Fircrest, Pierce County
Masonry repair on a Fircrest chimney begins at $425. That opening figure covers a modest job, such as sealing and patching a crown with surface cracks or repointing a narrow band of joints near the top. Recasting a whole crown, or grinding out and refilling mortar down most of the stack, climbs from there, and the quote breaks it down by area.
Typical investment
From $425
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$99 plus tax, deducted when you approve the repair
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Pick what you're seeing at your Fircrest home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Fircrest 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.
The concrete slab capping a Fircrest chimney, the crown, is usually the original from when the house went up, often poured thin and flush with the brick instead of overhanging it. After half a century of rain, that thin slab tends to shrink, craze and pull away from the flue tile, which lets water down into the stack from the top.
Census Reporter's figures on Fircrest housing tell a simple story: a median build year of 1966, three out of every four homes predating 1980, and hardly any, about 3%, from before 1940. The chimneys therefore aged together, and their masonry is wearing out on roughly the same schedule.
Many of those houses also switched to gas heat over the years; close to three in five Fircrest homes heat mainly with gas, a far higher share than the county average of roughly one in three. A flue carrying gas exhaust is still masonry exposed to weather, and moisture from gas combustion can work into joints from the inside if the crown and liner are not tight.
Every masonry repair (crown / repointing) we do in Fircrest includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowTwo masonry problems dominate what we repair in town. First, the crown: hairline cracks that widened, a gap around the flue tile, or chunks that have broken off. Second, the joints: mortar that has eroded a quarter inch or more below the brick face, most often on the side facing the prevailing weather. Both are slow problems, and both get costlier each winter they are left.
The last big test for brick chimneys in this area came on February 28, 2001. The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network places that magnitude 6.8 rupture about 52 kilometers down, beneath Anderson Island, close enough that Fircrest felt it strongly.
In the USGS report on the event, chimney damage turns up in roughly a third of the tens of thousands of homes FEMA checked. Joints that cracked that day and were never repointed are often the ones we find open now, and we rebuild them rather than leaving a weak line near the roof.
We check the crown and every face of the stack, and mark which joints and areas need work.
Loose concrete and failed mortar are removed back to solid material.
The crown is sealed or recast with a drip edge; joints are packed and tooled.
We leave the work to cure properly and send you pictures of every section.
What this work is quoted at for Fircrest homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Fircrest | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| Masonry Repair (Crown / Repointing) | From $425 | Crown work, repointing and tuckpointing by surface area |
| 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 Fircrest. 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.
Fircrest is a small city that began as the Regents Park subdivision and incorporated as a town in 1925, with post-war homes — a median build year of 1966, about 74% built before 1980.
FircrestPierce County, WA · 47.229, -122.516
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.
It starts at $425. A full crown rebuild or repointing large areas of the stack costs more, and the quote shows the price for each area.
Surface cracks in an otherwise solid crown can be sealed. If it is broken through, loose, or too thin to shed water, we recommend recasting it with an overhang.
It will be fresher at first. We match the color and hardness to the existing brick as closely as we can, and it weathers in over time.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
