA and fire officials recommend an annual professional inspection and cleaning of the appliance, chimney and vent, which applies to a flue nobody has used as much as to a busy one — quiet chimneys collect nests and keep deteriorating.
Sources
- Committee Input No. 9-NFPA 211-2024 [ Chapter 15 ] - First Draft Committee Input Statements, NFPA 211 A2026 cycle — National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Accessed 2026-08-27.
- Chimneys, Fireplaces, Vents and Solid Fuel-burning Appliances Code, 2016 (NFPA 211, 2016) - adoption listing and chapter index — UpCodes (code library reproducing NFPA 211 adoption data). Accessed 2026-08-27.
- Standard Operating Procedure - Level 2 Inspection, Masonry Fireplace (Rev. 4/5/19) — Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA). Accessed 2026-08-27.
- UL 103 - Factory-Built Chimneys for Residential Type and Building Heating Appliances (Standard detail page) — UL Standards & Engagement. Accessed 2026-08-27.
- DuraVent 1777 Liners - Factory-Built Chimney Relining for Solid Fuel, Installation Instructions — DuraVent. Accessed 2026-08-27.
- Housing Element – Adoption (Redmond 2050 Comprehensive Plan) — City of Redmond. Accessed 2026-08-27.
- Development Services Center — City of Redmond. Accessed 2026-08-27.
- SDCI Director's Rule 07-2025, Alteration and Repair of Unreinforced Masonry Chimneys — Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI). Accessed 2026-08-27.
- Tree Canopy — City of Redmond. Accessed 2026-08-27.
- Construction and Permits — City of Redmond. Accessed 2026-08-27.
- Permits, inspections, and codes - buildings and land use — King County Department of Local Services, Permitting Division. Accessed 2026-08-27.
- Permit records research — King County Department of Local Services. Accessed 2026-08-27.
- After Chimney Fire - Ensure Safe Chimney Use — Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA). Accessed 2026-08-27.
- Preventing Chimney Fires — Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA). Accessed 2026-08-27.
- Chapter 10 Chimneys and Fireplaces - Washington State Residential Code 2021 — UpCodes (reproducing the Washington State Residential Code 2021, based on IRC 2021). Accessed 2026-08-27.
- Wood-Burning Installation and Maintenance — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Burn Wise. Accessed 2026-08-27.
Next step
Start with an inspection
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.