Meet the Team - Hearthstone Chimney Co.

Meet the Rockville Centre Team Behind Hearthstone Chimney Co.

We’re the crew that shows up in Rockville Centre, Lynbrook, and the surrounding Nassau County neighborhoods when chimneys need honest attention. Every person here answers to Russell Haines, and every one of us has been background-checked, uniformed, and trained on the same standard: Krafted right, Every time, Your home first, Standing behind it. We don’t send subs. We don’t send surprises. We send people who plan to be working here thirty years from now.

Call (631) 498-8835

Our People

Russell Haines, Owner

I’ve been at this since 1984, when I started Hearthstone Chimney Co. with a brush, a ladder, and the stubborn belief that homeowners deserved straight answers about what was actually going on inside their flue. Forty-two years later, I’m still climbing when the job calls for it, still writing estimates by hand, and still answering calls at odd hours because that’s what a live person means. I once pulled a fully intact bird’s nest the size of a basketball out of a Malverne chimney - the homeowner had been told by another company that she needed a complete liner replacement. She didn’t. She needed the nest removed and a cap installed. That’s the kind of nonsense that keeps me in this business. I live in the area, my kids went through local schools, and I plan to be sweeping chimneys in Rockville Centre long after I’m eligible to retire.

Mike D., Lead Technician

Mike’s been with us for eleven years and runs the Level-2 camera inspections that separate actual problems from imagined ones. He’s CSIA-certified and specializes in masonry evaluation - he can read a chimney crown the way some people read palms, spotting hairline fractures that’ll become costly leaks by next spring. Before chimneys, Mike spent six years in commercial HVAC, which means he understands how the whole system breathes together. Off the ladder, he coaches youth baseball in East Rockaway and has a running bet with Russell about whether the Mets will finish above .500 before he retires.

Teresa R., Senior Installer

Teresa handles our liner installations, cap and crown work, and anything involving HeatShield or DuraFlex materials that need to fit precisely in older flues. She’s been with Hearthstone for eight years and came to us from a family of Long Island contractors - her uncle still runs a roofing crew in Hempstead. Teresa’s particular skill is working in tight spaces: pre-war Rockville Centre homes with offset flues, narrow chase enclosures, and construction quirks that would stump a less patient installer. She keeps a collection of vintage chimney pots in her garage, salvaged from demolitions around Nassau County, and she’s the one who convinced us to start carrying Copperfield copper caps for homeowners who want something that lasts and looks right on a 1920s Tudor.

Darnell J., Service Coordinator

Darnell is the live voice you get when you call (631) 498-8835 at 10 PM on a Saturday or 6 AM on a Tuesday. He’s been with us four years, routes our technicians across Rockville Centre, Oceanside, Valley Stream, and the sixteen communities we serve, and maintains the schedule so we’re where we say we’ll be. Before Hearthstone, he spent a decade in dispatch for a regional HVAC company, so he knows the difference between a routine sweep and a call that needs same-day attention. Darnell grew up in South Jamaica, moved to Long Island for his wife’s nursing job, and now lives in Baldwin with two kids and a dog that sheds enough to keep his own chimney in regular need of sweeping.

Carlos M., Apprentice Technician

Carlos is in his second year with us, working toward his CSIA certification while he learns the trade from Mike and Teresa. He handles prep work, equipment maintenance, and the initial camera runs on standard inspections, with every finding verified by a senior tech before it goes to the homeowner. Carlos came to us through a vocational program at Nassau BOCES - he grew up in Uniondale, worked construction summers through high school, and decided he wanted a trade with more vertical variety. He’s the one most likely to ask Russell to explain why something failed, which means the rest of us end up learning too. He lives in Hempstead and takes the bus to our Rockville Centre depot when his truck is in the shop, which is more often than he’d prefer.

One Standard, Every Job

The K.E.Y.S. code isn’t a poster on the wall. It’s how we decide who’s ready to represent Hearthstone Chimney Co. in a Rockville Centre living room. Russell interviews every hire personally. Background checks are non-negotiable. Uniforms are clean, trucks are stocked with professional-grade materials from DuraFlex, HeatShield, Gelco, Olympia Chimney, Famco, and Copperfield, and estimates are written before work begins so the number on the page matches the number on the invoice. The 90-Day Done Right Promise applies to every technician equally - if Mike’s inspection misses a detail, if Teresa’s liner fitting needs adjustment, if Carlos’s prep work needs a senior eye, we come back. In writing, no arguing. That’s the Keystone Standard, and it travels with us from Russell’s first call to the final brush stroke.

Written by Russell Haines, Owner at Hearthstone Chimney Co., serving Rockville Centre and Nassau County since 1984.