Seattle · WA
Chimney sweep and repair for Seattle’s bungalow stock
The base city — Craftsman-era brick chimneys downtown, factory-built systems further out.
No obligation. Someone answers every day, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The short answer
In Seattle, most calls start with one of two things: a flue that has not been swept since the last owner, or water finding its way in around the crown or the flashing after a wet winter. Nation Wide Chimney Sweep&Repair handles both from a single visit — a sweep and Level 1 or Level 2 inspection first, then a written scope for anything the camera or the ladder turns up, whether that is repointing a Craftsman-era brick stack in Wallingford or resealing the flashing on a 1960s rambler in West Seattle. The city’s stock runs older than most of the county’s, which is exactly why the crown, the mortar and the liner do most of the work here.
Local specifics
What is true about Seattle
- 01
Seattle’s housing boom followed the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, and the Craftsman bungalow that boom produced is still the city’s most common older house — Wallingford, Ravenna, Ballard and West Seattle all carry dense pockets of it, each with an original brick chimney.
- 02
The Seattle Fault runs directly beneath the city, from West Seattle through South Park and Beacon Hill, and after the 2001 Nisqually earthquake the U.S. Geological Survey documented more than 1,500 damaged chimneys concentrated in exactly that corridor.
- 03
Seattle’s Department of Construction and Inspections does not require a permit to repoint a chimney with no structural change, but any work touching a load-bearing support or the building envelope needs one regardless of cost.
- 04
The city averages roughly 150 days a year with measurable precipitation, and on a cedar or composition roof that means moss and needle litter build up on the crown fast enough to trap water against the masonry within a season or two.
Housing stock
What the housing stock means for the chimney work
Seattle’s older core — Wallingford, Ravenna, Ballard, Capitol Hill, West Seattle — is Craftsman bungalow country, built mostly between 1905 and 1930 on unreinforced brick chimneys that were never designed with steel reinforcement or seismic bracing. That masonry needs mortar, crown and liner attention as it ages, and it is the type of chimney the Seattle Fault has damaged before. Newer construction and postwar infill elsewhere in the city increasingly uses factory-built, metal-flue fireplace systems, which fail at the cap, the storm collar and the roof flashing rather than the brick itself.
Neighbourhoods: Ballard · Wallingford · Magnolia · West Seattle
Approximate coverage — call to confirm a specific address.
Services here
What we do in Seattle
Reviews
What the last 41 customers actually said
5.0
41 Google reviewscounted 2026-08-25
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Anthony Gill
Water started dripping into our attic during heavy rain so we knew the chimney needed attention fast. Team showed up prepared and diagnosed a completely eroded concrete crown and pulled-away flashing. …
Gregory Phillips
Moved into a new-to-us house in Ballard with a gorgeous brick fireplace but no service history. Scheduled an inspection to be safe. …
Loretta Green
It was important to us to feel safe about our tall chimney after the recent earthquake. The crew carefully checked it out from the inside and the roof. They found some loose cement joints and a crown that was slightly off-center. …
Leona Green
The tech was sweeping the roof from the top down and took images revealing a damaged chimney crown and weak mortar joints on the chase. Clear visual proof, no hard sell!
Questions
What people ask about Seattle
Do you serve all of Seattle, or just certain neighborhoods?
All of it — Ballard, Wallingford, Magnolia, West Seattle, Capitol Hill, Beacon Hill and every neighborhood in between sits well inside our twenty-mile radius from central Seattle.
My chimney is original to a 1920s Seattle bungalow — is that a problem?
Not by itself. A brick chimney from that era commonly needs repointing and a rebuilt crown by now, but the diagnosis comes from what our inspection actually finds, not from the house’s age alone.
Does an earthquake mean I need a chimney inspection even if nothing looks wrong?
A visible crack or a lean is worth a call regardless, and NFPA 211 calls for a Level 3 inspection — the most thorough kind — whenever an event like an earthquake may have compromised a chimney that looked fine before it.
Do I need a permit for chimney repair in Seattle?
Usually not for repointing with no structural change, per Seattle’s Department of Construction and Inspections. Work on a load-bearing support or the building envelope needs a permit regardless of cost, and we will tell you plainly if a job crosses that line.
Is a chimney inspection required to sell a house in Seattle?
There is no citywide mandate, but a Level 2 inspection — the kind NFPA 211 calls for at a change of ownership — is what most Seattle real-estate transactions ask for, and we can turn one around quickly for a pending sale.
Book a visit in Seattle
Tell us what you have noticed — we will confirm the right service.
Or call (206) 866-2929 — every day, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.