Admiral, King County
Chimney repair in Admiral has a floor of $425. At that level we are talking about one small, clearly bounded fault, such as a handful of loose bricks or a short run of open joints. Bigger scopes cost more, and every one gets its own line and its own figure, which makes the total easy to question. We repair what the photos prove is broken and leave sound masonry alone.
Typical investment
From $425
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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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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.
Admiral sits on the north end of the peninsula's main ridge, and its edges are steep. The Seattle Landslide Study logs 26 slides on the east-facing Admiral Way slope since 1917 and reports active creep on both sides of that road. In Fairmount Gulch, the ravine under the Admiral Way bridge, it counts eleven more from 1937 onward. Most Admiral houses stand well back from those slopes. For the ones near them, we photograph and date every crack, so a later visit can show whether it has moved.
The 2001 Nisqually shock left a trace in this neighborhood. A USGS open-file report written afterward records ground movement north of SW Admiral Way that affected the piles under houses there; it gives no loss figure for that site. A separate USGS-indexed study of chimney damage from the same event found it tightly clustered, with West Seattle the plainest example, in the very area where damage had been mapped after 1965.
That is why a repair quote from us in Admiral begins with a question about movement. A stepped crack that crosses several courses, a stack that has rotated on its base, a gap opened between chimney and house wall: those are not weathering, and filling them with mortar hides the evidence without curing anything. When we see them, we say what we think happened and what a mason can and cannot fix.
Every chimney repair we do in Admiral includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowThe faults we are called for repeat: bricks that rock under a hand at the chimney top, joints you can push a key into, a firebox wall with gaps behind the grate, a smoke chamber shedding its coating. Each has a cause, and patching without naming the cause buys a year at most. Water is the usual one. Movement is the other, and in this neighborhood it deserves a serious look.
Every defect gets a photo with a tape in frame. Cracks are traced to see where they start and stop.
Is it water from above, heat from within, or the structure shifting? The repair method follows from that answer.
One line per fault with its own figure. You may approve all of them or only the urgent ones.
Damaged units come out and go back in fresh mortar chosen to suit the old brick, never a harder mix that would break it.
The same angles are photographed again and the set is sent to you with notes on what to watch.
Chapter 1 of Seattle's 2021 residential rules lists work that needs no building permit. One entry covers minor repairs or alterations whose value, added up over six months, stays under the small-job threshold the section sets, with a firm condition: no loadbearing support may be removed, reduced, altered or relocated. The construction department's code page confirms that the 2021 edition is the one applied to houses, duplexes and low townhouses.
Many Admiral repairs are small enough to sit inside that exemption, and some are not. A chimney is heavy and parts of a house can lean on it, so we do not assume. If the scope touches structure, or grows past the threshold, the quote says that SDCI has to be consulted and we make that call before scheduling the crew.
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 Repair | From $425 | Masonry repair — brick and mortar, scoped after diagnosis |
| 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 Cap Installation | $235–$850 | Stainless cap fitted; multi-flue and custom at the top |
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.
From $425 for a contained fault. A partial rebuild of the upper stack costs well above that floor, and the itemized quote shows how the total is built.
A repair price needs evidence, so yes: $99 plus tax. Those $99 are credited against the repair once you approve it.
Interior repairs, yes. Mortar on the outside wants dry weather and temperatures above freezing while it cures, so we watch the forecast.
We tint and tool it to sit close to what is there. An exact match on century-old joints is not something anyone can promise.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
