Kirkland, King County
Crown and mortar work on a Kirkland chimney starts at $475. A small crown patch or a limited area of repointing sits near that figure; a crown cast new from scratch or repointing every joint on the stack is priced higher, and the written quote shows how much surface is involved and why.
Typical investment
From $475
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Book your $99 inspection
$99 plus tax, deducted when you approve the repair
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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
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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.
Brick has a long history in Kirkland. When Peter Kirk and his partners formed the Moss Bay Iron and Steel Works in 1888, the plan was a steel town on Rose Hill, and a few of the brick commercial buildings raised on Market Street in 1891 still stand, the Peter Kirk Building among them. Most chimneys in the city are far younger, from the post-1960 building years, but they wear the same way: from the top down, starting with the crown.
Water covers about 37 percent of the ground within two miles of Kirkland, WeatherSpark finds, and even in August, its warmest month, the lake only reaches about 56°F. King County's lake program sizes Lake Washington as bigger than every natural lake in the state save one.
Air coming off that much water stays damp through the cool months. Brick and mortar on the lake side of a chimney dry out slowly after each storm, so joints erode faster there. When we repoint, the faces that look toward the water are the first ones we check.
Oregon State University Extension explains that moss holds moisture and trapped debris against whatever it grows on, and warns that careless pressure-washing damages shingles. WSU Extension notes that moss comes back unless the fault that let it establish is corrected.
On a chimney, moss usually grows where a crown is flat or cracked and holds a film of water. We remove it by hand, not with a pressure washer, and we correct the slope or the crack that let it take hold, so the fix outlasts the next wet season.
Every masonry repair (crown / repointing) we do in Kirkland includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowThat top slab, the crown, should be a cast piece that sheds rain past the brick, yet on plenty of chimneys it was troweled on as a thin skim of mortar instead of being cast as a proper slab. It cracks, water runs down into the brick, and the mortar joints just below it start to crumble. By the time a stain shows indoors, the top of the chimney has usually been wet for several winters.
Each side of the stack gets photographed along with the slab on top, and a probe tells us how far back the joints have eroded before we pick patching or rebuilding.
Failing mortar is cut out to a consistent depth so the new joint bonds to sound material, not to loose sand.
A cracked wash is replaced with a crown that overhangs the brick and drips clear of it, with a gap around the flue so heat does not crack it again.
Fresh mortar is kept from drying too fast, the roof is cleared of debris and you receive photos of the finished work.
WeatherSpark reports that Kirkland temperatures rarely fall below 27°F, and the Western Regional Climate Center notes that lowland temperatures seldom drop below 10°F to 15°F, though far colder readings have been recorded.
So the risk to masonry here is less about deep cold than about wet brick meeting a frosty night. Water trapped in porous mortar expands as it freezes and pushes the joint open a little more each time. That is why we fix the crown and repoint before recommending any sealer.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Masonry Repair (Crown / Repointing) | From $475 | Crown work, repointing and tuckpointing by surface area |
| 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.
Washington's Emergency Management Division models a southern Whidbey Island fault earthquake after raising its potential size to magnitude 7.5. Each of the 1949, 1965 and 2001 earthquakes damaged unreinforced brick chimneys here, according to USGS researchers.
A brick chimney holds together through its mortar joints. Joints that have worn back or turned to sand give the stack less strength when it is shaken, so repointing is not only about looks. If a stack has already cracked through, we show you where before quoting anything.
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.
It starts at $475. A limited crown repair or a small area of repointing stays close to that; recasting a crown or repointing a whole stack costs more.
Hairline cracks in a crown that is otherwise sound can be sealed. A crown that is cracked through, loose, or missing its overhang needs replacing, or the water keeps coming.
We get as close to the existing color and texture as current materials allow, and we choose a mix soft enough to suit older brick so the brick is not the part that fails.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
