Admiral, King County
Flashing repair on an Admiral chimney is priced between $375 and $1,500. Resealing metal that is still sound belongs at the bottom of that range. At the top of it, all the old metal is discarded and the stack gets fresh steps, fresh counter pieces and a saddle on its uphill side. Which one you need is decided on the roof, with the shingles lifted, not from a ceiling stain.
Typical investment
$375–$1,500
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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 Admiral home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Admiral homes.
Level 1 examination of everything reachable, with a Level 2 camera pass when the reachable parts leave a question open
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Full-height brushing of the flue with a head sized to its shape and material
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Assessment of the stack from roofline to crown, with a photo of each defect
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Camera survey and measurement of the existing flue before anything is ordered
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Measurement of each flue tile, or of the whole crown for a multi-flue cap
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Burner, pilot assembly and firebox cleaned; logs or media put back in the layout the manual shows
Learn moreRanges shown for orientation — the exact figure is written up on-site, after the inspection.
Wind matters to this joint as much as rain does. WeatherSpark's Seattle profile gives the breezy season as October 15 through April 24. December is its windiest month, and outside midsummer the air mostly comes up from the south. The city's hazard analysis notes that hills and ridges speed the wind up, and Admiral occupies the north end of one. Rain driven sideways gets under laps that shed vertical rain perfectly well.
The study of chimney damage after the 2001 earthquake, indexed by the USGS, reached a finding that surprises people: on this peninsula, neither soft ground nor terrain nor the way a hillside faces nor the miles to the epicenter explained which chimneys broke. What did was position relative to the Seattle fault zone: the worst streets followed its mapped strands, and one or two blocks past the end of the zone the broken chimneys thinned out abruptly. Instrument records from that day, quoted on a USGS simulation page, show two stations whose peak sideways acceleration differed by a factor of almost three.
The roofline is where a shaken chimney shows it first. A stack that rocked even slightly tears its sealant bead and drags counter flashing out of the groove, and the leak that follows may not appear until the next wet season. On an Admiral roof we therefore read a failed seam two ways: as a leak to close, and as a possible sign that the chimney itself has moved.
Every chimney flashing repair we do in Admiral includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowA chimney and a roof move independently: the stack sits on its own footing while the framing swells and shrinks with the seasons. Flashing is the flexible seam between them. Its usual failures are dried-out sealant along the top edge, metal pulled out of its mortar groove, nails backing up through a lap, and a missing saddle on the uphill side where water and needles pile up.
Starting in the attic, we follow the stain uphill to the point where daylight or dampness shows.
Shingles around the stack are raised so that hidden step pieces and the sheathing beneath can be judged.
Sound metal with tired sealant is resealed. Corroded, short or tar-buried metal is taken off entirely.
Each step piece is woven with its shingle course. Counter flashing is cut into a mortar joint and bent down over the steps.
A hose plays on the uphill side for several minutes while someone watches the attic.
Seattle's exemption list in R105.2 has two roofing entries: laying a new covering over the old one, and replacing a roof with the same kind of roof, so long as sheathing and structure stay untouched. The remodel page of the construction department says the same about replacing roofing when nothing structural is altered. Flashing repair around a chimney ordinarily stays well inside that: metal and a few shingles are renewed, and the deck is left as it is.
The boundary is rot. Years of slow leakage can soften the sheathing and the framing next to a chimney, and once boards or rafters have to be replaced the job is no longer the simple swap those texts describe. If we lift shingles in Admiral and find that, work stops, you get photos, and the permit question goes to SDCI before anything is cut.
What this work is quoted at for Admiral homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Admiral | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| Chimney Flashing Repair | $375–$1,500 | Reseal at the low end, full flashing replacement at the high |
| 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 Admiral. 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.
Admiral is the oldest neighborhood in West Seattle, first platted in 1885 at the north end of the peninsula, with homes of many decades, close to a quarter of those in its ZIP code area built before 1940. We work every part of it — North Admiral included.
AdmiralKing County, WA · 47.581, -122.386
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.
A reseal sits near $375. Renewing every piece around a broad stack can reach $1,500. Your quote says which job it describes, with the reason.
Either can do it well. The half that goes wrong most often is the counter flashing set into the masonry, which is our daily work.
For a season. Tar cracks, hides the real seam and makes the proper repair slower later on.
Finding the leak happens during the inspection, billed $99 plus tax. Sign the flashing quote and the invoice comes out $99 smaller.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
