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 Westminster Team Behind Hearthstone Chimney Co.
Our Westminster crew is the same group you’ll see year after year. We’re the ones climbing ladders in Carroll County winters, crawling flues in July humidity, and explaining what we found in plain English before we pack up our tools. What ties us together isn’t a handbook. It’s the K.E.Y.S. code Russell put in place back in 1984: Krafted right, Every time, Your home first, Standing behind it. We don’t subcontract. We don’t rotate strangers through your house. When you call Hearthstone Chimney Co. in Westminster, you get one of us.
Our People
Russell Haines, Owner
I’ve been running Hearthstone since 1984, which means I’ve swept chimneys in Westminster through four decades of building booms, ice storms, and changing fuel types. I still carry a brush when we’re short-handed or when a job’s tricky enough that I’d rather see it myself. I’m NFI-certified in woodburning and gas systems, and I personally review every Level-2 camera inspection report before it goes to a homeowner. Off the clock, I restore vintage motorcycles in a garage that’s way too small for the project, and I apply the same patience to a 1972 Honda crankcase that I do to a cracked flue liner nobody else wants to touch.
Mike T., Lead Technician
Mike’s been with us for nineteen years, and he’s the technician other crews call when a liner pull goes sideways or a chimney’s been modified by a homeowner who watched one too many videos. He’s CSIA-certified and specializes in masonry evaluation, which in Westminster means he’s spent a lot of time looking at pre-1950 brickwork that’s survived Maryland freeze-thaw cycles better than the mortar between it. Mike keeps a notebook of every unusual flue configuration he’s encountered, organized by neighborhood, and he’ll tell you exactly why a Uniontown chimney behaves differently from one in Pleasant Valley. He also makes sourdough bread with the same precision he brings to a crown rebuild, and he’s been known to drop off a loaf for customers who’ve had a rough diagnostic.
Dana K., Senior Installer
Dana handles our liner installations, cap and crown replacements, and anything that involves working at height with stainless steel or copper. She’s factory-trained on DuraFlex and Olympia Chimney systems, and she’s one of the few installers in the region who’s certified on HeatShield’s cerfractory resurfacing process, which matters when a Westminster homeowner needs a liner solution that doesn’t involve tearing down a historic chase. Dana grew up in Taneytown, so she knows which local jurisdictions require permits for chase demolition and which inspectors want to see photos of the full flue run. She coaches a youth climbing team on weekends, and she says the only difference is that chimneys don’t talk back and the harnesses are heavier.
James R., Service Coordinator
James is the live voice you get when you call (301) 215-3355 at 10 PM on a Saturday or 7 AM on a Tuesday. He’s been with Hearthstone for eight years, and he schedules every Westminster appointment with an understanding of drive times, equipment loads, and which technician’s best matched to the problem described. He’s not reading from a script. He’ll tell you honestly whether your situation sounds urgent or whether it can wait for routine availability, and he’ll walk you through what the $89 Seasonal Tune-Up covers versus what might need a separate camera inspection. James is from Finksburg originally, and he still lives there with two dogs who have no respect for his sleep schedule, which is partly why the overnight phone shift works for him.
Elena V., Apprentice Technician
Elena joined us in 2023 after completing the chimney technology program at a trade school in Pennsylvania, and she’s working through her CSIA certification while she trains under Mike and Dana. She’s already taken point on standard sweep appointments in Westminster and the surrounding Carroll County towns, and she’s developing a specialty in pellet stove venting, which more homeowners are installing as secondary heat sources. Elena asks more questions than anyone on the crew, which is exactly what you want in someone who’s learning to spot hairline cracks in a flue tile that a less careful eye would miss. She keeps a running list of every tool name she’s learned in English and in her grandmother’s Russian, and she’s determined to understand not just how to use each one but why it was designed that way.
One Standard, Every Job
We’re not a franchise. We’re not a dispatch service that sends whoever’s available in a fifty-mile radius. When you hire Hearthstone Chimney Co. in Westminster, you’re hiring this specific group of people, and we answer to Russell directly. The 90-Day Done Right Promise applies whether Mike’s rebuilding your crown or Elena’s doing her fiftieth solo sweep. The camera inspection photos go to Russell’s desk before they go to your inbox. The upfront price we quote is the price on the invoice, every time. We’ve been in Carroll County for over forty-two years, and we plan to be here for thirty more. That changes how you treat a job, and how you treat the person whose house you’re standing in.
Written by Russell Haines, Owner at Hearthstone Chimney Co., serving Westminster and Carroll County since 1984.