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 Danbury Team Behind Hearthstone Chimney Co.
Our Danbury crew isn’t a rotating cast of subcontractors. These are the same faces that show up year after year, from pre-burning-season sweeps in October to emergency calls in February when a Nor’easter’s blowing. What ties them together isn’t a handbook. It’s the K.E.Y.S. code we all work under: Krafted right, Every time, Your home first, Standing behind it. Russell Haines built this standard in 1984, and the people below keep it sharp.
Our People
Russell Haines, Owner
Russell started Hearthstone Chimney Co. in 1984, back when Danbury’s downtown was still anchored by the mall and most chimneys in the area were unlined masonry that nobody thought twice about. He’s seen what four decades of freeze-thaw cycles do to Connecticut brick, and he’ll tell you about it without raising his voice, same way he’d read a grocery list. Russell holds a CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep credential and still carries a flashlight on jobs when the crew needs a second opinion on a tricky flue. His idea of a good day is when a homeowner looks at the inspection photos and actually understands what they’re seeing, no translation required.
Mike T., Lead Technician
Mike’s been with us fourteen years, long enough to know every variation of prefab fireplace the builders slapped into Danbury-area split-levels from the 1970s through the 2000s. He’s CSIA-certified and specializes in Level-2 camera inspections, the kind where we run a camera up the flue and document what we find like an engineer, then explain it like a craftsman. Mike lives in New Fairfield, so he knows the local terrain: the way wind hits chimneys on the ridge lines above Candlewood Lake, and why that matters for draft performance. Off the clock, he restores vintage motorcycles with the same patience he brings to a cracked smoke chamber.
Donna K., Senior Installer
Donna handles our liner installations, crown rebuilds, and anything that involves working with the professional-grade materials we source from DuraFlex, HeatShield, and Olympia Chimney. She’s been in the trade eleven years, starting in HVAC ductwork before moving to chimney systems, which means she thinks about airflow in three dimensions in a way that serves our customers well. Donna’s particularly good at talking homeowners through whether a repair can wait or needs action now, without either minimizing the risk or pushing unnecessary work. She keeps a small farm in Bridgewater and will occasionally bring fresh eggs to the office, though she never mentions it unless you ask.
James R., Service Coordinator
James is the voice you get when you call (475) 375-9457 at 10 PM on a Saturday because you smelled something odd from the fireplace. He’s been with Hearthstone eight years and knows the dispatch board, the technician schedules, and the specific equipment each truck carries. More importantly, he knows when to calm a caller down and when to flag a call for immediate response. James grew up in Bethel, graduated from Bethel High, and can tell you which neighborhoods in Danbury have the older clay flue tiles that tend to spall after hard winters. He keeps a whiteboard behind his desk with every active job noted in his own shorthand system that nobody else can read.
Elena V., Apprentice Technician
Elena joined us in 2023 after completing the chimney technology program at a technical school in Waterbury. She’s working toward her CSIA certification under Mike’s mentorship and has already developed a sharp eye for crown deterioration, the kind of subtle cracking that catches water and turns into major damage after a few Connecticut winters. Elena grew up in a house with a wood stove in Sherman, so she understands from the customer side why a delayed sweep appointment matters when you’re counting on that heat source. She asks more questions than the rest of the crew combined, which Russell considers a feature, not a bug.
One Standard, Every Job
The K.E.Y.S. code isn’t a poster on the wall. It’s how we decide who to hire, how to train, and what to do when something goes sideways. Every technician on this page is background-checked and uniformed. Most jobs wrap in a single visit. The estimate you sign off on is the number on the invoice, period. And if we miss something, the 90-Day Done Right Promise applies in writing, no arguing, no paperwork chase.
We’ve been serving local Connecticut communities for over 42 years. A company that plans to be in town in thirty more years acts accordingly. That means hiring people who want to stay, training them right, and backing them when they make the hard call to recommend a repair a homeowner wasn’t expecting. The photos from our Level-2 inspections go straight to you. The verdict gets explained in plain English. And if you want a second opinion on any written estimate from another company, we’ll give you one free. That’s the square deal we’ve operated on since 1984.
Written by Russell Haines, Owner at Hearthstone Chimney Co., serving Danbury since 1984.