Fremont, King County
Relining a chimney in Fremont starts at $1,900. That floor is a full-length stainless steel liner in a straight flue of ordinary height serving one appliance. Three things push the quote up: length (a two-story stack with a basement fireplace needs far more pipe), offsets that call for flexible sections or for opening the masonry, and the diameter and insulation the appliance requires. No price leaves us until the flue has been filmed; a guess made from the sidewalk is not a quote.
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 Fremont home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Fremont 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.
Fremont's builders worked in two bursts, the first after 1902 and the second across the 1920s, according to the city's residential survey report. That report also notes that the federal housing programs of the 1930s added little here, in part because few empty parcels were left. The practical meaning for a liner: a flue in a house of that age was built for the fuel and the appliance of a hundred years ago, and it is asked to serve something else the day an owner adds an insert or swaps a furnace.
The Portage Bay gauge, the weather record kept on the Lake Union side of Seattle, took 4.22 inches of rain inside 24 hours on 18 January 1986. Its wettest year, 1996, brought 51.56 inches. Fremont has met the same lake since 1916, when the Ship Canal's cut along its south side was completed.
A day like that sends water down any flue whose top is open or whose crown has failed. In an unlined or broken flue the water goes straight into soft interior mortar, mixes with soot, and leaves through the outside face of the brick as staining. A continuous stainless liner closed by a top plate and a cap changes the path: rain is turned away at the crown, and the condensation an appliance produces stays inside the pipe until it drains or evaporates.
Every chimney relining we do in Fremont includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowSeattle's residential code, at R1003.11, makes the appliance the yardstick: a masonry flue's lining is judged against the unit that exhausts through it. Three routes satisfy it: ASTM C315 clay tile; a lining system listed to UL 1777; or, third, an approved material able to take 1,800°F and corrosive flue gas without failing. An oversized, unlined or cracked flue fails that test in practice: exhaust cools, condenses and attacks the mortar. Whether your particular relining needs a city permit is a question we put to SDCI before work starts; SDCI's permit guide files fireplace, gas and mechanical jobs with the projects that generally need one unless its exemption list names them.
Washington's Geological Survey describes three sources of earthquakes for this region: deep quakes below 45 kilometers, shallow crustal faults good for a 7.5, and the Cascadia megathrust, which can reach 9 and last broke about 300 years ago.
FEMA's guidance on damaged masonry chimneys favors lighter construction. Among the options it describes is a steel flue housed in a light wood-framed chase, built up from the top of the firebox, in place of heavy brick above the roof. A liner alone does not reinforce a chimney, and we never sell it as a seismic fix. But the camera survey that precedes relining shows the condition of the masonry around the flue, and if the stack above the roof is in poor shape we raise the lighter alternative before you pay to line brick that may not be worth keeping.
The existing lining, its offsets and its true dimensions are recorded so the liner is specified from evidence.
Alloy, bore and insulation follow what the appliance maker's listing specifies; the price is put in writing.
We ask SDCI what the address and scope require and wait for the answer before scheduling.
Down from the roof goes the pipe; both ends are joined and sealed; the camera makes a second trip.
What this work is quoted at for Fremont homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Fremont | 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 Fremont. 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.
Fremont is a neighborhood platted in 1888 beside what became the Ship Canal and annexed to Seattle in 1891, on Lake Union, with houses built mostly between 1902 and the end of the 1920s.
FremontKing County, WA · 47.651, -122.350
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.
Not for a fireplace that stays cold. The question changes if a furnace or water heater vents into the same chimney, because that appliance uses the flue every day whether or not you light a fire.
The camera inspection is billed first, $99 plus tax for the chimney. Once a relining contract is signed, we knock the $99 off its total.
The code allows both. Replacing tiles means opening the chimney, so in an existing house a listed stainless system is usually the less invasive route. We explain the choice for your flue with the footage in hand.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
