Level 1 sweep and inspection to the NFPA 211 annual standard - flue, crown, cap, and flashing checked and photographed
Chimney sweep logs do not sweep chimneys. They loosen some creosote - which then falls where a brush and vacuum still have to collect it.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterMeet the Ellicott City Team Behind Hearthstone Chimney Co.
We’re the crew that shows up in your driveway with clean trucks, uniforms that actually fit, and the patience to explain why your chimney is doing what it’s doing. Every member of our Ellicott City team has been background-checked and trained on the same equipment we install: DuraFlex liners, HeatShield resurfacing systems, Gelco caps, Olympia Chimney components, Famco hardware, and Copperfield rebuild materials. What ties us together isn’t a handbook. It’s the K.E.Y.S. code: Krafted right, Every time, Your home first, Standing behind it. Russell Haines started this in 1984, and he still hires for character first, skill second.
Our People
Russell Haines, Owner
I’ve been climbing roofs in Howard County since 1984, back when Ellicott City was mostly farmland and the historic district hadn’t seen its first major flood. Started Hearthstone Chimney Co. with a used brush set and a borrowed pickup. Forty-two years later, I’m still the one who answers the phone at odd hours when our live coverage picks up a worried caller. I hold a CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep credential and a Maryland Home Improvement Commission license. My specialty is Level-2 camera inspections - I document like an engineer and explain like a craftsman, because a homeowner staring at a cracked flue tile deserves to understand what they’re seeing without being talked down to. I burn oak in my own fireplace at home in Catonsville, and I keep a small collection of melted fireplace tools that customers have brought me after experiments with lighter fluid. They’re my cautionary bookmarks.
Marcus T., Lead Technician
Marcus has been with us for eleven years, and he’s the reason we can promise most jobs in a single visit. He’s certified in HeatShield cerfractory flue resurfacing and DuraFlex liner installation, which means he can handle a full liner pull and replacement without calling for backup. Before chimneys, Marcus spent six years as a commercial roofer in Baltimore County, so he doesn’t flinch at steep pitches or January ice. He lives in Columbia with two dogs who have learned the sound of his work boots hitting the driveway at 6 AM. His one quirk: he names every chimney cap he installs. Don’t ask him about “Gertrude” on Old Columbia Pike unless you have twenty minutes.
Darnell K., Senior Installer
Darnell joined us in 2016 after running his own small masonry crew in Prince George’s County. He specializes in chimney crown rebuilds using Copperfield precast systems and custom-poured concrete when the geometry demands it. He’s also our Gelco cap expert - the stainless and copper models, the mesh sizing, the whole catalog. Darnell has a particular knack for historic homes in Ellicott City’s older neighborhoods, where a standard cap won’t clear a decorative corbel or where the original flue opening is some non-standard dimension from 1890. He carries a notebook of hand-sketched diagrams from past jobs, which he references more often than his phone. Off the clock, he coaches youth basketball in Laurel and refuses to let anyone on his team call him “coach.”
Sandra V., Service Coordinator
Sandra is the live voice you get when you call (410) 305-7884 at 10 PM on a Saturday because you smelled something odd after the first fire of the season. She’s been with Hearthstone for seven years, and she knows our schedule, our inventory, and our technicians’ capabilities well enough to give you a real answer about when someone can be there and what it’ll likely involve. She’s not reading from a script. Sandra coordinates our Level-2 inspection reports, making sure the photos Russell or Marcus took actually make it to your inbox with the plain-English verdict attached. She grew up in Ellicott City, attended Howard High, and still lives five minutes from the historic district. She’ll remember your name on the second call, and she’ll remember your dog’s name by the third.
Elena R., Apprentice Technician
Elena came to us in 2023 through a trade program partnership with Howard Community College. She’s completing her CSIA certification while working full-time, and she’s already proficient on Olympia Chimney relining systems and Famco damper hardware. We paired her with Marcus for her first year, which means she’s seen more unusual flue configurations in twelve months than most sweeps encounter in five. Elena grew up in a house with a wood stove in Glenwood and spent her teenage years splitting ash with a maul that was older than she was. She has a calm, methodical approach that serves her well on ladder work, and she’s the only person on the team who can consistently thread a DuraFlex liner through a 45-degree offset without cursing. She drives a 2006 Subaru with 230,000 miles and no intention of replacing it.
One Standard, Every Job
Every technician on this page works under the same 90-Day Done Right Promise, backed in writing with no arguing. The number on your estimate is the number on your invoice. We don’t subcontract. We don’t use builder-grade materials when the job calls for professional grade. Russell reviews every Level-2 inspection personally before it goes to the homeowner, and Sandra flags any scheduling that doesn’t give our team enough time to finish properly. We’ve been in Ellicott City and the surrounding Maryland communities for over forty-two years, and we plan to be here for thirty more. That changes how you treat people and how you stand behind your work. Done right - and we stand behind it.
Written by Russell Haines, Owner at Hearthstone Chimney Co., serving Ellicott City since 1984.