Genesee, King County
A chimney sweep in Genesee costs $189 to $449 with us. The low end is a single open fireplace reached from the hearth on an easy roof. Roof pitch, chimney height and an insert needing removal first are what raise it, and you get the number in writing before a brush touches the flue. The job is plain: take out the soot and creosote that a season of fires leaves behind, and show you what the flue looks like once it is clean.
Typical investment
$189–$449
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.
Level 1 examination of everything reachable, with a Level 2 camera pass when the reachable parts leave a question open
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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 is the hill between SW Genesee Street and SW Charlestown Street, running west from 46th Avenue SW to 56th, by Wikipedia's description. HistoryLink's school history shows how quickly it filled: in January 1945 parents here asked the school board for a building of their own, and Genesee Hill School opened on January 31, 1949. A fireplace built in those years has had three quarters of a century of fires. We do not know from the street which houses still burn wood in an open hearth and which have been fitted with an insert, so the first question on the phone is what you light and how often.
The petition for Genesee Hill School came because Jefferson, Lafayette and Alki schools were overcrowded, HistoryLink records. The board agreed in November 1947 and a four-room building went up from June 1948. Families were arriving faster than classrooms. Census figures for the wider ZIP code area around Alki, Admiral and Genesee still show that wave: about 16.2% of today's housing units date from 1940 to 1959, and another 23.1% from before 1940.
For a sweep, the age of the house matters less than what has been done to the fireplace since. A hearth of that generation may be untouched, or it may hold an insert added decades later, with or without a liner behind it. Each case is brushed differently. An insert has to come forward so the flue above it can be reached, and a flue without a liner collects soot on rough masonry that takes more passes.
Every chimney sweep we do in Genesee includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowCSIA, quoting the NFPA 211 standard, says a masonry fireplace is due for the brush when its soot layer is 1/8 inch deep, earlier still where the deposit has gone glossy. Most owners cannot see that far up. What they notice is a smell on damp days, a fire that is slow to draw, or black flakes on the grate. Seattle's long wet season makes those signs worse, because soot left in a flue soaks up moisture between fires.
WeatherSpark's Seattle profile dates the windier months as mid-October through late April (October 15 - April 24) and has the air arriving chiefly from the south. Seattle's own hazard analysis adds that air gains speed where it passes over high ground. Genesee sits on one. That is the same half of the year in which people light fires.
A gust across the top of a flue can push smoke back down it, and a coating of soot narrows the passage the smoke has left. A clean flue will not stop the wind, but it removes one of the two causes. When we sweep, we also look at whether the chimney top has a cap that breaks the gust, and we tell you if it does not.
Open hearth, insert or stove, and roughly how many fires a winter. The answer decides the brushes and the time we book.
Cloths cover the walkway and the hearth. The vacuum hose is taped across the fireplace opening before any soot moves.
We work from the hearth or the roof, whichever the chimney allows, until the liner walls show clean along their full height.
We empty the smoke shelf, damper and firebox, then the grate goes back in place.
You see photos taken inside the flue. If the brush exposed a crack or a gap, we say so and explain what it means.
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 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 |
| 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.
Between $189 and $449. One fireplace with simple roof access sits near $189; height, pitch and an insert push toward the top figure.
CSIA's homeowner page cites NFPA 211: every chimney looked at yearly. Brushing is due once deposits are 1/8 inch thick, a mark regular wood burners tend to hit each winter.
No. The vacuum keeps the firebox under suction while we brush, and the cloths stay down until the tools are back in the van.
We photograph it and stop there. A full camera inspection is booked separately at $99 plus tax. Should the repair we then price get your go-ahead, $99 of its bill counts as already paid.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
