Bothell, King County
Creosote removal in Bothell starts at $245. The price depends on the stage of the buildup: loose, sooty deposits come out with a standard brush, while hard, shiny glaze needs rotary tools, a chemical treatment or several visits. Creosote is the tar left when wood smoke cools on the flue walls, and it is the fuel behind most chimney fires.
Typical investment
From $245
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$99 plus tax, deducted when you approve the repair
Not sure where to start
Pick what you're seeing at your Bothell home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Bothell homes.
Level 1, or a Level 2 when needed, which means a video camera travels the full flue
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Rotary or rod brushing of the full flue, with the hearth covered and a HEPA vacuum running
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Replacement of cracked or spalled brick with a close color match
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Camera scan and flue measurement before anything is ordered
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Measurement of each flue and of the crown before fitting
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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.
Most Bothell fireplaces burn wood only now and then; about 119 households use wood as their main heat. Occasional fires tend to be the problem ones. A fire lit on a cold evening in a cold flue, often with a damper half closed to keep the room warm, sends slow, cool smoke up the chimney, and that is the condition that lays creosote down fastest.
Only two fuels are legal in a Bothell fireplace or stove under PSCAA rules: seasoned, dry firewood and manufactured logs. State rule WAC 173-433-120 goes further and bans garbage, treated wood, plastics, rubber, asphalt products, waste petroleum, paints and chemicals as fuel; paper is permitted only to start the fire.
Those rules and creosote are linked. Wet wood, painted scraps and trash burn cool and dirty, and the smoke they make condenses in the flue as tar. Following the fuel rules is the single best way to cut how often the flue needs this service.
Every creosote removal we do in Bothell includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowWe see the heaviest deposits in two places: in stoves and inserts that were turned down low to smolder overnight, and in wide fireplace flues serving an insert they were never sized for. In both, the smoke creeps up and condenses. Clearing the glaze is only half the job; the burning habit or the flue size has to change too, or it comes back.
December is Bothell's cloudiest month, with WeatherSpark reporting overcast or mostly cloudy skies about 73 percent of the time, and each day between early October and May carries more than a 34 percent chance of being wet. Clear breaks are rare across the region in winter, four to eight per month by the WRCC's count.
Under that sky, split wood left uncovered can pick up moisture faster than it loses it. Burning it makes a cooler, smokier fire, which is exactly what builds creosote. Stack firewood under cover with air around it, and buy it a season ahead.
A camera shows whether the creosote is powdery, flaky or glazed, which decides the method.
Rotary heads or a chemical modifier soften and cut the hard layers from the flue walls.
Loosened material is brushed down, collected and bagged, with the room sealed from dust.
A last camera pass shows the flue walls, and you get a note on what caused the buildup.
What this work is quoted at for Bothell homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Bothell | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| Creosote Removal | From $245 | Priced by creosote stage — glazed stage 3 is the heavy end |
| 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 Bothell. 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.
Following the 2001 Nisqually quake, a USGS team surveyed roughly 60,000 chimneys and logged 1,556 of them as damaged. For Bothell, the 2025 hazard annex points to the South Whidbey Fault as the closest large active fault.
A crack in a clay liner is dangerous on its own, and worse with creosote on the walls: a chimney fire in a cracked flue can reach the framing around it. When we remove heavy buildup, the final camera pass also looks for gaps and displaced tiles, so you know the flue is sound as well as clean.
Bothell is a Sammamish River city whose 13.66 square miles straddle the King–Snohomish county line, on the Sammamish River, with homes with a median build year of 1992, most of them built after World War II replaced farms and dairy pastures. We work every part of it — Canyon Park, Norway Hill, Queensborough, Brentwood included.
BothellKing County, WA · 47.760, -122.205
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 $245. Loose, flaky deposits keep it close to that; glazed creosote that needs rotary work or a chemical treatment, or a second visit, costs more.
It is the most flammable stage and the hardest to remove. Washington's State Fire Marshal, drawing on national data, says chimneys, flues and fuel burners were where 77 percent of home heating fires started in 2024.
Use only well-seasoned wood, give each fire a lively flame rather than a choked one, skip overnight smoldering and book a yearly flue check.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
