Common questions
The job
How often should a chimney be cleaned?
Once a year for a wood-burning fireplace or stove, and whenever creosote shows. Gas fireplaces need less cleaning but still deserve an annual inspection. In this county the wet season means an autumn sweep before the heating season.
How much does a chimney cleaning cost?
The number depends on the flue height, the creosote level, and whether an inspection comes with the sweep.
What are the signs of a chimney fire?
Loud roaring or popping in the flue, dense smoke, and a strong hot smell. Many fires go unnoticed and crack the liner quietly. If you suspect one happened, get an inspection before the next fire.
Do I need a chimney cap?
Almost always yes. An uncapped flue takes rain, fir needles, birds, and squirrels straight down. In this county the rain alone is reason enough.
Does a gas fireplace need chimney cleaning?
The flue needs less sweeping than wood, but the venting still needs checking. Soot patterns, cracked liners, and corroded caps happen on gas systems too.
My house has a metal stove pipe chimney. Does it need the same care?
Yes. Factory-built systems build creosote the same way and rust faster in wet climates. The sweep is the same; the wear points are the chase cover, the pipe joints, and the flashing instead of mortar.
What is creosote?
The tar that condenses out of wood smoke inside a cold flue. Stage one brushes out, stage two flakes off, stage three is glazed and flammable, that stage needs rotary tools and treatment, and a camera check after confirms the flue is clear.
Why is smoke coming back into the house?
Usually a blocked flue, a cold-air problem, or a house that is too airtight for the draft. A sweep or inspection finds which.
My chimney is leaking. What now?
Water gets in at the cap, the crown, the flashing, or porous brick, and it shows indoors as staining near the fireplace or ceiling. Describe where you see water in the request, the pro traces the entry point from the top down.
Do I need a chimney liner?
If the clay liner is cracked or separating, or a new appliance changed the exhaust temperature, yes. An inspection with the camera down the flue is what settles it, the liner is the flue's working skin.
I hear animals in the chimney. What now?
Birds and squirrels nest in open flues through the off-season, and a nest blocks the flue the same way a clog does. The animal comes out, the nesting clears, and a screened cap goes on after. Removal without the cap invites the next one.
How do I know if my chimney is safe?
You do not know without an inspection, because a chimney can look fine and have a cracked liner inside. What you can check are the signs that mean the inspection is due:
- Water stains near the fireplace
- Crumbling or missing mortar
- A stack that leans
- White staining on the brick face
- Smoke that spills into the room
Any of those, or a long gap since the last look, means the inspection is due.
What do the inspection levels mean?
NFPA-211 defines three. Level I is the yearly check on a working system. Level II adds the camera run down the flue and is the version for a home purchase or a post-event check. Level III opens parts of the structure when a problem hides behind them.
What affects the cost of a chimney repair?
The size and height of the stack, whether the crown or the masonry is failing, how much of the flue is involved, and whether the work stays at the roofline or runs deeper into the chase. An inspection is what turns that into a real number.
Should I get the chimney inspected before buying a house?
Yes, NFPA-211 calls for a Level II inspection on a change of ownership, and a general home inspector checks the chimney only from the ground. The camera run documents the flue's condition in photos, which is what a seller's walk-around does not give you.
Does all this rain actually damage chimneys?
Yes, six-plus months of wet weather soaks mortar joints and drives water into cracked crowns and lifted flashing. The white staining and flaking brick it produces is the usual first sign the moisture cycle is already working.
What is the difference between a sweep and creosote removal?
A sweep brushes out the light stage-one soot, normal annual maintenance. Creosote that has built into flaky stage two or glazed stage three does not brush off; it takes rotary tools and treatment. The camera check after confirms the flue is actually clear.
Can an earthquake damage my chimney?
Yes, and the older the stack the more it matters. Unreinforced masonry chimneys are among the most fragile parts of a house in a Cascadia event, a tall brick stack without internal bracing sheds bricks and can come through the roof. An inspection shows whether the stack is reinforced.
The service
How does this work?
One request goes out describing the town and the problem. An independent chimney company covering your area calls or texts back, talks it through, and gives you a price.
Who calls me back?
One chimney company that covers your town. The name shows up when they call.
Does it cost anything to ask?
No. Sending the request and the callback are free. What the job costs is between you and the company.
Is this a chimney company?
No. This site exists so you skip the directory hunt. The company you hire owns the work, the price, and the warranty.
How do I verify a contractor in Washington?
Washington registers contractors through the Department of Labor and Industries. Get the registration number and run it through the L&I Verify tool before work starts. The result shows active registration, the bond, and workers' comp.