Meet the Team - Emberly Chimney Cleaners Downers Grove

Meet the Downers Grove Team Behind Emberly Chimney Cleaners Downers Grove

We’re the crew that shows up in your driveway with a camera, a brush, and a tablet for your written price. Every tech on this page has been background-checked, uniformed, and trained under the Haven Standard. What unites us isn’t a slogan. It’s the practice of putting the scope and the price in writing before anyone touches a tool, and leaving you with photos of what we found. That’s been Clause 1 and Clause 4 since 2009, and we don’t skip steps.

Our People

Corrine Halstead, Owner

I started Emberly Chimney Cleaners in 2009 after watching too many homeowners get a verbal “ballpark” that doubled once the tech was in the living room. I don’t do ballparks. I do written scopes with line-item prices, signed before work starts. Haven Standard Clause 1, H.A.V.E.N. - “Have it in writing.” I’ve personally inspected or supervised more than 38,000 chimney visits since then, and I still review every photo record before it goes to a customer. If the camera shows a flue liner with gaps or a crown that’s spalling, I want you to see exactly what I see. My dry note: if your chimney hasn’t been cleaned since 2009, it’s functioning as a campfire ring, not a fireplace. That’s not a scare tactic. That’s physics. I live in the western suburbs with my dog, who has zero opinions about flue gas temperatures but tolerates my NFPA codebooks on the coffee table.

Mike R., Lead Technician

Mike runs our NFPA 211 Level 2 inspections and has been with us since 2016. He’s the one who crawls the smoke chamber with the camera and tells you whether you’ve got Class I powder ash or Class III glazed creosote - the hard, tar-like buildup that can ignite at 451°F and requires mechanical removal, not just a brush. Mike holds CSIA certification and specializes in masonry evaluation. He can read a crack in a firebox and tell you if it’s cosmetic or if it’s opening a path to combustible framing. Off the clock, he restores vintage motorcycles and applies the same patience to a 1972 Honda that he does to a cracked flue liner that needs a HeatShield sleeve.

Dana K., Senior Installer

Dana handles our liner installs, cap and crown replacements, and full rebuilds. She’s been installing DuraFlex stainless liners and HeatShield cast-in-place systems since 2014, and she’s particular about measuring twice because a liner that doesn’t seat properly is a liner that fails. Dana also sources our materials through Haven’s buying network, which means she knows the exact spec on every Gelco cap and Olympia Chimney component we put on your roof. She grew up in Lisle, so she knows the local clay soils that shift foundations and crack chimney bases around Downers Grove. On weekends she coaches a youth soccer team and has learned that explaining offsides to a nine-year-old is excellent practice for explaining flue sizing to a homeowner.

James T., Service Coordinator

James answers the phones, schedules the routes, and makes sure your tech is named and en route with a text notification. He’s the live person who picks up at 2 a.m. when a storm drops a tree limb on your chimney cap and you’re not sure if it’s an emergency or a Monday problem. James has been with us since 2019 and knows every Downers Grove neighborhood from Belmont to Lester to the historic district near Main Street. He keeps a map of local permit requirements taped to his monitor because Downers Grove has specific codes for masonry rebuilds in the older sections. He collects vintage Chicago transit maps and can tell you which ‘L’ line used to run closest to your house in 1950.

Aisha M., Apprentice Technician

Aisha joined us in 2023 after completing her HVAC fundamentals program and deciding she preferred the vertical puzzle of chimneys to the horizontal puzzle of ductwork. She’s currently apprenticing under Mike on Level 2 inspections and under Dana on liner prep and cap installs. Aisha’s specialty so far is camera documentation - she’s meticulous about capturing the full flue length, the smoke chamber junction, and the firebox floor, which makes her a natural fit for Haven Standard Clause 4. She lives in Woodridge and has already developed opinions about which Downers Grove roofs are walkable after a frost and which need a ladder setup from the driveway instead.

One Standard, Every Job

Emberly Chimney Cleaners Downers Grove is independently owned and operated, but we work under the Haven Standard that governs every job across the network. That means your written price, scope, and warranty arrive before work starts. Your photo record arrives after. Your tech is background-checked, uniformed, and named. And if something’s not done right, we make it right under the 365-Day Done Right Promise. We’ve applied this standard to 38,000 chimneys since 2009. The next one we do will be held to the same rules. No exceptions, no shortcuts, no surprises.

Written by Corrine Halstead, Owner at Emberly Chimney Cleaners Downers Grove, serving Downers Grove since 2009.