How Emberly Chimney Cleaners Was Born
In 2009, Corrine Halstead was working as a project manager for a general contractor in New York City, coordinating renovations across brownstones in Brooklyn and prewar co-ops in Manhattan. One afternoon, a homeowner called in a panic. A chimney sweep had just left her house after charging her for a full inspection and cleaning, and handed her a one-paragraph receipt that said “all clear.” Three weeks later, her living room filled with smoke on the first cold night of fall. When Corrine went to look, the flue was packed with creosote the previous company had never touched. The camera footage didn’t exist because no camera had ever gone down the flue.
That day stuck with her. She started asking questions and found the same pattern everywhere: homeowners paying for inspections that never looked inside the chimney, receiving no documentation, and having no way to verify what was actually done. The industry ran on trust, but too often the trust only flowed one way. She started Emberly Chimney Cleaners with a simple promise: every inspection would put a camera down the flue, every finding would be documented, and every homeowner would see the evidence with their own eyes. What began as a single operation in New York City has grown into a network of locations serving homeowners across the country, from Los Angeles to Houston, Chicago to Phoenix. The standard has never changed.
Corrine Halstead’s Personal Connection to the Chimney Cleaning Trade
Corrine Halstead didn’t grow up planning to build a chimney company. She grew up in a house with a wood stove and a father who was particular about it. He cleaned the flue himself every fall, standing on the roof with a wire brush while she held the ladder. She remembers the specific smell of creosote, not unpleasant exactly, but heavy and sharp, like burnt sugar mixed with cold ash. She remembers the sound the brush made scraping against the clay liner, a rhythmic rasp that meant winter was coming. She thought of it as ordinary maintenance, the way other kids thought about raking leaves.
Years later, working in construction, she found herself on job sites where chimneys were treated as an afterthought. A mason would patch the crown, a roofer would flash around the base, and nobody ever looked inside. She started reading the NFPA standards for the first time and realized how much was being missed. When she learned to run a camera inspection herself, lowering the small camera down a flue and watching the interior walls come into focus on the screen, it felt like a door opening. Here was the thing nobody saw, the thing that mattered most. She poured herself into the trade after that, learning fire codes, liner materials, draft dynamics, the particular ways chimneys fail in different climates and different housing stock.
The work means something to her because it’s honest in a way few trades allow. You either looked at the flue or you didn’t. You either have the footage or you don’t. A chimney doesn’t care about marketing. It keeps its own records, written in creosote and spalling and water damage, and if you know how to read them, they tell you the truth. That’s what gets her out of bed: the chance to show people something real, and to spare them the anxiety of not knowing. If she weren’t doing this, she thinks she might be teaching. The impulse is the same: stand beside someone, show them how to see what they couldn’t see before, and let the evidence speak.
Meet Corrine Halstead - The Person Behind Every Job
Corrine Halstead is the Owner & Founder of Emberly Chimney Cleaners She has spent more than a decade in the chimney and fireplace trade, building her knowledge from hands-on work rather than a corporate training manual. She earned her experience the slow way: on roofs in the wind, in attics with a headlamp, reading thousands of inspection videos frame by frame until she could spot a hairline crack in a clay liner from the flicker of light across it.
What separates her from a corporate franchise technician is simple: she built the standard herself, and she still answers for it. Every location operating under the Emberly name works to a written protocol she developed, and every inspection video lands in an archive she can pull up herself. Outside the business, she restores antique woodworking tools, a hobby that requires patience, precision, and respect for older things. “You don’t restore a hundred-year-old plane by cutting corners,” she says. “You do it right, or you don’t do it.” That’s the same approach she brings to every chimney we touch.
Before
AfterOur Promise to Homeowners
We work under a set of standards we call the Haven Standard. It has five clauses, and each one exists because a real homeowner got burned by a vague promise. Have it in writing: a flat price, a written scope, and a written warranty, before anyone starts. Arrive on schedule: a real window, a named technician, and a text when they’re on the way. Verified crews: every pro working under our name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires, and is background-checked. Evidence on every job: photos and readings of what we actually found. No surprises: no door upsell, no scope creep, no “while we’re in here.”
That fourth clause is the one that matters most to us. A homeowner should never have to take our word for what’s inside their chimney. They should see it. Every inspection produces a documented record that belongs to the homeowner, not to us. If we tell you a liner has failed, we show you the footage of the crack. If we tell you the flue is clean, we show you what it looked like before and after. Trust is built on evidence, and we’d rather earn it that way than ask for it on faith.
Our Credentials
Emberly Chimney Cleaners operates a network of independently owned and operated locations. Each location works to the same standard, and that standard includes the credentials a homeowner should expect from anyone working inside their home:
- State-licensed: every pro working under our name is required to hold the license their state requires. License numbers are available on request for your specific location.
- Insured & bonded: every location carries the insurance and bonding their state requires, so you’re protected before the work begins.
- Background-checked technicians: every crew member is screened before they put on the uniform. You should know who’s coming into your home.
- Documentation standards: every inspection includes camera footage and a written record. You’ll always have proof of what was found and what was done.
A license matters because it means the person on your roof has met a legal standard, not just a sales pitch. Insurance matters because if something goes wrong, you’re not left holding the bill. A documented record matters because it’s the only way you can verify the work was done. These aren’t marketing points. They’re the baseline of what it means to be accountable.
Rooted in the Communities We Serve
Emberly began in New York City, and that’s where the standard was built. Today our locations serve homeowners across the country: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Brooklyn, Houston, Queens, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Manhattan, San Antonio, San Diego, and The Bronx. Each location is independently owned and operated by people who live in those communities, know those neighborhoods, and answer to those neighbors.
Haven doesn’t pretend to be from anywhere. The local business is the one with the license, the trucks, and the local reputation. What Haven contributes is the standard they agree to work to, the documentation system that proves it, and the buying power that keeps their prices honest. When you call (980) 580-8641, a live coordinator connects you with the location that covers your address. You get local knowledge, backed by a national standard.
Written by Corrine Halstead, Owner & Founder at Emberly Chimney Cleaners, serving homeowners nationwide since 2009.