University Place, Pierce County
In University Place, relining begins at $1,900, which buys a stainless steel tube running the whole height of an ordinary flue. Taller stacks, oval or rectangular flues and insulation wrap each raise the figure. We size the liner to the appliance it will serve, because a flue that is too big for a modern insert works almost as badly as a cracked one.
Typical investment
From $1,900
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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.
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 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.
About one home in eight in University Place was built before 1960, and close to half before 1980. Chimneys from those decades usually have clay tile liners, and a good number of them now vent a wood insert or a gas unit that was added long after the house was built. That mismatch, an old tile flue serving a newer appliance, is behind most of the relining we do in town.
University Place meets Puget Sound along its shoreline, and the Chambers Bay course sits on that edge of the city. On homes that face the open water, the top of a chimney is where weather arrives first and hardest.
A liner is only as dry as its top. The top plate gets sealed to the crown, and a cap goes on, as the State Fire Marshal recommends for every chimney. If a spark arrestor screen is part of it, state code sizes its openings to stop a half-inch ball while passing a 3/8-inch one, and the screen has to come off for cleaning.
Northwest roofs grow moss, and OSU Extension describes how the mats hold soil and litter that stay damp. On a roof that is not cleared, some of that material ends up washing or blowing toward the chimney top.
A stainless liner does not like a wet nest of needles sitting on it. The cap we fit keeps debris and animals out of the flue, and the Fire Marshal lists a cap alongside yearly inspection and cleaning as basic heating safety.
Every chimney relining 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 trigger is usually a finding, not a failure: a camera scan shows cracked tiles or open joints, an insert was installed with no liner connected to it, or a switch from wood to gas leaves an oversized flue. State code will not accept a bare masonry flue. Whatever lines it, clay tile, a listed system or stainless, must survive 1,800°F heat without cracking or corroding, and broken tiles no longer do.
Standards call for a Level 2 inspection before a flue liner is replaced, so we film the flue and measure it. It is $99 plus tax, credited when you go ahead.
The liner diameter follows the appliance's own specs. The quote lists liner, insulation, cap and any smoke chamber work separately.
We feed the liner down from the roof, join it to the appliance below, then close the top with a plate and a cap.
We run the appliance, check the draft, and film the new liner so you have a record for insurance or a future sale.
Winters on this side of the Narrows are long and mild rather than harsh: Tacoma #1, the long-record station nearest to University Place, averaged under 32 freezing lows a year over three decades, while its wettest months each bring more than 6 inches of precipitation.
That combination keeps an exterior masonry chimney cold and damp for months. An oversized tile flue serving an efficient insert never warms up enough, so exhaust condenses on the walls and leaves acidic moisture and creosote behind. A liner of the right diameter, insulated where needed, warms faster and drafts better.
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 Relining | From $1,900 | Full-length stainless liner, sized to the appliance |
| 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 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.
The floor is $1,900, for stainless run top to bottom in a typical flue. Height, insulation and awkward shapes push it up, and the written quote prices each part.
It needs to vent through a flue sized for it. In most masonry chimneys that means a stainless liner connected to the insert, not the old tile flue.
Probably not. Since October 1, 2015, the clean air agency's stove rule for the Tacoma-Pierce County smoke zone bars putting an uncertified wood insert back into service, or running one at all. We check the label before quoting.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
