Meet the Team - Hearthstone Chimney Co.

Meet the Silver Spring Team Behind Hearthstone Chimney Co.

Our Silver Spring crew is the group that shows up in your driveway when the flue won’t draw or the crown’s cracked clean through. We’re not a rotating cast of subcontractors. These are the same faces that have worked chimneys from Four Corners to Forest Glen, and they all answer to the same standard: done right, and we stand behind it. No shortcuts, no surprises on the bill.

Call (301) 479-9806

Our People

Russell Haines, Owner

I’ve been in this trade since 1984, when I started cleaning flues with a brush and a ladder that wobbled more than I’d care to admit. Forty-two years later, I still walk job sites in Silver Spring because the only way to know a chimney is to put eyes on it. I hold a CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep credential and a Maryland Home Improvement Commission license, though the certification that matters most to me is the one our customers give when they call back the next season. My wife says I talk about flue liners at dinner parties. She’s not wrong, and she’s not invited to the next one.

Marcus T., Lead Technician

Marcus has been with us for eleven years and runs our Level-2 camera inspections like he’s reading a blueprint, which he basically is. He’s CSIA-certified and specializes in masonry evaluation, the kind of work where you need to tell the difference between surface spalling and structural compromise without tearing half the chimney apart. He grew up in Takoma Park and still lives there with two dogs who have no respect for his clean work truck. Customers ask for him by name because he explains what he’s seeing without making you feel like you should’ve gone to engineering school.

Elena V., Senior Installer

Elena handles our liner installations and rebuilds, the jobs where you’re working with DuraFlex and HeatShield materials in tight spaces and the tolerances matter. She’s been in the trade for eight years, certified through the National Fireplace Institute, and she’s the person we send when a job’s gone sideways somewhere else and needs fixing without drama. She keeps a notebook of every chimney she’s worked on in Montgomery County, which she claims is for warranty tracking but we suspect is just competitive record-keeping. On weekends she restores vintage motorcycles, a hobby that has made her unusually patient with seized bolts.

James K., Service Coordinator

James is the live voice you get when you call (301) 479-9806 at 10 PM on a Saturday because something’s not right. He’s been with us for six years, knows the scheduling and routing of our Silver Spring territory better than GPS, and has talked more than a few anxious homeowners through what is and isn’t an emergency. He doesn’t do the climbing, but he can tell you which technician to send and why, and he’ll give you the upfront price before anyone loads a truck. He coaches youth soccer in Wheaton and applies the same patience to both jobs.

Darnell P., Apprentice Technician

Darnell joined us in 2023 after four years in residential HVAC and a brief, ill-advised attempt at office work that neither he nor the office survived. He’s completing his CSIA certification while working full-time under Marcus’s supervision, and he’s already the person we trust with cap and crown installations on single-story work because his measurements are meticulous. He grew up in Langley Park and knows the older brickwork in that area well enough to spot the telltale patterns of moisture damage before the camera goes up. He asks more questions than the rest of the crew combined, which is exactly why he’ll be good at this.

One Standard, Every Job

The K.E.Y.S. code isn’t a poster on a wall. It’s how we decide what to do when no one’s watching. Krafted right, Every time, Your home first, Standing behind it. That means the same DuraFlex liner in Silver Spring that we’d put in our own houses. The same HeatShield application, the same Gelco cap, the same Olympia Chimney components. No builder-grade substitutes because they cost less upfront and more later.

Our 90-Day Done Right Promise applies to every technician on this page. In writing, no arguing. If it’s not right, we come back. Most jobs finish in a single visit because our crew knows what to bring and what to expect from Montgomery County chimneys, from the clay flue tiles common in 1960s Wheaton builds to the newer stainless setups in downtown Silver Spring renovations. The number on your estimate is the number on your invoice. A square deal, every time.

We’ve been at this since 1984, and we plan to be here thirty years from now. That changes how you treat people and how you stand behind your work.

Written by Russell Haines, Owner at Hearthstone Chimney Co., serving Silver Spring since 1984.