Genesee, King County
An inspection in Genesee is $99 plus tax for each chimney. A technician runs a camera through the flue, goes up to the chimney top, examines the firebox indoors, and writes down what was found, with photos. Should work be needed and our quote get your approval, the job is billed $99 lower. If nothing needs doing, you keep a dated record of a sound chimney.
What we charge
$99 plus tax
Book an inspection
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 Genesee home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Genesee homes.
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
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Joints cut back to firm mortar and repointed (tuckpointing) to match the existing profile
Learn moreRanges shown for orientation — the exact figure is written up on-site, after the inspection.
Genesee Hill has a direct link to the earthquake that changed how Seattle thinks about brick. The April 1949 shock ruined Lafayette School in Admiral, and HistoryLink notes that its pupils in grades 1 to 4 spent the 1949-50 school year at Genesee Hill School, which had opened only weeks before. USGS authors write that a trio of deep earthquakes (1949, then 1965, then 2001) each broke unreinforced brick chimneys around Seattle, and that West Seattle showed local concentrations of heavy damage all three times. Nobody published which blocks of this hill were hit. That is the reason to look inside a chimney here and not assume.
The Census does not publish figures for Genesee alone. For the ZIP code area covering Alki, Admiral, Genesee and Seaview's north end, the 2020-2024 survey puts the median year built at 1974, with roughly 23.1% of housing units older than 1940 and 18.3% built since 2010. Old and new stand close together.
The camera therefore meets very different things. Washington's residential code, read on UpCodes, lists what a masonry chimney may be lined with: clay tile made to ASTM C315, a listed liner system tested to UL 1777, or other approved material rated to 1,800°F. An inspection states which of these your flue has, whether it is continuous, and whether its size suits the appliance connected to it now. That last point is the common surprise when an insert was added to an older hearth.
Every chimney inspection we do in Genesee includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowEarthquake damage in a flue rarely shows from the living room. A clay tile can crack or shift at a joint, the top courses can loosen, and the fireplace still lights. The same is true of slow damage from water. A camera finds both. We also check clearances, the damper, the smoke chamber and the crown, because a buyer, an insurer or the next contractor will ask about each of them.
Along SW Jacobsen Road, where the ground faces west, the Seattle Landslide Study has logged 18 slides since 1933, and it reports that movement in early 1997 did severe structural damage to two houses below the road. Below Genesee, on the Beach Drive side, Seattle Parks describes a park that is mostly steep woods: Me-Kwa-Mooks.
Most of Genesee is not on that slope, and a chimney is not a landslide gauge. Still, on a lot that falls away we add two checks: whether the stack has pulled from the wall of the house, visible as a tapering gap, and whether the firebox floor and hearth are still level. Either one changes what a safe repair looks like, so it belongs in the written findings.
The fee applies per chimney, so tell us how many stacks the house has and which appliances they serve.
Firebox, damper, lintel and hearth extension are checked and measured before the camera goes in.
The lens travels the flue and records each joint. You can watch the screen as it goes.
Weather and roof pitch permitting, the technician puts hands on the cap, the crown wash, the brick joints and the roof flashing.
You receive photos with plain captions, in three groups: fine as is, keep an eye on it, fix now.
What this work is quoted at for Genesee homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Genesee | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| Chimney Inspection | $99 plus tax | Level 1 visual; Level 2 adds a full camera scan |
| Chimney Sweep | $189–$449 | Full flue swept, Level 1 inspection included |
| 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 |
| Chimney Cap Installation | $235–$850 | Stainless cap fitted; multi-flue and custom at the top |
Ranges are what these jobs are quoted at in Genesee. 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.
Genesee is a hill neighborhood between SW Genesee and SW Charlestown streets, from 46th to 56th Avenues SW, with homes from before and after World War II, about 23% of those in its ZIP code area built before 1940 and 16% in the 1940s and 1950s.
GeneseeKing County, WA · 47.564, -122.372
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.
$99 plus tax per chimney. If you go ahead with the quote we write, the invoice drops by that $99.
Yearly. That is the NFPA 211 interval, which CSIA repeats on its homeowner page. Washington's State Fire Marshal gave the same yearly advice in a September 2026 release.
We can tell you its condition today: cracked tiles, offset joints, rebuilt sections. Dating a crack to one earthquake is usually guesswork, and we say so when it is.
Yes. The written findings and photos are yours to hand to an agent or a buyer.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
