Tacoma, Pierce County
Budget $320 to $795 to waterproof a Tacoma chimney. What moves the figure is simple: square feet of brick standing above the shingles, how tall and awkward the stack is to reach, and whether its crown needs a separate coating. We use a breathable, vapor-permeable repellent: rain beads off the face, but moisture already inside the brick can still escape. On soft old brick, that difference decides whether the treatment helps or hurts.
Typical investment
$320–$795
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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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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
Learn moreRanges shown for orientation — the exact figure is written up on-site, after the inspection.
Tacoma's pre-war chimneys were built from brick that absorbs water readily, and a lot of them stand fully exposed on steep roofs. Waterproofing is worth doing here, but only on masonry that is already in good shape. On many North End and College Park stacks, repointing or a new crown has to come first.
Two of Tacoma's National Register districts are big residential areas. College Park has 582 primary buildings in Queen Anne, Colonial, Tudor Revival and Craftsman styles, and Buckley's Addition, laid out as an early 20th-century streetcar suburb, has 592. The City also recognizes the Wedge as a pre-war middle-class neighborhood.
Across the whole city, the census puts about 26.9 percent of homes in 1939 or earlier. On houses of that age we often find a single stack carrying flues for more than one fireplace, which means a larger surface to treat and a crown shared by every flue.
Every chimney waterproofing we do in Tacoma includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowWhat sends people to us: damp patches on the chimney breast after a week of rain, white bloom on the outside brick, faces flaking off near the top, and musty smells from the fireplace in winter. Past owners' glossy paint or non-breathable sealers, which trap water and speed up spalling, are a frequent find.
Waterproofing a cracked chimney traps water in the cracks. In Pierce County, some of those cracks go back to 2001, when the magnitude 6.8 Nisqually earthquake hit from about 52 kilometers down under Anderson Island.
Storm damage and earth movement both appear in the NFPA 211 and CSIA triggers that move a chimney up to the Level 2 camera check. If your stack has been through either without a proper look, we check the structure before any repellent goes on.
A clear repellent changes nothing structural. The repairs that often come before it do, and they follow Washington's residential code: the 2021 edition, binding since March 15, 2024, with the 2024 edition due to replace it on May 3, 2027.
Appearance is another matter in Tacoma's local historic districts, where the City names chimneys among the exterior features that can go to design review when a permit is involved. That is one more reason we avoid coatings that change the color or sheen of old brick.
We check how quickly the brick takes in water and look for failed joints or cracks that must be repaired first.
Loose debris and growth are brushed off, and we wait for the masonry to be dry enough for the repellent to soak in.
The repellent is flooded onto every face of the stack, from the roofline up; the crown gets a coating suited to horizontal surfaces.
You get the product used, the date and photos, so you know when the next coat is due.
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 Waterproofing | $320–$795 | Breathable sealer — reapplied every 3–5 years in this climate |
| 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 |
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.
What goes in the firebox is regulated here. The approved list stops at well-seasoned firewood and factory-made logs; household trash, painted or pressure-treated boards and plastic are banned outright, and paper is tolerated only as kindling.
Those rules come out of a long effort: federal regulators judged the Tacoma-Pierce County area in violation of the fine particle standard in 2009 and restored it to attainment, under a maintenance plan, in March 2015. Wet wood smokes more and leaves more creosote, whatever the brick outside looks like.
Tacoma's reference gauge averaged 39.76 inches annually over 1982 to 2016. The year is lopsided: late fall and midwinter do most of the soaking, with the single wettest month just shy of 7 inches, while July barely reaches three quarters of an inch.
That dry summer is the working window: brick needs to be dry for a repellent to penetrate. Freezing nights, about 31.8 a year at the same station, are few enough that most of the harm comes from water soaking in, which is exactly what a breathable treatment slows down.
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.
$320 to $795. A short stack on a low roof is at the bottom; a tall chimney, a steep pitch or a large crown to seal pushes it toward the top.
Plan to renew a breathable repellent every few years. Stacks that face the prevailing weather wear it out faster than sheltered ones.
Only after several dry days. Damp brick will not absorb the product, which makes May through September the practical season for it in Tacoma.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
