Ballard, King County
Ballard chimney masonry work begins at $475, enough for a small crown fix or a short stretch of repointed joints. Larger areas of open mortar, taller stacks and a full recast crown instead of a patch raise the total. We measure all of that during the $99 plus tax inspection, a charge applied to the masonry work if you accept the quote.
Typical investment
From $475
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$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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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
Learn moreRanges shown for orientation — the exact figure is written up on-site, after the inspection.
Brick was a statement in early Ballard. The young city put up a brick-clad city hall on Ballard Avenue in 1899, eight years before annexation, and the avenue's surviving buildings, with their granite curbs and stretches of brick paving, are why the street became a landmark district. The houses around it mostly followed between about 1900 and 1910, the boom years according to a neighborhood history the city commissioned for its preservation work. Census Bureau estimates give ZIP area 98117 a median construction year of 1950: half its homes were built by then.
Wood is the main heat in at most 0.5% of homes in any North Seattle ZIP area, by the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 count. In the two ZIP areas that cover Ballard the leading fuels are gas (98117) and electricity (98107). It would be easy to conclude that chimneys here do little and need little.
Masonry does not see it that way. Joints erode from the outside, by rain and frost, at the same pace under a busy flue and an idle one, and with a median construction year of 1950 in 98117, half the housing there has stood through seventy-five winters or more. What the fuel changes is the inside. Fuel oil still heats 7.9% of homes in that ZIP area, and a masonry flue that has vented a furnace for decades can be worn on its inner face in ways a fireplace flue is not. When we repoint a chimney that carries furnace exhaust, we look down the flue as well as at the faces, and report on both.
Every masonry repair (crown / repointing) we do in Ballard includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowMortar is the part of a chimney meant to wear out first, and on a stack that old it has had time to. Joints recede, water gets in, and the crown on top cracks as it weathers. Rain in Seattle is frequent more than heavy. For the lowlands as far north as the city, which lie near the edge of the Olympics' rain shadow, the climate narrative kept by the Western Regional Climate Center reports 32 to 35 inches of precipitation in a year, and wet-season winds that prevail from the south or southwest. The chimney faces turned that way are where we expect the deepest joints.
Face by face, we mark which joints and bricks are failing and which are sound, so the quote covers what is needed and no more.
Failing mortar is ground or raked to an even depth without widening the joints.
Fresh mortar, no harder than the old brick can take, is packed in and tooled to the existing profile.
Cracks are sealed with a flexible crown coating, or the crown is taken off and recast with a drip edge.
The work is kept covered while it sets and photographed once done.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Masonry Repair (Crown / Repointing) | From $475 | Crown work, repointing and tuckpointing by surface area |
| 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 |
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's permit rules single out this work by name: repointing a chimney is listed, with painting and cleaning, among jobs that need no building permit. The code attaches one condition, that exempt work still has to comply with it. Crown repair and brick replacement of ordinary size count as minor repairs while they stay non-structural and under the code's value limit. If a job grows into a rebuild, we stop and check with SDCI.
On Ballard Avenue, exterior masonry answers to the landmark district as well. Its board reviews exterior changes under the district ordinance, its guidelines and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation. The city page we read does not say how the board treats mortar color, joint profile or masonry cleaning, and the guidelines themselves were not available. For a building in the district, we prepare mortar samples and photos, and the owner takes them to the board before any joint is cut.
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 $475. Repointing one face of a short stack is near that figure. All four faces of a tall one plus a new crown is a larger job, quoted line by line.
Old brick is softer than modern brick. Mortar harder than the brick makes the brick take the movement, and its faces break off. We match the mortar to the wall, not the other way round.
Repointing a chimney is exempt from a building permit under Seattle's code, which names it outright. Addresses inside the Ballard Avenue Landmark District have a separate approval step.
Between mid-June and early October, Seattle's driest stretch. Fresh mortar needs days free of rain and frost to set properly.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
