How Hearthstone Chimney Co. Was Born in Southampton
We opened our doors in Southampton back in 2014, and the reason was simple: we couldn’t find a chimney sweep we’d trust in our own mother’s house. The year before, we’d watched a homeowner in North Sea get talked into a full liner replacement they didn’t need. The company showed up, ran a brush up the flue, and then produced a blurry Polaroid and a $4,200 estimate. No camera inspection. No explanation of what the photo even showed. Just fear and a pen.
That same winter, we were called to a job in Water Mill that two other companies had walked away from. A 1920s Dutch Colonial with a shifted flue tile that was backing smoke into the bedroom. The other sweeps had poked their heads up, declared it “unfixable,” and still cashed the inspection fee. We spent six hours on that roof. The fix wasn’t glamorous - custom-cut parging, a careful realignment, patience with old mortar. But it worked. The homeowner lit their first fire in three years that evening.
We drove home that night knowing Southampton deserved something different. Not the cheapest. Not the fastest. The kind of work where you’d sleep soundly knowing your neighbor’s house was safe too. That’s when we brought Hearthstone Chimney Co. to this stretch of the South Fork.
Russell Haines’s Personal Connection to the Chimney Cleaning Trade
Russell Haines didn’t stumble into this work - he was pulled into it by the smell of old soot and the weight of a proper brush in his hands. He learned the trade the old way, apprenticing under a tradesman who trained him in a workshop that smelled of oakum and mineral spirits. That was over a decade ago now. The first time Russell ran a level-2 camera up a flue and saw the creosote glazing in high-definition, he understood that this job was part mechanic, part detective. He was hooked.
What gets him out of bed is the problem nobody else could solve. The squirrel nest in a Bridgehampton cap that three companies missed. The drafting issue in a Sag Harbor cottage that turned out to be a hidden chimney leak, not a flue problem at all. Russell will sit on your roof until he understands what’s actually happening with your system, not what the checklist says should be happening.
If he weren’t doing this, he’d probably be restoring old boats in Mattituck or fixing the kind of stone walls you still see along the North Road. He likes things that last. Things that were built with intention and need someone patient enough to maintain them. A chimney is that kind of thing - out of sight, taken for granted, until it isn’t. Russell treats each one like the structural backbone it actually is.
On cold mornings, when the light hits the South Fork just right and you can see your breath in the truck cab, he’ll tell you there’s no better feeling than calling a homeowner to say their chimney is safe for another season. That’s the personal part. The professional part is the camera photos and the written report. But the personal part is knowing someone’s grandmother won’t have to worry.
Meet Russell Haines - The Person Behind Every Job
Russell Haines is the Owner and Founder of Hearthstone Chimney Co. in Southampton. He’s a state-licensed chimney professional with over ten years of hands-on experience in flue systems, masonry repair, and level-2 camera diagnostics. His training spans traditional sweep methods and modern inspection protocols, and he’s certified in the standards that matter for insurance documentation and real estate transactions.
What separates Russell from a franchise technician is simple: he’s the one who answers for the work. He knows the difference between Gelco and Olympia Chimney hardware not from a catalog but from installing both in South Fork homes for years. He’ll recommend Famco venting solutions when they’re the right fit, and he’ll tell you when a Copperfield component isn’t worth the upgrade for your particular setup.
Outside of work, Russell maintains the same patience he brings to a tricky flue repair. He’s an avid fisherman - the kind who’ll wade the surf at Napeague for hours waiting for the right stripe. That same steadiness shows up in how he runs his business. No rush jobs. No corner-cutting. When Russell tells you your chimney is sound, you can bank on it.
His commitment to every customer is direct: “If I wouldn’t light a fire in it myself, I won’t tell you it’s safe.”
Our Promise to Southampton Homeowners
Our values aren’t posters on a wall. We call them our K.E.Y.S. - Krafted right, Every time, Your home first, Standing behind it.
Krafted right means trained journeymen doing the work with proper materials. We once spent an extra day on a Flanders job because the original mortar mix wasn’t curing correctly in the salt air. The homeowner never knew the difference until we told them. That’s the point.
Every time means the 400th inspection gets the same care as the first. We’ve walked away from jobs where the scope grew beyond what we’d promised, even when it cost us money. A square deal is a square deal.
Your home first means we work in your house the way we’d work in our mother’s. Drop cloths, shoe covers, vacuuming the hearth before we leave. No surprises on the bill.
Standing behind it is our trademarked Keystone Standard: 90 days, in writing, no arguing. If it’s not right, we’ll be there when we say. No paperwork battle. No runaround.
Our Credentials
Every pro working under our name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires. Here’s what that means when you hire us:
- State-licensed - We meet New York’s requirements for chimney professionals operating in Suffolk County. For you, this means accountability to a regulatory body if something goes wrong.
- Insured & bonded - Protection for your property and your family while we’re on your roof and in your home. No homeowner should carry that risk.
- Years of local experience - We’ve worked on chimneys from Jamesport to East Quogue, from pre-Revolutionary center-hall colonials to modern beach houses on pilings. That variety matters when your system has quirks.
- Strong local reputation - We’re still here after twelve years because Southampton homeowners talk to each other. We earn the next call by how we handled the last one.
These credentials aren’t just boxes checked. They’re what let you sleep soundly after a stranger climbs your roof and works inside your flue. In an industry with plenty of fly-by-night operators, we believe documentation and accountability are the minimum price of entry into your home.
Rooted in Southampton
We’re not weekenders playing at local business. We’ve swept chimneys in North Sea cottages, inspected flues in Bridgehampton estates, and repaired masonry in Cutchogue farmhouses that have stood since before the turn of the last century. We know how the salt air off Peconic Bay eats at mortar differently than inland exposure. We know which Noyack neighborhoods still have unlined chimneys from the 1970s building boom.
Our hours are Monday through Sunday, 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM. A live coordinator answers calls during those times and connects you with our local team. We’re not going anywhere. The hearthstone is the stone the whole home gathered around, and we plan to be the ones keeping those hearths safe in Southampton for decades to come.
Written by Russell Haines, Owner at Hearthstone Chimney Co., serving Southampton since 2014.