How Hearthstone Chimney Co. Was Born in Seaford
We opened our Seaford doors in 2014 because of a phone call that still sticks with us. A homeowner in Massapequa Park had paid another company for a “complete chimney rebuild” that left her with a patched crown, no liner inspection, and a bill she couldn’t afford to challenge. She found us through a neighbor and asked if we’d just tell her the truth. We ran a camera, showed her the footage on a small screen in her kitchen, and explained that the masonry was sound but the flue was cracked in two places. She cried. Not from relief, but from anger that no one had simply shown her what was actually wrong.
That afternoon, driving back along Sunrise Highway, we made a promise. Seaford and the surrounding towns deserved a chimney company that documented like an engineer and talked like a neighbor. No scare tactics. No inflated scope. Just the hearthstone standard, applied honestly. The name Hearthstone Chimney Co. already meant something in other markets, certified sweeps and level-2 camera inspections with photos you could see and a plain-English verdict. We brought that here because this market needed it. Twelve years later, we’re still running that camera and showing homeowners exactly what we’re seeing.
Russell Haines’s Personal Connection to the Chimney Cleaning Trade
Russell Haines didn’t stumble into chimney work. He was pulled into it by the smell of old mortar and the particular satisfaction of fixing something hidden.
Before 2014, he spent years working alongside a tradesman who taught him to read a flue the way a mechanic reads an engine, by sound, by draft, by the color of the creosote buildup. The first time Russell descended a ladder with his boots coated in soot and his hands raw from handling old brick, he knew this was different from other trades. There’s a quiet to it. You’re working in someone’s living space, often while they’re watching television in the next room, and the work matters in a way that’s hard to explain until you’ve seen a chimney fire or pulled a dead bird from a flue that was backing carbon monoxide into a child’s bedroom.
What gets Russell out of bed is the homeowner who doesn’t know what they don’t know. The family in Wantagh burning their fireplace every Sunday who’ve never heard of a level-2 inspection. The Lindenhurst couple who bought their house in 1987 and assume the chimney is “fine because we never use it.” He’s seen too many people learn the hard way that a chimney is structural, not decorative, and that water intrusion doesn’t announce itself until the damage is expensive.
If he weren’t doing this, he’d probably be restoring old houses somewhere, working with his hands on something that outlasts him. The trade chose him, he likes to say, because it combines craft with consequence. Every flue he sweeps, every liner he inspects with a camera, every crown he points, it’s work that protects a family while they sleep. That’s not marketing language for Russell. That’s the reason he built this branch of Hearthstone Chimney Co. in Seaford instead of taking an easier path.
Meet Russell Haines - The Person Behind Every Job
Russell Haines, Owner & Founder
Russell leads every job that carries his name in Seaford, Massapequa, Wantagh, and the surrounding towns. He’s a certified chimney sweep with training in level-2 inspections, masonry evaluation, and venting system analysis. Unlike a franchise technician who rotates through a territory, Russell knows the local building stock, the 1950s ranches in North Bellmore with their original clay flues, the split-levels in East Massapequa where builders cut corners on chimney clearance.
On weekends, you’ll find him at his daughter’s soccer games or working on a 1978 pickup truck that he’s been restoring for three years. That patience carries over into his work. He doesn’t rush inspections. He doesn’t recommend work he wouldn’t pay for himself. When you call Hearthstone Chimney Co., Russell’s commitment is simple: he’ll treat your chimney the way he’d treat his mother’s, and he’ll stand behind every job in writing.
Our Promise to Seaford Homeowners
Our K.E.Y.S. code isn’t decoration. It’s how we decide what to do when no one’s watching.
Krafted right means we use proper materials, Gelco and Olympia Chimney components when the spec calls for them, Famco venting solutions where they fit, never hardware-store shortcuts that’ll fail in five seasons. We once found a competitor in Copiague had lined a flue with a dryer-duct product rated for 177 degrees. The appliance was a wood stove. We replaced it properly and the homeowner still calls us every fall.
Every time means the 400th sweep gets the same ladder placement, the same drop-cloth coverage, the same photo documentation as the first. Complacency is how chimneys get missed.
Your home first means we wear boot covers without being asked, we ask about your schedule before we book, and we never leave soot on a mantelpiece.
Standing behind it is The Keystone Standard, applied to chimneys: 90 days, in writing, no arguing. If it’s not right, we come back. No paperwork, no runaround.
Our Credentials
Every pro working under our name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires. We’re state-licensed, insured & bonded, with years of local experience and a strong local reputation built one appointment at a time.
- State-licensed - required training and examination for chimney sweep operations in New York
- Insured & bonded - protection for your property and our team while working in your home
- Years of local experience - serving Seaford and surrounding communities since 2014
- Strong local reputation - referrals from neighbors, repeat customers, and word-of-mouth across Nassau and Suffolk counties
These matter because you’re letting someone onto your roof, into your attic, and around your family. A homeowner in North Massapequa once told us she chose us because we were the only company that could explain what “bonded” actually meant. It’s simple: if something goes wrong because of our work, there’s a financial backstop that doesn’t require you to sue anyone. That’s the square deal.
Rooted in Seaford
We’ve swept chimneys on Washington Drive and cleaned flues in the neighborhoods off Merrick Road. We’ve worked through the damp Long Island springs when water intrusion is worst, and we’ve done pre-winter inspections for families in Massapequa Park who remember the 2012 storm season and don’t take chances anymore. Our hours are Monday through Friday, 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, because that’s when Seaford homeowners are home and able to think about their chimneys. We’re not passing through. We’re planning to be here in thirty years, acting like it.
Written by Russell Haines, Owner at Hearthstone Chimney Co., serving Seaford since 2014.