How Hearthstone Chimney Co. Was Born in Plainview
Back in 2014, we were working out of another shop when a call came in from a homeowner in Plainview. Their chimney had been “repaired” twice by two different companies, and it was still leaking water into their living room every time a nor’easter rolled through Long Island. We drove over, climbed up, and found the real problem in ten minutes: a cracked crown that both previous crews had missed because they’d never gotten on the roof. They’d sold her a flue liner she didn’t need and a waterproofing spray that washed off in the first rain.
That night, we sat in the truck outside her house on Old Country Road and talked about what we’d just seen. The chimney trade on Long Island was full of companies that treated a sweep like a quick upsell opportunity. Homeowners couldn’t see inside their own chimneys, so they had to trust whatever they were told. That trust was being broken every day. We decided that Plainview deserved something different: a local branch of Hearthstone Chimney Co. where every inspection came with photos you could actually see, where nothing was recommended without evidence, and where the bill matched the estimate. We opened our doors that spring. Twelve years later, that homeowner still calls us every September to book her annual sweep.
Russell Haines’s Personal Connection to the Chimney Cleaning Trade
I didn’t stumble into this work. I was drawn to it slowly, the way you might notice a draft in an old house and keep coming back to find where it’s coming from.
Before chimneys, I spent years in general construction. I liked building things, but I never loved the finish work, the trim, the cosmetic stuff. What I loved was the hidden systems: the flues, the draft patterns, the way a chimney had to breathe for a fireplace to draw properly. A tradesman who trained me back then had an old saying: “The chimney is the lungs of the house.” I felt that the first time I dropped a camera down a flue and saw what years of neglect looked like. Creosote glazing the walls like black varnish. A bird’s nest packed tight above the smoke shelf. A liner that had shifted and left a gap where sparks could reach the framing.
The smell of soot and creosote gets into your clothes, your skin, your truck seats. My wife used to joke that she could tell what kind of job I’d done by how I smelled at the door. Wood smoke meant a routine sweep. That sharp, chemical creosote smell meant we’d found something dangerous and spent extra time on it. I stopped noticing it myself years ago, but I remember when it was new. I remember the weight of the first set of rods I bought, the fiberglass ones with the brass fittings, and how they felt wrong in my hands until one day they didn’t.
If I weren’t doing this, I’d probably be fixing old boats out in Montauk or restoring a house somewhere in the Catskills. I like things that last, things that were built with intention and need someone patient enough to maintain them. A chimney is exactly that. Most homeowners in Plainview and Syosset don’t think about theirs until something goes wrong. I think about them every day. Not because I have to. Because I can’t help it. There’s a satisfaction in fixing a draft problem that’s been making a family cold for three winters, in showing someone the photo of what was actually wrong instead of just telling them to trust you.
What gets me out of bed is the same thing that kept me up late when we first opened: the knowledge that someone in Woodbury or Bethpage is burning a fire tonight in a chimney that hasn’t been looked at in years, and they have no idea what condition it’s in. I can change that. One house at a time.
Meet Russell Haines - The Person Behind Every Job
I’m Russell Haines, Owner and Founder of the Plainview branch of Hearthstone Chimney Co. I’ve been in this trade for over twelve years, since the day we opened our doors here in 2014. My training came from certified sweeps who taught me that the camera doesn’t lie, and that a customer who understands what they’re looking at makes better decisions than one who’s kept in the dark.
What separates me from a franchise technician sent from a dispatch center is simple: I’m the one who answers when there’s a problem. I know the clay flue liners common in 1970s Plainview splits, the way the wind hits chimneys on the north side of Melville hills, and the specific creosote buildup we see after a cold, damp Long Island winter. I’m also the one who spends Sunday mornings restoring an old wooden sailboat in my garage, a project that’s taught me more about patience and doing something right than any certification course.
My commitment to you is direct: when I inspect your chimney, I’ll show you exactly what I see, explain what it means in plain English, and tell you honestly whether something can wait or needs attention now. No surprises on the bill. We’ll be there when we say. And if it’s not right, we come back.
Our Promise to Plainview Homeowners
Our values aren’t posters on a wall. We call them our K.E.Y.S., and we use them to settle real questions that come up on real jobs.
Krafted right means our sweeps train as journeymen before they work alone, and we use materials we trust: HeatShield for crown repair, Gelco and Olympia Chimney liners when a replacement is needed, Famco caps and dampers that we’ve seen hold up through Long Island coastal winters. No shortcuts on mortar mixes, no generic parts that don’t fit.
Every time means the 400th inspection gets the same ladder placement, the same camera check at every joint, the same photo documentation as the first. We’ve turned down jobs when we were short-staffed rather than rush a sweep.
Your home first means drop cloths on every floor we cross, vacuums that exhaust outside so soot doesn’t settle on your furniture, and crews who work in your house the way we’d work in our mother’s.
Standing behind it is our Keystone Standard: 90 days, in writing, no arguing. If a cap we installed shifts in the first winter wind, we come back. No paperwork battle, no “read the fine print.”
Our Credentials
- State-licensed chimney professionals operating under New York requirements
- Insured & bonded for residential work throughout Nassau County
- Over twelve years of local experience serving Plainview and surrounding communities
- Strong local reputation built on documented inspections and transparent recommendations
Every pro working under our name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires. For a homeowner, this matters because chimney work involves heights, combustion systems, and access to your home’s interior. State licensing means accountability. Insurance and bonding means protection if something goes wrong. Our years here mean we understand the specific building practices of Long Island homes: the unlined chimneys in pre-war Bethpage cottages, the factory-built units in 1980s Woodbury developments, the masonry deterioration patterns caused by freeze-thaw cycles off the Sound. You don’t want someone learning your house type on your dime.
Rooted in Plainview
We’ve swept chimneys in the split-levels off Manetto Hill Road, the colonials near Plainview-Old Bethpage Park, and the ranches tucked into the side streets between South Oyster Bay and the Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway. We know which neighborhoods see more wind-driven rain, which ones have the older clay flues, where the oak burns hot and the pine burns fast. Our hours are Monday through Sunday, 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM, because that’s when Plainview homeowners call. Not because we’re chasing emergencies, but because we’ve been here long enough to know that a chimney question doesn’t keep office hours.
The hearthstone is the stone the whole home gathered around. That’s why this company carries the name. We plan to be the ones Plainview gathers around for another twelve years and more.
Written by Russell Haines, Owner at Hearthstone Chimney Co., serving Plainview since 2014.