Alki, King County
Relining a chimney in Alki starts at $1,900. That entry price covers stainless steel from top to bottom of a straight, single-story flue. Height, offsets, insulation, a tight firebox throat or an insert that has to be reconnected each add to it, and the written quote lists them line by line. Nobody can price a liner honestly before the flue has been seen by camera, so the job begins with that look.
Typical investment
From $1,900
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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 Alki home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Alki 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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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.
Wikipedia's article on Alki Point describes today's Alki as a beach-town mix of mid-century bungalows, medium-rise waterfront apartment buildings and waterfront businesses. Behind a mid-century hearth the original clay tiles may still be doing the venting, or through bare brick if it is older still. We do not guess which: the camera tells us, and you see the same footage we do.
Seattle's 2002 survey of neighborhood commercial districts says Alki was a thriving resort by 1900, on an exposed site better suited to recreation than to settlement, its beach lined with dozens of summer cottages. WeatherSpark's Seattle figures show what that exposure meets: a wet season running October 10 through April 30, 6.6 months long, and a November that brings roughly 7.5 inches of rain over nearly 17 wet days.
Rain that enters an open or cracked flue soaks the joints between tiles and carries acidic soot into the brick behind them. A stainless liner changes the path: the top plate closes the old flue, the cap covers the liner, and whatever water still lands runs outside the pipe. On Alki we treat that seal at the top as part of the liner, not an extra.
Every chimney relining we do in Alki includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowA change of fuel is one reason a liner comes up. In the Census ZIP code area around Alki, about 4.7 percent of occupied homes still heat mainly with fuel oil and 31.3 percent with utility gas. Swap an oil burner for gas and the exhaust runs cooler; the flue built for oil is then often oversized, which a liner matched to the new unit corrects. For inserts, Seattle's Mechanical Code asks two things: a UL 1482 listing with its label, and installation by the maker's instructions. Whether a permit applies to your liner is something we confirm with SDCI before the job, not after.
The camera records tile condition, offsets and the narrowest point, which fixes the liner diameter we can use.
Diameter follows the fireplace opening or the appliance's listing, never whatever happens to fit.
Fed down from the chimney top as a single piece, the steel tube is then joined at its base and wrapped where the listing calls for insulation.
A plate and cap close the old flue around the liner, and we confirm draft with the appliance running.
FEMA published an advisory for owners of masonry chimneys broken by earthquakes. Its reasoning: an old stack without steel, its mortar worn, is the likeliest to fall; rebuilt the same way it is no safer; an insert, or a metal flue boxed in light framing, is the better course. EERI's engineers, reporting on the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, saw wood-frame houses come through well, chimneys being most of what broke.
No liner braces a stack, and ours are not sold on that promise. Steel tubing simply goes on carrying smoke and heat after the clay around it has cracked, a useful property in a district where, by HistoryLink's account, nearly every chimney was reported down in 1965. If the stack itself is loose, we say so and price that repair separately.
What this work is quoted at for Alki homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Alki | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| Chimney Relining | From $1,900 | Full-length stainless liner, sized to the appliance |
| 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 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 Alki. 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.
Alki is the beach neighborhood at the northwest tip of West Seattle, where the Denny party landed in 1851, on Puget Sound and Elliott Bay, with houses and duplexes that date mostly from the 1920s and the 1950s around the school, mixed with newer townhouses and apartments. We work every part of it — Alki Point, the Alki Avenue beachfront included.
AlkiKing County, WA · 47.576, -122.409
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.
We have not read a city page that states it for every case, so we do not claim one. Before work on your address we ask SDCI and tell you the answer.
A few open joints can sometimes be resurfaced. Broken or missing tiles along the height usually mean a full liner. The camera footage decides, and you receive it.
Most single-flue liners are installed in one day. Tall or offset flues, or a firebox rebuild alongside, can add a second.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
