University Place, Pierce County
A chimney cap installed in University Place runs $265 to $750. Expect the lower figure for one stainless cap on one flue; a made-to-measure cover spanning several flues across a broad crown lands near the upper one. Either way, the cap is measured on the roof, not ordered from a photo.
Typical investment
$265–$750
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Book your $99 inspection
$99 plus tax, deducted when you approve the repair
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Pick what you're seeing at your University Place home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for University Place homes.
Level 1 or Level 2 as needed; Level 2 includes a camera run through the entire flue
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Top-to-bottom brushing of flue and firebox under drop cloths, with a HEPA vacuum pulling the dust
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Loose or damaged brick, open joints and firebox panels repaired
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A full-length stainless-steel or cast liner, firebox to chimney top
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Burner, pilot assembly and valve cleaned and adjusted
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Crown patched, or recast entirely if it can't be saved
Learn moreRanges shown for orientation — the exact figure is written up on-site, after the inspection.
We still find chimneys in University Place with no cap at all, or with a thin factory cap rusted through. It happens most on houses from the 1970s and early 80s, the era the town's median home comes from. An open flue in this climate takes in rain all winter and gives birds and raccoons a sheltered spot the rest of the year.
A stretch of University Place fronts Puget Sound, and Chambers Bay, the golf course that opened in 2007, is laid out along it. A chimney on that side of town catches the full force of storms coming off the water, and a loose cap is usually the first thing to go. WeatherSpark's climate data for the city describe a windier season from mid-October through late April, peaking in November.
For those homes we favor stainless caps with solid fastening to the tile or a crown-mounted base, rather than a friction-fit cap that can lift in a gust. The State Fire Marshal's heating safety guidance puts a cap on every chimney; on an exposed stack, how it is attached counts as much as having one.
Homeowners fight moss on these roofs for good reason: OSU Extension explains that it holds wet soil and can lift shingles. But that guidance also cautions that zinc sulfate, sold widely for moss, eats at copper on a roof.
If your roof gets treated, a copper cap may not be the best choice, and stainless is the safer one. Needles and moss fragments also clog a spark screen over time, which is one reason state code requires that screen to be removable for cleaning.
Every chimney cap installation we do in University Place includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowThe cap does three jobs here: it keeps water off the smoke chamber and damper, it keeps animals and roof litter out, and its screen stops embers from landing on a mossy roof. Washington's residential code sets the screen size where a spark arrestor is used: a mesh that stops anything half an inch across yet still passes 3/8 of an inch, and it must lift off for cleaning.
We measure each flue and the crown, and check whether the tile is sound enough to hold a cap.
Single-flue or full-crown, stainless in most cases. The quote shows the cap and labor, within the $265 to $750 range.
The cap is set, fastened and checked for wobble. On a full-crown cap the edges are sealed so water cannot run under it.
You get a picture from above, and a note if the crown under the cap needs attention.
The weather record from Tacoma #1, the closest long-term station, shows 39.76 inches of precipitation in an average year for 1982 to 2016, with November and January the heaviest months. An uncapped flue collects its share of every one of those storms.
That water lands on the smoke shelf and the damper, and with roughly 32 freezing nights a year at the same station, it also soaks and freezes in the upper flue tiles. A cap is the cheapest part of a chimney to replace and the one that protects everything below it.
What this work is quoted at for University Place homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in University Place | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| Chimney Cap Installation | $265–$750 | Stainless cap fitted; multi-flue and custom at the top |
| Chimney Sweep | $189–$449 | 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 $375 | Masonry repair — brick and mortar, scoped after diagnosis |
Ranges are what these jobs are quoted at in University Place. 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.
University Place is a city incorporated in 1995 and named for a university campus planned in the 1890s but never built there, on Puget Sound, with homes with a median build year of 1981, about half of them built before 1980.
University PlacePierce County, WA · 47.250, -122.552
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.
$265 to $750 installed. A standard stainless cap on one flue sits near the low end; a custom multi-flue cap is near the top.
The Washington State Fire Marshal's advice is a cap on every chimney, plus a professional check and sweep each year. Here, it also keeps rust off the damper and smoke chamber.
Yes, if the flue and crown look sound when we measure. If they do not, we tell you before fitting anything, since a cap on a broken crown will not last.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
