Ballard, King County
Ballard chimney inspections cost $99 plus tax for each chimney, whatever we find once we are on site. If repairs turn out to be needed and you sign our quote for them, the $99 already paid is taken off that job. Nothing makes the fee vary. What varies is how long we stay: a tall stack, a second flue in the same chimney or a camera run through an offset all add time, not cost.
What we charge
$99 plus tax
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 Ballard home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Ballard homes.
The whole flue brushed, using heads picked for the liner's size and shape
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A photo assessment that distinguishes surface wear from structural damage
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Camera survey and measurements taken before any liner is chosen
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Measurement of each flue, or of the crown when a single cap will span several
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Glass removed, cleaned and checked for a sound gasket
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Crown and all four sides photographed before any work
Learn moreRanges shown for orientation — the exact figure is written up on-site, after the inspection.
Ballard incorporated in 1890 with 1,636 residents, and a city survey records five shingle mills, three sawmills, a sash and door plant and three shipyards on its waterfront two years later. Houses followed the mills. A history prepared for the city's preservation program places Ballard's residential building boom between roughly 1900 and 1910, and census estimates still date 36.3% of the housing in ZIP area 98117 to 1939 or earlier. For a chimney that has changed hands many times, an inspection may be the first look anyone has put on paper.
Fuel statistics explain why we ask. Across ZIP area 98117, utility gas is the main heat in close to half the occupied homes and fuel oil in about one of every thirteen, according to the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 survey. Wood is the main heat for a few dozen households. Nearer the canal, in ZIP area 98107, seven homes in ten rely on electricity.
The chimney on an older Ballard house may therefore be doing a job its builders never planned, carrying the exhaust of a gas or oil appliance, or no job at all behind a fireplace that holds candles. Each case is inspected differently. For a flue in service, Seattle Residential Code section R1003.11 is the yardstick: the liner must match the appliance it serves, and the code accepts clay tile, a UL-listed system, or other approved material for that. For an idle one, we check that it is closed to rain and animals and say what putting it back in use would involve.
Every chimney inspection we do in Ballard includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowAge shows in specific places. Mortar joints near the top take the weather first. Clay flue tiles, where a chimney has them, can crack or shift out of line, and neither defect can be seen from the hearth. A furnace or water heater may have been connected to an old flue decades after the house was built. So the inspection starts by identifying what actually vents into each flue, then checks the lining against it. Around the Ballard core the question changes: the median year of construction in ZIP area 98107 is 1995, and for a unit of that generation the label and the maker's installation instructions are the reference.
We ask what the fireplace or appliance is used for, how often, and what prompted the call.
Firebox, damper, smoke chamber and the reachable flue are examined with a light. A camera goes up when the view is blocked or a defect is suspected.
Weather permitting, the stack, crown, cap and flashing are checked and photographed at close range.
Where the chimney passes through spaces we can enter, we look at its clearance to wood framing and for water stains.
Findings are written up with photos and sorted into three lists: sound, to watch, to fix. Each repair carries its price.
What this work is quoted at for Ballard homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Ballard | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| Chimney Inspection | $99 plus tax | Level 1 visual; Level 2 adds a full camera scan |
| Chimney Sweep | $209–$459 | Full flue swept, Level 1 inspection included |
| 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 | $265–$850 | Stainless cap fitted; multi-flue and custom at the top |
Ranges are what these jobs are quoted at in Ballard. 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.
An inspection needs no permit. Its findings, though, sort into three groups for the city. Seattle exempts some work from a building permit: chimney repointing by name, and minor repairs below a value threshold written into the code. Exempt work must still meet the code. Past that list, SDCI says most projects need a permit; fireplace and furnace jobs are two of its examples. Our report states which group each recommended repair appears to fall in, and for anything in doubt we ask SDCI before quoting a start date.
For a building inside the Ballard Avenue Landmark District, the report has a second use. The district board must issue a Certificate of Approval ahead of any exterior change, and it judges applications against its own guidelines and the federal rehabilitation standards issued by the Secretary of the Interior. Dated close-up photos of the existing chimney are the kind of record an owner can bring to that discussion.
Ballard is a former mill town that joined Seattle in 1907 and runs from the Ship Canal north to NW 85th Street, on Shilshole Bay and Salmon Bay, with houses from before 1950 north and west of the old town and many newer buildings near the canal. We work every part of it — Loyal Heights, Whittier Heights, West Woodland, Adams included.
BallardKing County, WA · 47.668, -122.384
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.
The fee is $99 plus tax for each chimney. It is deducted from any repair quote you go on to approve, and if you decline, the photo report stays yours.
An unused fireplace still has a chimney standing in the rain, and often a flue that serves a furnace or water heater. The NFPA 211 standard, which CSIA quotes, wants one check a year regardless of use.
When it is safe. On a wet or steep roof we work from a ladder at the eave with a pole camera, and the report says what could not be seen up close.
It documents the chimney's condition on the day of the visit, with photos. Whether a buyer, lender or insurer wants more is their decision; we state clearly what was examined and what was not.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
