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 Woburn Team Behind Hearthstone Chimney Co.
Our Woburn crew is the same group that’s climbed roofs from Horn Pond to the North Woburn rail yards, through ice storms and July humidity that turns a chimney stack into a brick oven. We’re background-checked, uniformed, and most of us have been at this long enough to remember when the old GE plant was still humming. 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 set that standard in 1984, and we still measure ourselves against it on every job.
Our People
Russell Haines, Owner
I’ve been running Hearthstone since 1984, which means I’ve seen what happens when a chimney gets ignored for twenty years and I’ve seen what happens when it’s maintained right. I started this company because I got tired of watching homeowners get sold repairs they didn’t need by guys who couldn’t explain why. These days I spend more time on estimates and crew oversight than on the roof myself, but I still carry my CSIA certification and I’ll still climb if we’re short-handed or if a job’s tricky enough that I want eyes on it. My daughter says I talk about flue liners at dinner. She’s not wrong.
Mike T., Lead Technician
Mike’s been with us twelve years, and he’s the one we send when a Level-2 inspection turns up something that doesn’t add up. He’s CSIA-certified and holds the C-DET credential for dryer exhaust, though around Woburn he’s better known for finding the source of smoke backup in 1920s colonials where the original builders took shortcuts. Mike grew up in Wilmington, still lives there with his two kids, and has a habit of photographing squirrel damage that he shows at the shop like vacation slides. Homeowners ask for him by name because he’ll spend ten minutes explaining what he found and why it matters, even if the answer is “you’re fine, just sweep it.”
Donna R., Senior Installer
Donna handles our liner installs, crown rebuilds, and anything that requires working with DuraFlex or HeatShield in tight quarters. She came to us from commercial HVAC eight years ago and brought a rigor that’s hard to find: every joint gets checked, every measurement gets written down, and she won’t sign off until she’s run the camera herself. Her specialty is historic homes in Woburn’s older neighborhoods, where a standard liner won’t fit and you need to fabricate something that respects the original masonry. Off the clock she restores vintage motorcycles, which explains why she’s unfazed by grease, tight spaces, or parts that haven’t moved since the Carter administration.
James K., Service Coordinator
James is the live voice that answers when you call (781) 404-3793 at 10 PM on a Saturday because you smelled something odd from the fireplace. He’s been with us four years, knows the Woburn schedule and routing better than anyone, and has a genuine knack for calming down homeowners who just watched a YouTube video about chimney fires. James coordinates our appointments, tracks parts from Gelco and Olympia Chimney, and makes sure Mike and Donna aren’t driving from one end of Middlesex County to the other for back-to-back jobs. He grew up in Medford, roots for the wrong baseball team, and keeps a whiteboard of “jobs that went weird” that the rest of us pretend not to read.
Elena V., Apprentice Technician
Elena joined us last spring after completing the chimney technology program at a regional trade school, and she’s already passed her CSIA sweep exam. Right now she’s paired with Mike on inspections and learning the install side from Donna, which means she’s seen more variation in two seasons than some techs see in five years. She’s particularly sharp on gas fireplace diagnostics, a growing share of our Woburn work as more homeowners convert from wood. Elena lives in Arlington, takes the T when she can, and asks the kind of questions that make the rest of us reconsider assumptions we’ve held for a decade.
One Standard, Every Job
Every technician on this page works under the same 90-Day Done Right Promise, backed in writing with no arguing. That promise travels with us from Woburn to every community we serve, but it’s enforced by people, not paperwork. Russell reviews every camera inspection that flags a repair. Mike double-checks Elena’s first ten estimates. Donna won’t let a liner leave the shop if the seam doesn’t meet her standard. The brands we use - DuraFlex, HeatShield, Gelco, Olympia Chimney, Famco, Copperfield - are specified because they’ve held up in New England freeze-thaw cycles, not because they’re cheap. When we say most jobs finish in a single visit, that’s because James planned it that way and the technician showed up with the right materials. No-hassle upfront pricing means the number on the estimate is the number on the invoice because someone did the math carefully the first time. We’ve been at this over 42 years. The K.E.Y.S. code isn’t marketing language. It’s how we stay in business for the next thirty.
Written by Russell Haines, Owner at Hearthstone Chimney Co., serving Woburn since 1984.