Lakewood, Pierce County
Chimney repair in Lakewood starts at $375, which covers a small, contained fix such as re-bedding a handful of loose bricks or repairing one firebox joint. Larger jobs, like rebuilding the top courses of a stack or replacing a crumbling crown, cost more, and each one is priced line by line in writing after an inspection shows exactly what failed and why.
Typical investment
From $375
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$99 plus tax, deducted when you approve the repair
Not sure where to start
Pick what you're seeing at your Lakewood home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Lakewood 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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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.
The chimneys we repair in Lakewood are mostly brick stacks on single-story and split-level houses from the post-war decades, plus a handful of taller, older chimneys on lake properties. On the younger houses the damage tends to be at the top: a crown that cracked years ago and let water into the upper bricks. On the older lake houses it can run deeper, with soft mortar and brick faces flaking off where wind off the water keeps the stack wet.
Census estimates put 58.9% of Lakewood housing units before 1980 and about 22.3% before 1960. A brick chimney built in that window has seen half a century of South Sound winters, and the parts that fail first are the crown and the mortar of the top few courses, the places that take rain from above as well as from the side.
Older still are some of the houses on the lakes. HistoryLink notes that Tacoma families put up lodges on American and Gravelly lakes before 1900 and later replaced them with homes. When a chimney on one of those properties needs work, we treat the brick and mortar as the old materials they are rather than patching them with something harder.
Every chimney repair we do in Lakewood includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowRain does most of the harm. Lakewood averages about 8 inches in November alone, and the wet season runs roughly from early October to May 1. Water that gets past a cracked crown or open joint soaks the brick, and when a cold snap arrives, December lows average about 35°F here, that water can freeze and push the face of the brick off. The earlier a crack is sealed, the smaller the repair.
Chimneys were among the most common casualties of the Nisqually earthquake. The USGS summary of FEMA's records counts chimney damage at about one-third of the 30,000 homes inspected afterward. The quake, a 6.8, originated about 52 km down under Anderson Island, well inside Pierce County.
Above the roofline a stack stands with nothing around it to brace it, and a hairline crack that opened there in 2001 may have let in water every winter since. If your Lakewood chimney has a crack running across a mortar joint near the roof, we look at it with that history in mind and recommend a camera check of the flue before any repair is sealed over.
We inspect from the roof and inside, and photograph where the water or movement got in, not just where the damage shows.
Every repair gets its own line on the quote, which makes it easy to split the urgent items from those that could safely wait until next summer.
We remove the failed brick and mortar, set in materials that match the existing chimney, and finish the crown so water runs off.
We photograph the finished work, clean the roof and yard of debris, and tell you what to watch for over the next winter.
What this work is quoted at for Lakewood homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Lakewood | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| Chimney Repair | From $375 | Masonry repair — brick and mortar, scoped after diagnosis |
| 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 Cap Installation | $265–$750 | Stainless cap fitted; multi-flue and custom at the top |
Ranges are what these jobs are quoted at in Lakewood. 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.
In 2009 the EPA designated the Tacoma-Pierce County area as failing the federal 24-hour fine particle standard, and Washington Ecology traced the problem mainly to wood smoke from home heating on cold, calm winter evenings. By 2012 it was the only area in the state still out of compliance.
The area was redesignated to attainment effective March 12, 2015, and now follows the first of two ten-year maintenance plans, with burn bans still called on stagnant winter days. A repaired chimney that drafts well makes a cleaner fire, but it does not change whether you may light one on a ban day.
Lakewood is a city incorporated in 1996 around a string of lakes where Tacoma families first built lodges in the late 1800s, on American Lake, with homes with a median build year of 1975, about 59% of them built before 1980.
LakewoodPierce County, WA · 47.172, -122.519
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.
From $375 for a small repair. Rebuilds and crown replacements run higher, and you get the full price in writing before work starts.
Sometimes it can be stabilized, sometimes it has to come down and be rebuilt. It depends on the footing and the condition of the brick, and the inspection answers that.
We look for the closest color and size available and show you a sample before laying it. An exact match on very old brick is not always possible.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
