Chimney Repair, Sweep & Inspection in Lakewood, WA

Local Conditions

Chimney problems we see in Lakewood

Lakewood's chimneys face the Puget Sound wet season measured at Sea-Tac: roughly 40 inches a year, with about 73% of it between October and March and November the wettest month. The region sees about 60 days a year at or below freezing and only about 4 that stay frozen all day, so a wet crown freezes at night and thaws by afternoon over and over. The Brick Industry Association documents what that does to saturated brick: cracking, crazing, spalling and disintegration.

Moss thrives in the PNW's wet winters and springs and spreads fastest October through April on shaded surfaces. The tall firs around the lakes keep the north face of many Lakewood stacks green all year, and moss rhizoids lodge in joints that have already opened.

Lakewood's median home dates to 1975, with a large share of 1940s–70s ramblers, base-adjacent housing and older lake-side homes. Houses of that era typically have brick masonry chimneys, often with a clay tile liner or no liner at all, and a cast-in-place crown that has been shedding water for decades. The lake-front houses often have wide, two-flue chimneys serving a living room fireplace and a furnace or second fireplace.

That typically means the jobs here are crowns, repointing, caps, flashing where the roof has been replaced around the old brick, and liners for flues that have cracked tiles.

• Cracked or crumbling crowns on 1950s–60s brick: crown rebuild
• Spalled brick faces and washed-out mortar: masonry chimney repair
• Missing caps on two-flue lake-side chimneys: cap replacement
• Flashing that was never re-done when the roof was replaced: flashing repair
• Cracked firebox brick in fireplaces used for decades: fireplace crack repair
• Unused flues full of debris, nests or odor: chimney cleaning

Neighborhoods & Scheduling

Areas we cover in Lakewood

• Lake City and Oakbrook
• Tillicum and Woodbrook
• American Lake and Gravelly Lake
• Steilacoom Lake and Lake Louise
• Springbrook and Custer
• Steilacoom and DuPont
• Parkland and Spanaway

Scheduling & arrival in Lakewood

Lakewood is about 40 minutes from Renton, and we run it with University Place, Steilacoom, DuPont and Parkland on a south Pierce County day. Call 206-453-2045 with your neighborhood and the age of the house; we will give you the next south-county date, and same-day is often available when a crew is already in Tacoma or on the way to the base.