Tacoma, Pierce County
Expect $189 to $449 for a chimney sweep in Tacoma. One open hearth, light soot and a roof we can walk: that is the bottom of the bracket. A steep pitch, a tall stack, or a stove or insert we have to pull out or work around pushes it toward the top. Every sweep includes a Level 1 check of the flue while we are up there, so you learn the condition of the chimney as well as getting it clean.
Typical investment
$189–$449
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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 Tacoma home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Tacoma homes.
Level 1 or Level 2 as needed; Level 2 includes a camera run through the entire flue
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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.
Much of our sweeping in Tacoma happens in the North End, the Stadium area, Proctor and the streets around College Park, where a good share of houses went up before the Second World War. Those chimneys were built for coal and wood, often without the liners a modern stove expects, so a sweep there is also a chance to see what the flue is really made of.
Tacoma has the oldest housing of any city we serve: census estimates put about 26.9 percent of its homes in 1939 or earlier, more than twice Pierce County's 10.1 percent. The North Slope Historic District alone counts 1,285 resources on 228 acres, and nearly eight in ten of its buildings predate 1930.
Houses of that size and age were often built with more than one fireplace. When we sweep one, we ask about every opening in the house, because each flue can be in a different state and a stack that looks like one chimney from the street may hold two or three.
Every chimney sweep we do in Tacoma includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowThe common Tacoma problems we find on a sweep are glazed creosote above a smoldering stove, bird and leaf debris on an uncapped crown, and soot that has fallen onto a smoke shelf nobody has looked at in years. Long, damp winters also mean the first fire of fall can smell strongly of old deposits.
Pierce County sat right over the 2001 Nisqually quake: magnitude 6.8, February 28, its source some 52 kilometers deep under Anderson Island. Of 30,000 homes FEMA went through afterward, roughly one in three came out with a damaged chimney.
Cracked flue tiles and open mortar joints from a quake are easy to miss from the street. With the brush out and the flue clean, we can see them. Mention any quake you have felt since our last visit; the national standard and CSIA both treat it as grounds for the camera-based Level 2.
Since March 15, 2024, Washington has built to its 2021 residential code, and that code wants every masonry chimney lined. Clay tile qualifies, as do listed liner systems and other approved materials, provided they hold up to 1,800°F without cracking or corroding.
A sweep does not need a permit. But if we find an unlined or broken flue in an older Tacoma house, that rule is why we will say so plainly, and why putting a new stove into it would mean relining first.
Before a single brush stroke, the path to the hearth is covered and a sealed vacuum is set up at the opening, pulling air inward.
We match the brush head to the flue's shape and size, then work it through from the hearth or from the top, whichever the roof allows.
Most of what falls lands on the shelf behind the damper, so that ledge, the damper plate and the firebox get scraped out by hand.
We check what is visible of the flue and crown and send photos, so you know if anything beyond the sweep is worth a closer look.
What this work is quoted at for Tacoma homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Tacoma | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Chimney Cap Installation | $265–$750 | Stainless cap fitted; multi-flue and custom at the top |
Ranges are what these jobs are quoted at in Tacoma. 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.
Local air rules set a smoke ceiling: a plume thicker than 20 percent opacity is allowed for at most six consecutive minutes per hour. The fuel list is short too: dry seasoned firewood or manufactured logs, nothing else.
Burn bans are announced online and on the agency's line at 800-595-4341. A swept flue with a clean draft makes it much easier to stay under the smoke limit on the days burning is allowed.
The Tacoma #1 weather station averaged 39.76 inches of precipitation a year between 1982 and 2016, with November the wettest month at 6.82 inches. Frost is modest by comparison: about 31.8 sub-freezing nights in an average year, clustered in December and January.
Moisture mixing with soot is what gives a Tacoma fireplace that sour smell in wet weather. Sweeping in late summer or early fall, before the rain settles in, keeps the deposits dry and easier to remove.
Tacoma is the port city the Northern Pacific Railroad chose in 1873 as the western terminus of its transcontinental line, on Commencement Bay, with the territory's oldest housing — about 27% of homes built in 1939 or earlier, in Queen Anne, Craftsman and Foursquare styles. We work every part of it — North Slope, Stadium-Seminary, Proctor, College Park, Buckley's Addition included.
TacomaPierce County, WA · 47.253, -122.444
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.
Between $189 and $449. A single fireplace with a walkable roof sits near the bottom; a wood stove, an insert or a tall stack on a steep roof moves it up.
The national fire code asks for a look once a year and a cleaning whenever deposits warrant it. In practice a stove that runs all winter needs sweeping yearly, while a hearth lit on a handful of evenings can often go longer.
Yes. A ban limits burning, not maintenance. It is actually a good window, since the fireplace is cold and not in use.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
