Phinney Ridge, King County
Sweeping one flue on Phinney Ridge costs between $209 and $459. The low figure goes with a walkable one-story roof over a flue with no bends. The high one goes with steep shingles, with a stack that stands tall where the lot drops, or with an insert we must slide out first. You get the exact number before the brushes come off the van.
Typical investment
$209–$459
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 Phinney Ridge home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Phinney Ridge 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.
The ridge filled with houses in a known order. HistoryLink records the Phinney Avenue streetcar reaching N 50th Street in 1906, N 68th the next year, N 75th in 1908 and the old city limits at N 85th in 1909, and builders followed the rails. Census estimates for ZIP area 98103, which Phinney Ridge shares with four other North Seattle neighborhoods, count 9,936 housing units from 1939 or earlier, a little over a third of the total. A fireplace that old has usually burned under several owners with very different habits, and the soot in it tells that story better than any listing does.
Every chimney sweep we do in Phinney Ridge includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowFew people here heat with wood. In the same ZIP area the 2020 to 2024 estimates have electricity as chief heat source in 56.7% of occupied homes, utility gas in 39.6%, while wood is the primary fuel in roughly 130 households. So most Phinney Ridge fireplaces are lit on a handful of evenings a year, and a flue used that way is easy to forget. For a masonry fireplace, CSIA's trigger is a soot layer 1/8 inch thick, or any glazed deposit at all, whichever comes first. Occasional use slows the buildup; it does not stop it.
Going by WeatherSpark's Seattle figures, the wetter season covers some 6.6 months. It opens on October 10, closes on April 30, and on any of its days the odds of rain exceed 33%. No weather station reports for Phinney Ridge itself, so those citywide numbers are the ones we work from.
Soot is absorbent. Left in a flue through that long damp stretch, it takes up moisture and gives off the sour odor people notice at the hearth on rainy evenings. Seattle's emergency management office adds that wind speeds up as it crosses hills and ridges, which matters on high ground like this: gusts push rain past a missing or undersized cap and straight down the flue. A sweep done before October removes the material that holds the damp, and it is the moment we check that the cap is still doing its job.
Cloths cover the floor and the vacuum is already running when the first brush moves, so loosened soot is pulled away from the living room, not into it.
We check how thick the soot is and what kind it is. Dry, flaky soot brushes out; a shiny hardened layer is a different job and we say so before going further.
The flue is brushed from the roof or from the firebox, depending on access, then the smoke shelf and firebox are vacuumed out.
You see the photos on site, along with any crack, gap or missing part the cleaning uncovered.
What this work is quoted at for Phinney Ridge homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Phinney Ridge | 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 Phinney Ridge. 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.
Phinney Ridge is a ridge-top neighborhood between Aurora Avenue N and 8th Avenue NW, named for Guy Phinney, with houses that followed the Phinney Avenue streetcar north between 1906 and 1909.
Phinney RidgeKing County, WA · 47.679, -122.355
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 $209 to $459 per flue. Nearly all of the difference comes from three things: roof pitch, flue height, and a stove or insert that needs disconnecting.
Go by the deposit, not the calendar. CSIA sets 1/8 inch as the soot depth that calls for sweeping a masonry fireplace, and the State Fire Marshal asks for a professional inspection and cleaning every year. A quick look tells us which case you are in.
Late spring through early fall. Seattle's clearer stretch, on WeatherSpark's charts, opens in mid-June and is over around October 8. A dry roof makes for a faster, safer visit than a wet one in November.
Cleaning stops being the question at that point. An inspection is its own visit and bears its own charge, $99 plus tax a chimney; go ahead with the repair quote and the amount comes off it.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
