Fircrest, Pierce County
Fircrest homeowners pay $99 plus tax for a chimney inspection, and that sum is taken off the repair bill if you accept our quote. For the fee you get a technician on the roof and at the hearth, a camera run up the flue where it can reach, and a written report with photos. If everything is sound, the report says so and nothing else is proposed.
What we charge
$99 plus tax
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 Fircrest home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Fircrest homes.
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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A stainless cap sized to your actual flue dimensions
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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.
Buyers and long-time owners in Fircrest tend to call for the same reason: a house from the post-war decades whose chimney history nobody quite knows. Was the insert added in the 1980s? Has the crown ever been redone? Is the gas water heater tied into the same stack as the fireplace? An inspection answers those questions with pictures instead of guesses.
Fircrest's housing stock is concentrated in a single era. Census data give a median build year of 1966, show about 34.8% of homes built before 1960, and only around 3% before 1940. The typical chimney here was designed for an open wood fire and lined with clay tile.
NFPA 211, the national chimney standard, calls for a Level II inspection, which includes a video scan of the flue, whenever an appliance is added, removed or replaced with a different type, and before a liner is replaced. In a town where so many fireplaces later received an insert or a gas unit, that is often the inspection a Fircrest chimney is due.
Every chimney inspection we do in Fircrest includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowThe findings we see most on Fircrest homes are age findings. Clay tiles with hairline cracks or gaps at the joints, a crown with shrinkage cracks, flashing that has been caulked over several times, and a damper plate rusted in place. Less often, a wood stove or insert with no full-height liner behind it. Each item goes in the report with its location and how urgent it is.
NFPA 211, echoed by CSIA, names a quake as reason enough to go beyond a glance and do the camera-based Level II. Around here that is not theoretical: in 2001 the Nisqually rupture, magnitude 6.8, struck deep below Anderson Island, and FEMA teams afterward recorded broken or cracked chimneys at roughly a third of the houses on their lists.
Damage from that day can be invisible from the yard. A shifted tile deep in the flue or a crack behind the smoke chamber shows up on camera, not from the sidewalk, which is why we scan the liner rather than just look at the brick.
Pick a time online; the visit usually fits within a couple of hours.
We look at the stack from above and the firebox from below, then feed the camera through the flue.
Each issue is ranked: fix now, plan for next season, or simply keep an eye on.
Photos and notes arrive in writing. Any quote is separate, and the inspection fee comes off it if you go ahead.
What this work is quoted at for Fircrest homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Fircrest | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| Chimney Inspection | $99 plus tax | Level 1 visual; Level 2 adds a full camera scan |
| Chimney Sweep | $189–$449 | Full flue swept, Level 1 inspection included |
| 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 |
| Chimney Cap Installation | $265–$750 | Stainless cap fitted; multi-flue and custom at the top |
Ranges are what these jobs are quoted at in Fircrest. 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.
Part of an inspection is identifying what is connected to the chimney. According to Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, the EPA compliance label on a certified unit is normally fixed to its side or back. Doors made of plain steel, or two glass doors side by side, point toward an older uncertified model, and a sticker reading 'UL Tested' proves safety testing, not EPA certification.
That matters because, since October 1, 2015, operating or reinstalling an uncertified stove or insert has been illegal anywhere within the county smoke reduction boundary around Tacoma. If we find one, we tell you, and you can check whether your address falls in the zone on the agency's map.
Fircrest is a small city that began as the Regents Park subdivision and incorporated as a town in 1925, with post-war homes — a median build year of 1966, about 74% built before 1980.
FircrestPierce County, WA · 47.229, -122.516
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.
$99 plus tax, per chimney. If you approve the repair quote that follows, those $99 are deducted from it.
The national chimney standard names a change of ownership as one occasion for the more thorough Level II, which adds a video scan and a look at attic and crawl-space portions. It is a recommendation, not a Washington law, but many buyers ask for it.
Then the report says the chimney is sound, with the photos to back it up, and you keep it for your records or your buyer.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
