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 Hicksville Team Behind Hearthstone Chimney Co.
Our Hicksville crew is the same group you’ll see year after year. We’re not rotating contractors or seasonal hires pulled off a job board. These are the people who answer when you call, climb your roof, and stand behind the work. What ties us together is simple: we were raised to fix what we break, explain what we find, and leave a house cleaner than we found it. Russell Haines built this company in 1984 on that idea, and four decades later, it’s still how we operate in Nassau County.
Our People
Russell Haines, Owner & Master Sweep
I’ve been doing this since 1984, which means I’ve pulled some genuinely strange things out of chimneys. A family of raccoons in a Levittown cap. A 1960s TV antenna wedged sideways in a Plainview flue. A bowling ball, once, in Massapequa - still no satisfying explanation for that one. I’m a CSIA-certified Master Sweep and hold the NFI Woodburning certification, but the credential that matters most here is the one I’ve built over 42 years: showing up, saying plainly what I found, and fixing it so I don’t have to come back for the same problem. I still climb roofs when the job calls for it, still take the after-hours calls myself when the line rings at midnight, and still write every estimate by hand so there’s no confusion about what we’re doing and why. My wife says I talk about flue liners at dinner parties. She’s not wrong.
Tommy D., Lead Technician
Tommy’s been with us twelve years, and he’s the one we send when a liner pull is complicated or a chimney is tall enough to make most guys nervous. He’s NFI Gas-certified and specializes in HeatShield relining work, which means he’s restored more deteriorated flues in Hicksville and East Meadow than he can count. Tommy grew up in Wantagh, lives in Bethpage now, and has a habit of photographing every stage of a job so the homeowner sees exactly what changed. Off the clock, he rebuilds vintage motorcycles in a garage that’s somehow always cleaner than his truck.
Marisol V., Senior Installer
Marisol handles our cap, crown, and masonry rebuilds - the work that has to survive Long Island’s freeze-thaw cycles and salt air without complaint. She’s been with Hearthstone eight years, certified in DuraFlex and Olympia Chimney systems, and she’s particular about flashing details in ways that have saved more than a few Massapequa and Seaford homeowners from repeated leaks. Marisol grew up in a family of contractors in Queens, moved to Hicksville for the schools, and still calls her uncle before any major masonry decision. She’ll tell you her best work was a full crown rebuild in Old Bethpage during the February cold snap of 2021 - poured, cured, and sealed before the next storm hit.
Derek K., Service Coordinator
Derek’s the voice you hear when you call (516) 259-3797 at 10 PM on a Saturday and a live person actually answers. He’s been with us five years, knows every technician’s schedule and specialty, and has a memory for job history that’s borderline unsettling - he’ll remember that your Garden City fireplace had a cracked throat damper from a conversation three seasons ago. Derek coordinates our Level-2 camera inspections, makes sure the photo reports reach you same-day, and handles the paperwork on our 90-Day Done Right Promise so there’s nothing for you to chase. He lives in Hicksville, coaches Little League in Levittown, and somehow maintains patience with both roofers and umpires.
Jake R., Apprentice Technician
Jake’s in his second year with us, learning the trade from Tommy and Marisol in the old way: watch first, assist second, do it yourself third. He’s already CSIA-certified and working toward his NFI Gas credential, but right now his main job is carrying the camera rig, keeping the drop cloths straight, and asking the questions that remind the rest of us to explain our work out loud. Jake grew up in Syosset, studied HVAC at BOCES, and joined us because he wanted to see the inside of the systems he’d only read about. He’s the one who found a bird’s nest the size of a basketball in a Westbury chimney last spring - still talks about it.
One Standard, Every Job
Every person on this page answers to the same standard, whether they’re on their first chimney or their ten-thousandth. The 90-Day Done Right Promise applies to Jake’s work exactly as it applies to mine. No arguing, no paperwork chase - if it’s not right, we come back. That’s the K.E.Y.S. code: Krafted right, Every time, Your home first, Standing behind it. We use the same professional-grade materials on every job - DuraFlex, HeatShield, Gelco, Olympia Chimney, Famco, Copperfield - because builder-grade substitutes fail faster and we plan to be serving Hicksville, Levittown, and the rest of Nassau County for another thirty years. A company that plans to stick around acts accordingly. That’s why we’re still here after 42.
Written by Russell Haines, Owner at Hearthstone Chimney Co., serving Hicksville and Nassau County since 1984.