Meet the Team - Hearthstone Chimney Co.

Meet the Ashburn Team Behind Hearthstone Chimney Co.

Our Ashburn crew shows up in the same trucks, wears the same uniforms, and answers to the same standard. What unites them isn’t a handbook. It’s the K.E.Y.S. code: Krafted right, Every time, Your home first, Standing behind it. Russell Haines built this team from local hires who already knew how houses in Loudoun County settle, how Ashburn winters test masonry, and how to explain a flue problem without talking down to anyone. You’ll meet the same faces year after year. That’s intentional.

Our People

Russell Haines, Owner & Master Sweep

I’ve been at this since 1984, which means I’ve seen chimneys in Ashburn that were built when this was still dairy country and chimneys put up last Tuesday that already need attention. I hold CSIA Master Sweep certification and trained under the old-timers who treated a flue like a lung: if it doesn’t breathe right, nothing else matters. What keeps me in the truck at 7 a.m. is the same thing that makes me pause on a roof to watch a hawk circle the Broadlands. This work rewards patience, and Ashburn’s got enough history now that you can’t fake your way through it. I sign off on every Level-2 inspection report personally. If the photos don’t tell the story, I go back up myself.

Marcus T., Lead Technician

Marcus joined us in 2017 after eight years running commercial boiler maintenance for Loudoun County schools. He holds NFPA 211 certification and specializes in chase cover and crown rebuilds, the kind of work where a half-inch slope mistake means water in your living room three years later. He’s the one who notices a cracked flue tile that the homeowner didn’t mention because they never looked up that high. Off the clock, Marcus restores vintage motorcycles in a garage near One Loudoun. He’ll tell you a 1972 Honda carburetor and a clay flue liner have more in common than you’d think: both fail from the inside out, and both need someone who checks carefully.

Elena V., Senior Installer

Elena came to us from a Fairfax HVAC crew in 2019 and quickly became our go-to for stainless steel liner pulls and HeatShield cerfractory flue resurfacing. She’s factory-trained on DuraFlex and Olympia Chimney systems, and she’s particular about seal points in a way that makes the rest of us recheck our own work. Elena grew up in a Leesburg farmhouse with a temperable fireplace that smoked every Thanksgiving, so she doesn’t dismiss a draft complaint as “user error.” She lives in Ashburn now, near Brambleton, and her daughter’s elementary school is in our service radius. That changes how you treat a house.

Darnell J., Service Coordinator

Darnell answers the phones, schedules the routes, and knows which Ashburn neighborhoods have the narrow driveways that won’t fit a 26-foot ladder truck. He’s the live voice you get at 10 p.m. on a Sunday when you smell something odd from the fireplace. Before joining us in 2021, Darnell coordinated field crews for a Fairfax electrical contractor, so he’s fluent in the gap between what a customer describes and what a technician needs to know. He keeps a whiteboard behind his desk mapping every active job in Loudoun County. He’ll tell you the only thing worse than a missed appointment is a technician showing up unprepared, and he structures his days to prevent both.

Will K., Apprentice Technician

Will started with us in 2023 after completing the Chimney Safety Institute of America’s Chimney Sweeping and Inspection training. He’s still building his hands-on hours, but he’s already the crew member we send when a customer needs someone to explain why their damper won’t open without making them feel foolish for asking. Will grew up in Sterling, worked construction summers through high school, and can spot a structurally unsound firebox faster than some sweeps with a decade on him. He’s studying for his Level-2 inspection certification and shadows Marcus on every crown rebuild. His questions are relentless, which is exactly what you want in someone who’ll be on your roof.

One Standard, Every Job

The Ashburn crew works from the same material stock as our other Virginia locations: DuraFlex liners, HeatShield resurfacing compound, Gelco caps, Olympia Chimney components, Famco hardware, and Copperfield tools. No builder-grade substitutions, no “this’ll do.” The 90-Day Done Right Promise applies whether we’re sweeping a gas insert in Ashburn Village or rebuilding a crown off Belmont Ridge Road. In writing, no arguing. If it’s not right, we come back.

Most jobs finish in a single visit because the technician who diagnosed the problem is the one who fixes it. Background-checked, uniformed, and plain-spoken. The estimate you sign is the invoice you pay. We’ve been serving local communities for over 42 years, and we plan to be here in thirty more. That changes how you treat a house, too.

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