University Place, Pierce County
Our chimney inspection in University Place is $99 plus tax per chimney, whatever level the chimney calls for, and if you approve the quoted work, those $99 come off its total. You get photos, a camera look inside the flue when it is warranted, and a written list that separates what is urgent from what can wait.
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 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.
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.
University Place has a lot of houses from the 1960s, 70s and early 80s, and many of them have changed owners more than once. That makes the history of a given fireplace hard to know: who installed the insert, whether the liner was ever replaced, when it was last swept. An inspection answers those questions before the first fire of the season, or before you sign on a house.
University Place reaches the Puget Sound shore on its western edge, where the Chambers Bay golf course opened in 2007. On a chimney facing that direction, weather arrives with nothing in the way, and the top two feet of the stack take most of it.
So that is where the inspection spends its time outside: the crown for hairline cracks, the cap for rust and loose screws, the mortar in the last courses of brick. The State Fire Marshal's own advice pairs a yearly professional inspection with a cap on every chimney, and on the water side of town that advice earns its keep.
On a sloped roof, everything that slides down stops at the chimney: needles, leaves, grit and eventually moss. OSU Extension warns that moss holds wet soil against the roof and can raise shingles until water gets underneath, and a pocket behind a chimney is where it has the most time to work.
Washington's code calls for a cricket, a little ridge that splits the runoff, on the back of chimneys over 30 inches across unless the stack rises through the roof's peak. During an inspection we note whether your chimney has one, and whether debris is already packing the gap.
Every chimney inspection 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 findings we see most in town fall into three groups: water getting in at the top of the stack, cracked or missing flue tiles on older masonry chimneys, and inserts or stoves added years ago without a liner sized for them. None of these can be judged from the living room, which is why the inspection goes on the roof and, when needed, down the flue with a camera.
A yearly check is a Level 1. A sale, a new appliance or a quake calls for a Level 2 with a camera. The price does not change.
We open the damper, light the firebox, look up the throat and note anything loose, cracked or stained.
The crown, the cap, the mortar at the top courses and the flashing are checked from the roof when it is safe.
You receive the photos and a written list. If something needs work, the quote comes separately and the $99 comes off it when you approve.
Records from the Tacoma #1 station, the nearest long-running one, put the wettest stretch in November and January, at 6.82 and 6.08 inches on average, against well under an inch in July. A flue that lets water in spends months each year soaked and drying.
Inside a clay-lined flue, that shows up as spalled tile faces, open joints and white mineral streaks. CSIA's Level 2 procedure has us film the flue on camera, which is how we see that damage without taking anything apart. Summer, when the chimney has dried out, is the easiest season to book.
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 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 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.
$99 plus tax per chimney, whether it needs a Level 1 or a Level 2. Approve the quote that follows and the $99 is taken off the job.
Washington law does not require one. NFPA 211 and CSIA both point to the more thorough Level 2 whenever a home changes hands, and many buyers ask for it.
As soon as practical after any quake you felt clearly, and before lighting a fire. The same standards list seismic events among the reasons for a Level 2.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
