Chimney and Fireplace Service in Kent, Washington

Kent was incorporated in 1890, the second city in King County after Seattle. Hops paid the bills in the valley until an aphid invasion in 1891, and during and after the Great Depression Kent was known as the Lettuce Capital of the World. The Green River flooded the valley floor again and again until the Howard A. Hanson Dam was built in 1962. Today the valley is mostly industry and warehouses, and the homes sit on East Hill and West Hill. The 2020 census counted 136,588 people, making Kent one of the largest cities in the state.

Census figures (ACS 2024) put Kent's median year built at 1985. About 31 percent of homes went up in the 1960s and '70s, and only about 2 percent before 1940. Gas heats about 40 percent of homes and electricity 56 percent. A house from those middle decades may have a brick fireplace with a clay-tile flue, a wood stove added later, or a gas insert dropped into the old firebox. Each one wears out differently, and the free inspection tells you which parts of yours need attention, with photos and a written price.

Fifty-year-old brick on East Hill and West Hill

A chimney built in the 1970s has now been through about fifty Puget Sound winters. Sea-Tac, a few miles west, averages about 39 inches of rain on roughly 156 days a year (NOAA 1991–2020 normals). That steady wet works into cracked crowns and mortar joints. The National Park Service's guidance on repointing warns that mortar harder than the brick causes cracking and spalling, so we match the mortar to the brick. Repointing typically runs $500 to $2,500 and a new crown $600 to $2,200.

Inside, clay flue tiles from that era can crack or separate at the joints. If we suspect a hidden problem, a camera scan of the flue is priced at the inspection. A stainless liner typically runs $1,500 to $5,000 and a cast-in-place liner $2,000 to $7,000.

Wood stoves in Kent and the $500 recycling payment

Kent is in King County, outside the Tacoma-Pierce County Smoke Reduction Zone on the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency's map. That means an old, uncertified stove is not banned outright here. It still can't be used during any burn ban, and Washington law bars selling it, giving it away or reinstalling it.

The agency pays homeowners $500 to recycle an uncertified stove or insert, or a certified one older than the 2020 EPA standard. The owner has to take it out and deliver it to an approved recycler, which is work we do. An EPA-certified wood stove installed typically runs $3,000 to $8,000, and a wood insert with its liner $3,000 to $7,000.

Where we work in Kent

Downtown Kent · Kent Valley · East Hill · West Hill · Scenic Hill · Panther Lake · Lake Meridian · North Park · Riverview