Chimney inspection in Seattle

A Level 1 inspection is the annual check: a visual review of everything reachable without a camera or a ladder to the roof, right for a chimney under continued, unchanged use with nothing unusual to report. A Level 2 goes further, adding a video camera run down the full length of the flue plus a check of accessible attic, crawlspace and roof areas, and it is the depth called for whenever ownership changes, an appliance is added or swapped, or the system’s use otherwise changes. A Level 3 is the most involved of the three, reserved for situations where the structure itself may be compromised: after an earthquake, a lightning strike, a chimney fire, or visible structural damage, and can include opening a concealed section of the chimney or the surrounding structure to see what a camera cannot.

Buyers, agents and lenders want confirmation that the flue itself is sound, not merely that the firebox looks clean, and a camera run the length of the liner is the only way to actually confirm that without opening the wall. We schedule these with sale timelines in mind and turn the written report around quickly, because a pending closing rarely has room to wait.

The region carries real seismic exposure from both the shallow Seattle Fault, which runs directly beneath the city, and the deeper Cascadia subduction zone offshore. Brick chimneys are consistently among the first things to show damage when the ground moves. If a chimney has been through an earthquake, a lightning strike, or shows a lean, a gap at the roofline or a crack that looks like it might run deeper than the surface, that is a Level 3 situation: cameras and visual checks alone cannot always confirm what is happening inside a masonry structure that may have shifted.

The report names the level performed, documents what was checked, and records every finding, minor or major, with camera photos attached wherever a Level 2 or Level 3 camera pass was part of the job. That written record is what a buyer’s agent, an insurer or your own future self will actually want to see, and it is yours to keep regardless of whether you act on anything it recommends.

The same technician who inspects a chimney can absolutely do the repair work it turns up. The inspection itself, though, is priced and reported independently of any recommendation that follows it, so nothing about what we find changes what the inspection costs or how thoroughly we report it. That separation is what makes the written report something you can actually trust for a sale, an insurance claim or your own records, rather than a sales pitch dressed up as a condition check.

We will recommend the inspection level that actually fits rather than defaulting to the most thorough one. We work every day from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. across a twenty-mile radius from central Seattle, and a Level 2 inspection for a sale is one call away.