Gatewood, King County
On a Gatewood chimney, flashing work is priced anywhere from $375 up to $1,500. If the metal is healthy and only its caulk or the mortar gripping it has given up, a reseal keeps you near the floor of that span. Cutting new step flashing into the shingles and new counter flashing into the brick, on all four faces, sits at the top. Flashing means the bent sheet metal sealing the seam where brick rises out of shingles. When it lets go, the water usually shows up indoors some distance away, which is why tracing it comes before pricing it.
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 Gatewood home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Gatewood 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.
According to the Western Regional Climate Center's write-up on western Washington, the Puget Sound lowlands get most of their 32 to 35 inches of yearly precipitation between October and spring, with south to southwest winds prevailing through the wet season. On a hill as high as Gatewood's, a chimney's south and west faces take that rain at an angle, and the upslope face catches everything the roof sheds above it. Flashing that held for years in calm drizzle can start to weep the first time a storm drives water sideways up under its laps.
Half the homes around Gatewood are past sixty. The Census puts the median housing unit in the ZIP code area around Gatewood at 1960, sixteen years older than Seattle's citywide median of 1976. Over that span, houses get new roofs, sometimes heavier ones, and sometimes a dormer or an addition that changes the roof line near the chimney.
Seattle's 2021 residential code sets the chimney's own height in relation to the roof: the top has to rise 3 feet or more over the highest point where it leaves the roof, and also clear by 2 feet anything of the house standing within 10 feet of it. If a remodel raised the roof near an older stack, the chimney may have been extended, and every extension adds a new joint to keep dry. When we repair flashing, we also tell you whether the stack still meets that height rule, since fixing both at once is cheaper than fixing them in two visits.
Every chimney flashing repair we do in Gatewood includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowFlashing rarely fails all at once. A bead of sealant dries and cracks. The mortar joint gripping the counter flashing crumbles, so the metal lifts at one end. A nail through the step flashing rusts out. Each opens a gap a few millimeters wide, and in a rainy season that is plenty. Stains on the ceiling beside the chimney, a damp patch high on a wall, or water dripping along a beam in the attic are the usual signs.
Seattle Parks keeps Orchard Street Ravine, at 7215 38th Avenue SW, as a natural area, a ravine left largely to itself and crossed by trail stairs. In Seattle's windstorm hazard report, the peninsula's dense canopy is the reason it ranks as wind-vulnerable, with toppled trees doing most of the harm.
Trees close to a roof cause a quieter problem too. Needles, leaves and small branches slide down the roof and bank up against the chimney's high side, where they hold water against the flashing for weeks. A wet pocket like that is a classic place for step flashing to rust through and for decking to go soft. We clear that pile on any Gatewood flashing call, and if the uphill face is wide and has no cricket to split the flow, we price one as an option.
Ceiling stain first, attic second, roof last: by the end we can usually name the face that lets water in.
Reseal, reset or replace: the quote says which, for each face, with a photo of what we found.
We saw a slot into a mortar joint and fold the counter flashing's lip into it; metal glued onto the brick face just peels.
Each new step piece is tucked under its own shingle course, shingle over metal over shingle, lapped downhill like the roof itself.
A hose run over the repaired faces, with someone watching in the attic, shows the joint is dry before we leave.
What this work is quoted at for Gatewood homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Gatewood | 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 Gatewood. 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.
Gatewood is a hilltop neighborhood named for Carlisle Gatewood, the developer who financed its streetcar line in 1907, with older homes, about three in ten of those in its ZIP code area built before 1940 and half before 1960.
GatewoodKing County, WA · 47.545, -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.
Between $375 and $1,500 here. A reseal costs least; four sides of new step and counter metal cost most.
No. Rain soaking through thirsty brick, past a split crown, or straight down an uncapped flue can stain the very same ceiling. Tracing comes first so you do not pay for the wrong repair.
Yes, and it is the best moment. Tell your roofer we will handle the chimney joint and we will coordinate the day.
Tracing is part of a flashing quote. If the chimney also needs a full camera inspection, that is $99 plus tax per chimney and credited against work you approve.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
