Genesee, King County
Waterproofing a chimney in Genesee is priced $320 to $795. Two things place you inside that bracket: how big the stack is and how awkward the roof. The product is a breathable repellent, sprayed onto brick and mortar that are already sound. Vapor can still leave the wall. Liquid rain can no longer soak in. Expect to renew it every three to five years.
Typical investment
$320–$795
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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 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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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.
Rain here is less a matter of volume than of duration. WeatherSpark's Seattle profile gives the wet season 6.6 months, running from October 10 to April 30, and assigns November roughly 7.5 inches, delivered across 16.7 wet days. Brick on a Genesee rooftop is therefore damp for most of half a year, with few dry spells long enough to empty it. Many chimneys on the hill went up in the building wave that produced Genesee Hill School in 1949, HistoryLink's date for its opening, and have absorbed some seventy-five such seasons.
HistoryLink records that the school board agreed in November 1947 to build on Genesee Hill and that a ten-room addition was already needed by September 1, 1949, months after opening. Enrollment peaked at 726 in 1958-59. Those dates bracket the years when much of the hill was built. Census estimates for the surrounding ZIP code area agree in outline: roughly 16.2% of its housing units date from 1940-1959.
A chimney of that age which has never been treated is the best candidate for repellent, provided its joints are intact. There is one more thing to check. If an insert or a gas appliance was fitted later, the flue runs cooler than it did with open fires, and less heat reaches the brick to dry it from within. Such stacks stay wet longer and benefit most.
Every chimney waterproofing we do in Genesee includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowOld brick drinks. Pour a cup of water against an unsealed face and it darkens and vanishes within seconds. Later that water reappears: a tea-colored ring on the ceiling near the stack, rust on the damper, or brick faces shearing off after a frost. Repellent is not a cure for cracks: it will not bridge an open joint or a split crown. Those are repaired first, or the treatment is money spent on a leak that continues.
Two calendars overlap almost exactly in WeatherSpark's Seattle data. Wet weather runs October 10 - April 30; windy weather, October 15 - April 24, a period of chiefly southerly air. In its Washington narrative, the Western Regional Climate Center likewise gives the Puget Sound lowlands prevailing south to southwest winds for the wet months.
On a hilltop, that means rain does not simply fall on a chimney. It is driven against the south and southwest faces. Those faces darken first, grow the least moss because they also get the sun, and lose their mortar soonest. When we treat a Genesee chimney we give the weather faces a heavier application, and we tell you to watch them at renewal time.
A measured amount of water is held against the brick. How fast it disappears tells us whether treatment is worth doing.
Open joints, a cracked crown or loose flashing are quoted separately and fixed ahead of any spraying.
Growth and dirt are brushed off. Shingles, gutters and windows below are covered.
Repellent goes on from the bottom up, wet on wet, on a dry day with no rain forecast for the hours that follow.
Your report records which repellent went on, on what day, and when a recheck is due.
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 Waterproofing | $320–$795 | Breathable sealer — reapplied every 3–5 years in this climate |
| 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 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.
$320 at the least, $795 at the most. Stack dimensions and roof access set it.
A film-forming sealer traps moisture already inside the wall. When that moisture freezes, the brick face comes off with the coating. A breathable repellent lets vapor out.
Three to five years on most chimneys. The exposed faces wear first, and we note which those are.
If we have not seen the chimney, yes, at $99 plus tax. When the waterproofing quote is approved, that $99 is already counted toward it.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
