Northgate, King County
In Northgate a chimney sweep runs from $209 to $459 for each flue. An open fireplace reached from a walkable roof is the cheapest case. Add an insert or stove that has to be disconnected, a metal chimney with offsets or a tall two-story run, and the price moves toward the top. We look the system over before brushing. Should that look turn up a repair, the detailed inspection is $99 plus tax, an amount credited when the repair quote is signed.
Typical investment
$209–$459
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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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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.
Northgate was farmland with a city growing toward it. Seattle's survey of commercial districts says small farms held on north of 85th Street, Northgate's ground included, until World War II was over, and the shopping mall that named the district opened at noon on April 21, 1950, four years before the city annexed the area. Housing followed the mall. In ZIP area 98125, which includes Northgate and extends past it, the median housing unit dates from 1974, and only 7.6% of units are older than 1940.
Count the decades in Northgate's ZIP area and the postwar years dominate: the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 tables date 15.5% of its homes to the 1950s, 12.2% to the 1960s and 13.2% to the 1970s. Across those thirty years a new house might have received a masonry fireplace, a factory-built one or none at all. No source gives the mix, and we do not guess it from a street name.
For a sweep the distinction is practical. Seattle Residential Code R1003.11 wants a masonry flue lined for the appliance it serves, and R1005.1 wants a factory-built chimney listed and labeled, so we clean that kind with tools that will not scratch its inner wall. Where an insert was added to an older fireplace, the sweep is also the moment to check that a liner carries its smoke to the chimney top instead of releasing it into the old firebox.
Every chimney sweep we do in Northgate includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowA flue from the 1950s, 60s or 70s has been through fifty to seventy heating seasons, and what it vents may have changed along the way: a fireplace fitted with an insert, an oil furnace swapped for gas. Each change alters how soot collects. Sand Point, in northeast Seattle, has the nearest long weather record, and it shows how damp the burning season is. Of the 35.50 inches that fall there in an average year, 5.59 come in November, 5.33 in December and 4.99 in January. Soot left in a flue soaks up that moisture, which is one reason spring is as good a time to sweep as fall.
Runners cover the path in from the front door and a tarp is taped around the hearth. The vacuum is switched on first and stays on.
Masonry or factory-built, open or fitted with an insert: tools and brush material depend on the answer.
The brush travels every foot of the flue, up and back. With an insert, the connector and the unit's own passages are cleaned too.
Whatever fell is removed from the smoke shelf and firebox, then bagged.
Flue photos reach your phone or inbox with notes on any wear we noticed.
The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency allows two fuels in a Northgate fireplace or stove: seasoned firewood, properly dry, and factory-made logs. Trash, treated lumber, plastics and any paper beyond what starts the fire are illegal fuels, under the agency's rules and under WAC 173-433-120.
Smoke has its own limit, ban or no ban. What leaves a chimney may not exceed 20% opacity, a threshold judged across six consecutive minutes of any hour, and smoke that bothers a neighbor is a nuisance the agency can pursue (Regulation I, Section 9.11). A flue narrowed by soot drafts poorly, and a fire that drafts poorly smokes. Sweeping will not make wet wood burn clean, but it removes one cause of a smoky chimney, and in a ZIP area where 24.5% of housing units sit in large apartment buildings, neighbors are seldom far.
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 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 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 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.
$209 to $459 a flue. Plain open fireplaces are at the low end. Pulling an insert, cleaning a metal chimney with bends or working off a steep roof costs more, and we quote before we unpack.
Yes. CSIA's guidance for factory-built fireplaces is to sweep at any appreciable buildup, a lower bar than the one it sets for masonry.
Yes. In ZIP area 98125 about one occupied home in twenty still heats mainly with fuel oil (4.7%), and that furnace's flue collects soot that has to come out.
Either works. Spring gets the soot out ahead of a damp summer; early fall guarantees the flue is ready. Just avoid waiting for the first cold week, when everyone calls at once.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
