University Place, Pierce County
Masonry repair on a University Place chimney starts at $425, which covers a crown repair or a limited patch of repointing. Larger jobs, such as repointing a whole stack or recasting a crown with an overhang, are priced by area once we have measured. The goal is simple: close every path water uses to get into the brick.
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 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 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.
University Place grew as a suburb long before it became a city in 1995, and its chimneys show it. The brick on a stack from the 1960s or 70s has been rained on for fifty winters, and their crowns were often just a thin mortar cap to begin with. Those crowns crack first, the joints below them follow, and by the time a brick face flakes off, water has been getting in for years.
The city takes its name from a university campus planned in the early 1890s and never built. What did get built, decades later, was a suburb with its own frontage on Puget Sound, including the land where Chambers Bay opened as a golf course in 2007.
Brick on the side of a stack facing the water dries more slowly after each storm, and the crown above it gets no shelter at all. On those chimneys we look first at the windward face and the crown edge, where missing mortar and hairline cracks usually show up before anywhere else.
Moss does not only grow on shingles. It also takes hold on flat crowns and on the brick just above the roofline, where debris gathers and stays wet. OSU Extension describes how a moss mat holds soil and moisture against the surface it grows on.
Against masonry, that constant damp keeps mortar joints wet through the winter. We clear moss from the crown and lower courses before repointing, and we do it by hand, since pressure washing old mortar tends to blast out the joints you are trying to save.
Every masonry repair (crown / repointing) we do in University Place includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowMost masonry calls in town are about the top of the chimney: a crown with open cracks, mortar washed out of the upper joints, or brick faces popping off. A second group traces back to shaking: after the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, FEMA logged chimney damage at about a third of the homes it inspected, and a crack left then can still be opening now. We repair with mortar suited to the brick, because a mortar harder than the brick pushes the damage into the brick itself.
A roof-level look sets how much repointing and what kind of crown work is needed. The $99 plus tax inspection is credited once you approve the work.
Failed mortar is ground out to a sound depth, and loose or spalled brick comes out.
Joints are packed and tooled, bricks are set, and the crown is formed to shed water past the brick face.
Fresh mortar is shielded from rain until it sets up, and each repaired section is photographed for your file.
Brick and mortar here spend the heating season wet. At Tacoma #1, the long-term station closest to town, November alone averages 6.82 inches of precipitation, and December and January together bring about 17 lows at or below freezing in a normal year.
Each time water in a joint freezes, it swells and pushes the mortar apart a little. The top courses, soaked from the crown down, go through that cycle most, which is why repointing on a University Place chimney usually starts at the crown and works down.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 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 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.
From $425. A crown repair or a small section of repointing sits near that figure; repointing a full stack or recasting a crown is quoted by area.
Surface sealant on a cracked crown buys a season at most. Once the mortar behind a crack has failed, the joint has to be cut out and repointed.
Often, yes, once the new mortar has cured. A breathable water repellent helps sound brick stay dry. It does not fix open joints, which is why the repair comes first.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
