Admiral, King County
Masonry repair on an Admiral chimney, meaning crown work and repointing, begins at $475. The surface involved sets the price: a crown resurfaced on a small stack is near the floor, while repointing every face of a tall chimney is several times that. The quote counts square feet and tells you which joints are being redone and which are fine.
Typical investment
From $475
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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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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.
Brick has been laid in Admiral for a long time. An eight-room, three-story brick schoolhouse opened here in September 1893, and after the 1949 earthquake a 20-room brick replacement designed by John Graham & Co. opened in September 1950. Mortar of either period has since sat through many decades of weather. Rain is most of that weather: 38.29 inches in an average year on the nearest long-term weather station record, close to 6 inches in each of November, December and January.
Seattle's residential code treats a masonry chimney in the three D seismic design categories as something to be tied together. New or rebuilt chimneys up to 40 inches wide must carry four continuous No. 4 vertical bars, and wherever a floor, ceiling or roof meets the stack higher than 6 feet off the ground, steel straps have to tie the two together. Which design category an Admiral lot falls in is not something we can cite, so the rule is given here without a verdict on your address.
Admiral rebuilt in brick after 1949: the replacement Lafayette School opened in 1950 with a new wing three years later. Repointing is a different act from rebuilding. It renews joints and adds no steel. If a chimney here needs its upper section taken down and relaid, the reinforcement question comes with it, and we raise it in the quote instead of quietly relaying brick the old way.
Every masonry repair (crown / repointing) we do in Admiral includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowIn a brick wall the joint is designed to wear first. It is softer than the units it holds and far easier to renew. When it erodes past a certain depth, water sits in the joint, and on the few dozen nights a year that the temperature drops to freezing, it expands there. The crown, the sloped slab on top, cracks for similar reasons and then funnels water into the stack. Both are slow failures and both are cheap to stop early.
A pick goes into joints on each face. Soft, sandy or hollow ones are marked; firm ones are left out of the scope.
Marked areas are measured, and the crown is judged for patching or recasting. The quote lists both.
Out comes the dead mortar, deep enough for fresh mix to key in behind the brick edges. A shroud on the grinder catches the dust.
Fresh mortar is packed in layers and shaped to shed water, in a profile close to the original.
Cracks are sealed or the slab is recast with a drip edge so runoff falls clear of the brick.
Two city documents agree on this point. Section R105.2 of the residential code names repointing a chimney among the minor jobs that need no building permit, on condition that the building envelope is not changed. The construction department's page on additions and remodels repeats it in plainer language: chimney repointing can go ahead without a permit, as can replacing roofing or siding when nothing structural changes.
So the typical Admiral repointing job involves no paperwork with the city. We still write down the limits. Renewing joints is on the list; taking down and relaying courses of brick is not described there, and we check with SDCI before a job crosses from one into the other.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Masonry Repair (Crown / Repointing) | From $475 | Crown work, repointing and tuckpointing by surface area |
| 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 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.
Masonry repair starts at $475. The area to be repointed and the state of the crown decide how far above that your chimney lands.
Not for repointing as such: the city's exemption list names it, provided the envelope of the building is left as it was. A designated landmark is a separate matter.
You see the probe go in. During the $99 plus tax inspection we photograph the depth with a ruler, and that fee is taken off the masonry quote you approve.
Decades when the mix suits the brick and the crown above it sheds water. A leaking crown will undo good joints in a few years.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
