Ballard, King County
Relining a Ballard chimney begins at $1,900, which covers one stainless liner dropped through a single flue from cap to firebox. Taller flues, larger diameters, offsets in the stack and cracked tile needing removal beforehand all add to it. Every relining opens with the $99 plus tax inspection, because a liner cannot be sized from the sidewalk; sign off on the relining quote and those $99 are subtracted from it.
Typical investment
From $1,900
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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 Ballard home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Ballard homes.
A Level 1 review of everything reachable, raised to a Level 2 camera scan when a question stays open
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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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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.
Two generations of housing sit side by side here. In ZIP area 98117, which reaches from the older Ballard blocks out to the bluff and past it, the Census Bureau counts 15,725 housing units; 36.3% date from 1939 or earlier and another 14.3% from the 1940s. A flue built then was built for the appliance of its day, and over eighty or a hundred years it may have been handed a different job more than once. In ZIP area 98107, by contrast, the 2010s alone produced 28.3% of today's units.
Under Seattle Residential Code R1003.11, what a masonry flue is lined with depends on the appliance below. The code accepts three kinds: ASTM C315 clay tile, a system listed under UL 1777, or a different approved material able to take corrosion and 1,800°F heat. That rule matters in Ballard because the appliance is seldom a wood fire.
In ZIP area 98117 the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 fuel table credits gas with 48.5% of occupied homes and oil with 7.9%; wood barely registers. A furnace sends out cooler, wetter exhaust than a log fire, and a wide brick flue built for a fireplace is the wrong size for it. Before quoting, we read the rating plate of whatever is connected, size the liner to it and choose the alloy that fuel calls for. A liner for a wood insert and a liner for an oil furnace are not the same product.
Every chimney relining we do in Ballard includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowRelining is called for when the existing lining no longer holds or no longer matches what it serves: cracked or missing clay tiles, open joints between them, a flue far wider than the appliance needs, or surfaces eaten by furnace exhaust. Seattle's rain adds to it. November alone brings Seattle roughly seven and a half inches, WeatherSpark reckons, on nearly 17 wet days, and water entering a broken or unlined flue carries soot acids into the brick. A continuous stainless liner, closed at the top by a sealed plate and a cap, shuts that path.
The camera survey records flue height, inside dimensions, offsets and the state of each tile.
Diameter and alloy follow the appliance maker's instructions and the liner's own listing, never habit.
We sweep the flue and clear any shattered tile that could snag the liner on its way down.
From the roof, the liner goes down the flue. It is joined to the appliance at the base, insulated as its listing requires and closed up top with a plate and cap.
We test the draft, photograph both ends and hand you the liner's documentation for your records.
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 Relining | From $1,900 | Full-length stainless liner, sized to the appliance |
| Chimney Sweep | $209–$459 | Full flue swept, Level 1 inspection included |
| Chimney Inspection | $99 plus tax | Level 1 visual; Level 2 adds a full camera scan |
| 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.
Seattle exempts a short list of work from building permits, and a new liner is not named on it. By SDCI's guide, a permit is the norm once a project falls outside that list, with gas and fireplace work among its examples, yet the department publishes no sheet that settles the liner question in so many words. So we describe the job to SDCI for each address and follow its answer. If a mechanical permit applies, the department's own timetable is about nine weeks for a standard review, or 24 hours for a simple project issued subject to field inspection.
On Ballard Avenue itself, add the landmark district, where changes to a building's exterior require a Certificate of Approval. A liner is hidden, but the plate and cap that finish it can be seen from the street. For an address inside the district, the owner should put the question to the district board, and we supply the drawings and photos it will want.
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.
From $1,900 for one flue with a stainless liner. Tall chimneys, large diameters, offsets and tile removal add to that. The written quote is fixed before work starts.
We do not answer that from memory. Seattle's permit guide treats a permit as the default for anything off its exemption list, fireplace and gas jobs included, but it has no sheet on liners specifically. Before scheduling, we ask SDCI about your specific address.
Plan on one day on site for a single flue once the liner has arrived. Tile removal or a very tall stack can add a second day.
Yes, if the new liner fits inside them with the clearance its listing asks for. If it does not, the tiles are broken out first, and the quote says so.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
