Mercer Island, King County
A chimney sweep on Mercer Island runs $189 to $449, depending on how tall the stack is, how steep the roof is and how much buildup is inside. We sweep wood-burning fireplaces, stoves and inserts from the firebox up, and we tell you in writing what we saw while the flue was open.
Typical investment
$189–$449
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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 Mercer Island home — we'll point you to the right fix.
What we do
The same crew, the same written quote — for Mercer Island homes.
Level 1 or Level 2 inspection, with a camera scan where warranted
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Restoration of brick, mortar joints and firebox
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A stainless-steel or ceramic liner run the full height of the flue
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A stainless cap fitted to your flue's exact dimensions
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Cleaning of the burner, pilot and valve assembly
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Crown recast — or rebuilt outright where the damage demands it
Learn moreRanges shown for orientation — the exact figure is written up on-site, after the inspection.
Mercer Island went from roughly 1,200 residents in 1940 to nearly 13,000 by 1960, once the floating bridge opened and its tolls came off. If your house went up during that stretch, its fireplace has been drawing smoke for more than sixty winters, and the flue tiles and smoke chamber have never been younger than they are today.
Lake Washington surrounds Mercer Island completely, and about 6.52 of the city's 12.90 square miles are water rather than land. There is no inland side where a chimney top sits sheltered from the lake.
Western Washington's hardest late-fall and winter winds tend to come out of the south or southwest, right in the season when fireplaces see the most use. Gusts across a flue top can push smoke back down a chimney that is partly blocked, so a clean flue and an intact cap matter more on a breezy shoreline evening than on a calm one.
WSU Extension warns that moss left alone shortens a roof's life, and that it grows through fall, winter and spring wherever a surface stays wet. The top of a masonry chimney, shaded by the island's trees, is exactly that kind of surface.
Oregon State's extension service adds that trimming the trees that shade a roof is the best long-term control, and that pressure washing can damage shingles. When we sweep, we note moss on the crown and anything packed into the cap screen, since both cut the airflow the fire depends on.
Every chimney sweep we do in Mercer Island includes:
Smoke coming back into the room, or a smell that won't go? Book the inspection first.
Book nowTwo things slow an island flue down. The first is cool, wet air: a fire lit on a damp evening burns lazily and leaves more residue on the tile than a hot, dry fire would. The second is what lands on top, from moss on the crown to debris on a cap screen, which chokes the draft until smoke rolls back into the room. A sweep clears the flue itself, and our technician also looks at the cap and crown on the way past.
The City of Mercer Island says at least two strands of the Seattle fault cross the island. After the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, University of Washington and USGS researchers catalogued about 60,000 chimneys in a band from Bremerton to Mercer Island and found the clearest zone of damage along the Seattle fault.
A sweep is a good moment to spot the early signs of that kind of damage: a displaced tile, a gap at the smoke chamber, mortar that has let go. If we see any of it, we will say so and suggest a closer Level 2 look, which CSIA recommends after a seismic event.
Drop cloths go down from the hearth to the door, and the fireplace opening is sealed so the vacuum pulls soot away from your living space rather than into it.
We work the brush through the full height of the flue, top to bottom or bottom to top depending on the roof, until the tile walls come clean.
Loosened soot collects on the shelf behind the damper. We scoop it out, check that the damper opens and seals, and vacuum the firebox.
You get a short written summary: how heavy the deposits were, whether any tile looked cracked, and whether the cap and crown need attention before winter.
According to the Western Regional Climate Center, rain returns to western Washington in October and builds to a winter high, and a December or January often counts 20 to 25 wet days or more. Over a January day, relative humidity typically swings only between about 78 and 87 percent.
Fires lit in that air tend to smolder rather than roar, and a slow fire leaves more residue behind. That is why a fireplace used through a single wet season can carry more buildup than the same fireplace used in a drier climate. The same weather is hard on the masonry around the flue: the Chimney Safety Institute of America says water, not fire, does the most damage to brick chimneys.
What this work is quoted at for Mercer Island homes — the exact figure comes from the $99 on-site inspection, credited toward the work.
| Service | Price in Mercer Island | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| 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 $1,895 | Full-length stainless liner, sized to the appliance |
| Chimney Repair | From $425 | Masonry repair — brick and mortar, scoped after diagnosis |
| Chimney Cap Installation | $235–$845 | Stainless cap fitted; multi-flue and custom at the top |
Ranges are what these jobs are quoted at in Mercer Island. 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.
Mercer Island is an island city in the middle of Lake Washington, on Lake Washington, with mid-century and high-value waterfront homes.
Mercer IslandKing County, WA · 47.571, -122.222
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.
Inspect every year, as NFPA 211 advises for all chimneys, fireplaces and vents; sweep when that inspection turns up deposits. A fireplace used most weekends through the wet season usually needs it every year.
Height, pitch and buildup. A tall stack on a steep roof takes longer to reach safely, and a flue with heavy glazed deposits takes more passes than one with light, dry soot.
No. The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency covers King County, and a Stage 1 ban stops burning in fireplaces and uncertified stoves and inserts whatever state the flue is in. Only homes whose device is the only adequate heat source can seek an exemption.
A $99 on-site inspection, a written quote before any work, and photos of every item we touch.
