Kirkland, King County
Waterproofing a Kirkland chimney costs between $285 and $795, most of the difference coming from how much brick is above the roof and how hard it is to reach. What goes on is a breathable, water-repellent treatment made for masonry: rainwater beads on the surface, while the brick keeps its ability to breathe out the moisture it already holds. Paint or a plastic sealer would trap that moisture and do more harm than good.
Typical investment
$285–$795
Book an inspection
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 Kirkland home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Kirkland homes.
Level 1, or a Level 2 when needed, which means a video camera travels the full flue
Learn more
Rotary or rod brushing of the full flue, with the hearth covered and a HEPA vacuum running
Learn more
Replacement of cracked or spalled brick with a close color match
Learn more
Camera scan and flue measurement before anything is ordered
Learn more
Measurement of each flue and of the crown before fitting
Learn more
Burner, pilot assembly and thermocouple or thermopile cleaned and checked
Learn moreRanges shown for orientation — the exact figure is written up on-site, after the inspection.
A repellent is the last step, never the first. It only works on brick and mortar that are already sound, under a crown that sheds water and flashing that seals the roof joint. On most Kirkland chimneys old enough to need it, that means we look at those three things before we open a can, and we tell you if one of them has to be fixed before a treatment is worth the money.
King County's lakes program counts Lake Washington among the three major lakes in the county and places Kirkland among the cities that manage its shoreline under a Shoreline Master Program. WeatherSpark adds that the lake water peaks at only about 56°F, in August.
Cool water all year means cool, moist air along the shore, and brick near it that dries slowly after every storm. That is exactly the brick a breathable repellent helps most: it reduces how much rain soaks in without sealing in what is already there.
Oregon State University Extension cautions that improper pressure-washing can damage shingles, and that zinc sulfate moss killer must stay off any roof with copper gutters, downspouts or flashing, because zinc corrodes copper. WSU Extension notes most roof moss grows close to the eaves.
Before a repellent goes on, the brick has to be clean. We take moss and grime off the stack with brushes and low pressure, keep runoff away from the shingles around it, and ask about copper on the roof before using any moss treatment at all.
Every chimney waterproofing we do in Kirkland includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowHomeowners usually call about waterproofing after noticing the brick stays dark for days after rain, or after a white, powdery bloom appears on the outside of the stack. Both mean water is soaking in and moving through the masonry. On an otherwise solid chimney, a repellent slows that down a great deal; on a cracked one, it simply hides the problem for a season.
Crown cracks, open joints and loose flashing let in far more water than porous brick does, so those are checked and priced separately if needed.
Loose dirt, moss and bloom are brushed off at low pressure so the repellent soaks into the brick instead of sitting on grime.
The treatment goes on after a stretch without rain, in flooding coats from the top down, so each face is fully saturated.
Once it has set, a light spray shows the water beading and running off. You get photos of that and of every treated face.
Muggy days essentially never happen in Kirkland, WeatherSpark finds, so the water brick has to fight is winter rain and long cloudy spells rather than sticky air. Winter in western Washington brings only four to eight clear or partly cloudy days a month, against 15 to 20 in summer, by the Western Regional Climate Center's count.
That split decides the calendar. Masonry needs a run of dry days to take a repellent properly, and here those come in summer. A chimney treated in August goes into the wet months with its first line of defense already in place.
What this work is quoted at for Kirkland homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Kirkland | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| Chimney Waterproofing | $285–$795 | Breathable sealer — reapplied every 3–5 years in this climate |
| Chimney Sweep | $189–$459 | 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 $425 | Masonry repair — brick and mortar, scoped after diagnosis |
Ranges are what these jobs are quoted at in Kirkland. 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.
Magnitude 7 or larger is within reach of the southern Whidbey Island fault, a 1996 USGS study concluded. When USGS surveyed chimneys after the 2001 Nisqually quake, it logged 1,556 damaged out of about 60,000 checked.
A water repellent coats the pores of the brick; it does not bridge a crack. If a chimney has hairline or stepped cracks from past shaking, those are repointed or repaired first. Treating over them would keep the surface looking dry while water keeps getting in through the break.
Kirkland is an 18-square-mile city on the east shore of Lake Washington, on Lake Washington, with homes with a median build year of 1984, more than a third of them put up in the 1960s and 1970s. We work every part of it — Houghton, Juanita, Rose Hill, Finn Hill, Kingsgate included.
KirklandKing County, WA · 47.677, -122.206
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.
$285 to $795. A low roof with a short stack comes in near the bottom figure; a tall stack on a steep second-story roof, or one with a large crown to seal, is nearer the higher one.
In this climate plan on redoing it every three to five years. We can check the beading during a sweep and tell you when it is time.
Only in a dry spell. The brick has to be dry enough to absorb the treatment, so most of our waterproofing is scheduled between late spring and early fall.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
