Northgate, King County
Relining a chimney in Northgate costs $1,900 and up. That starting figure is a full-length stainless liner in a straight, single-story flue. Two stories, a larger diameter, insulation, an offset or the removal of failed clay tile each add to it. We size the liner from a camera survey made during the inspection ($99 plus tax, deducted from the relining price when you accept 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 Northgate home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Northgate 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.
Northgate entered Seattle late. The city's survey of commercial districts records that Seattle first took in two pockets north of 85th Street in 1950, and that the 1953-54 annexations, Northgate's among them, pushed the city limit out to 145th Street; between 1940 and 1956, annexations added twenty square miles to the city. Much of the housing in ZIP area 98125 went up just before or just after that change of jurisdiction. The 1950s alone account for 15.5% of its units.
Heating in ZIP area 98125 is mostly electric: 66.9% of occupied homes, in the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 estimates. Utility gas heats 26.0% and fuel oil 4.7%. The oil figure is a legacy of the decades when these houses were built, and a house that leaves oil for gas may be putting a new appliance on an old flue.
Seattle Residential Code R1003.11 covers that moment. A masonry chimney's lining has to fit the appliance in service, and the code names the acceptable means: fired-clay tile made to ASTM C315, a lining system with a UL 1777 listing, or another approved material proof against corrosion and 1,800°F. In practice we fit a stainless liner that holds the UL 1777 listing, sized from the new furnace's manual. Where an old chimney is too damaged to line, FEMA's chimney guidance describes a different route: take the masonry down and put a framed, lightweight chase around a metal flue in its place.
Every chimney relining we do in Northgate includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowA liner fails quietly. Clay tiles crack from heat or settle apart at their joints; a metal liner put in decades ago corrodes through; or the flue was never resized when the appliance below was replaced, so exhaust cools and condenses before it gets out. The signs downstairs are slight: a white stain on the chimney's outer face, flakes of tile in the cleanout, a furnace that smells at start-up. A camera shows the rest.
The camera goes the full height, and we record flue size, turns and every defect with its depth from the top.
Liner diameter comes from the appliance's rating plate and manual. Copying the size of the old flue is how oversized flues happen.
Soot is swept out, and tile that blocks the path is broken out with rotary tools.
We feed the stainless liner down from above, fix it to the appliance collar or to a tee at the base, and insulate it the way its listing describes.
The old flue is sealed off at the top with a plate, the new cap is fitted, and we fire the appliance to check it draws.
What this work is quoted at for Northgate homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Northgate | 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 Northgate. 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.
Northgate is a district that grew around the shopping mall opened in 1950 and joined Seattle in 1954, with postwar houses and apartments, in a ZIP area whose median build year is 1974. We work every part of it — Haller Lake, Pinehurst, Licton Springs included.
NorthgateKing County, WA · 47.707, -122.327
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.
$1,900 and up per flue. The quote that follows the camera survey is a fixed number, not a range.
It needs a lining that suits the new appliance; that is how Seattle's code words it. A gas furnace generally calls for a smaller flue than the oil unit it replaced, and the furnace's own instructions give the size.
The department's published guide does not settle that for liners, and we will not settle it on its behalf. We describe your job to SDCI and schedule according to its answer.
The fuel decides. Wood and oil need stainless steel. Some gas appliances can use aluminum where the manufacturer allows it. We fit what the appliance's listing calls for.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
