Meet the Team - Hearthstone Chimney Co.

Meet the Chelmsford Team Behind Hearthstone Chimney Co.

We’ve got a crew of six who run the Chelmsford operation, and they’ve all got one thing in common: they’d rather explain what’s wrong with your chimney than sell you something you don’t need. Most of us live within twenty minutes of the shop. That means when a Westford customer calls at 6 a.m. smelling smoke, or a Billerica homeowner finds water in the firebox after a nor’easter, we’re not routing the call through a dispatch center in another state. We’re the ones who answer, drive out, and fix it. Russell Haines started this in 1984, and he’s still the one who signs off on every Level-2 camera inspection before it goes to the homeowner. No report leaves without a photo you can see and a verdict you can understand.

Call (978) 991-9492

Our People

Russell Haines, Owner & Lead Inspector

I’m the one who answers when you call, and I’m the one who shows up if the job’s complicated enough to need a second set of eyes. I started Hearthstone Chimney Co. in 1984 after watching my uncle’s chimney fire in Tewksbury - creosote buildup that nobody had bothered to check. Forty-two years later, I still carry a flashlight into every inspection myself. CSIA-certified since 1986. I keep a 1978 Jotul stove in my own living room, and I sweep it every March whether it needs it or not. Old habits. My wife says I talk about flue gases at dinner parties. She’s not wrong.

Marcus T., Senior Installer & Lining Specialist

Marcus handles the jobs that make other crews call for backup - full liner pulls in tight Massachusetts attics, HeatShield applications in historic Lowell chimneys where the terra cotta’s turned to powder, and DuraFlex installations in condos with no roof access. He’s been with us fourteen years, certified in both solid-fuel and gas appliance venting. Grew up in Chelmsford, still lives on the same street as his mother. He has a thing about ladder angles - won’t let anyone set a base less than a quarter of the working height. Claims he once spotted a cracked crown from a neighbor’s driveway while walking his dog. Probably true.

Diane K., Service Coordinator & Customer Voice

Diane’s the live person who picks up when you call (978) 991-9492 at 11 p.m. on a Saturday. She’s been with Hearthstone eight years, and she knows every regular by voice - which Billerica customer burns pine, which Westford family switched to gas last spring, which Chelmsford condo association books all twelve units in September. No call-waiting tree, no callback queue. She schedules, she follows up, and she’s the one who makes sure your photos and report land in your inbox before Marcus is back on the ladder. She knits during slow periods. Claims she’s made seventeen scarves during hold times that never happened because we don’t put people on hold.

Javier R., Lead Technician & Repair Specialist

Javier’s our fix-it guy - crown rebuilds with Gelco products, cap installations in driving rain, masonry repointing on 1890s Chelmsford colonials where the mortar’s turned to sand. Seven years with Hearthstone, background-checked, uniformed, and he completes most jobs in a single visit because he packs his truck like he’s playing Tetris. Born in Lawrence, trained in Boston, settled in Lowell. He keeps a photo on his phone of a chimney he rebuilt in North Chelmsford where the homeowner had been quoted $8,400 for a “total rebuild” by another company. We fixed it with a $340 crown pour and proper flashing. He shows that photo more than he shows pictures of his kids.

Elena V., Apprentice Technician & Camera Inspector

Elena’s in her third year with us, which means she’s done enough Level-2 inspections to know what she’s looking at, and enough to know when she needs Marcus or Russell to confirm. CSIA training completed last spring, now logging her hours for the Certified Chimney Sweep exam. She specializes in the documentation - the photos, the measurements, the plain-English write-ups that go to homeowners. Grew up in a drafty Dracut ranch with a fireplace that never worked right; that’s why she got into this. She runs half-marathons and has strong opinions about the best coffee in Chelmsford. She will tell you, unprompted.

One Standard, Every Job

The K.E.Y.S. code isn’t a poster in the break room. It’s how we decide who’s wrong when a customer says the damper still sticks after we left. Krafted right, Every time, Your home first, Standing behind it. The 90-Day Done Right Promise means if it’s not right, we come back. In writing, no arguing. We’ve honored it forty-three times in forty-two years, and we’re not keeping score to hide that number. We’re keeping score because each one taught us something.

Every technician on this page uses the same brands - DuraFlex, HeatShield, Gelco, Olympia Chimney, Famco, Copperfield - because builder-grade materials fail faster in New England freeze-thaw. Every estimate is the final invoice number. Every inspection ends with photos you can see and a verdict you can understand. We’ll be there when we say. Done right - and we stand behind it.

Call (978) 991-9492 any hour. A live person answers. Usually Diane.

Written by Russell Haines, Owner at Hearthstone Chimney Co., serving Chelmsford and surrounding communities since 1984.