Level 1 sweep and inspection to the NFPA 211 annual standard - flue, crown, cap, and flashing checked and photographed
Chimney sweep logs do not sweep chimneys. They loosen some creosote - which then falls where a brush and vacuum still have to collect it.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterMeet the San Mateo Team Behind Emberly Chimney Cleaners San Mateo
We’re the crew that shows up at your door in San Mateo with a camera, a brush, and a written price already in hand. Every technician here works under the Haven Standard, which means the same thing it meant when Corrine Halstead started this operation in 2009: you see what we see, you know what it costs before we start, and you get a photo record when we’re done. No surprises. No stories. Just flues swept right and chimneys fixed to last.
Our People
Corrine Halstead, Owner
Corrine founded Emberly Chimney Cleaners in 2009 after ten years in the trade convinced her that chimney work had a documentation problem. Homeowners were getting told they needed $4,000 liner jobs with nothing to look at but a technician’s word. She built the Haven Standard around four clauses, starting with “Have it in writing” - a written price, scope, and warranty delivered before any work begins. Corrine still reviews every photo record from the field, and she’ll personally take your call at (650) 600-3117 if something doesn’t look right. Off the clock, she’s usually restoring vintage masonry tools or arguing about the best fog-tolerant mortar mix for Bay Area chimneys.
Marcus T., Lead Technician
Marcus has been running Emberly’s San Mateo routes for seven years, and he’s the technician most likely to find the thing nobody expected - a cracked flue liner hidden behind decades of soot, or a smoke chamber that’s been pouring heat into the wall cavity since the Reagan administration. He’s CSIA-certified and specializes in NFPA 211 Level 2 inspections, the camera-scan protocol that catches what a flashlight and a mirror never will. Marcus grew up in Foster City, so he knows the salt-air corrosion pattern that hits San Mateo chimneys within a mile of the bay. He keeps a running bet with the crew about which neighborhood will have the worst crown spalling each spring. Hillsdale is usually in the running.
Diana R., Senior Installer
Diana handles the jobs that require scaffolding, roof work, or a steady hand with a liner pull: stainless steel flue liners from DuraFlex, HeatShield resurfacing for deteriorating terra cotta, and full rebuilds when the stack’s too far gone. She’s been with us since 2016 and has personally installed or resurfaced more than 900 liners in San Mateo County. Diana’s particular about cricket flashing - the peaked diversion that keeps water from pooling behind a chimney on a sloped roof - and she’ll show you exactly why yours is failing with the camera feed before she quotes the repair. On weekends she welds sculpture from job-site scrap metal. Her garage in San Mateo is half studio, half storage for leftover Copperfield caps she’s convinced will find a home someday.
Javier O., Service Coordinator
Javier is the voice you hear when you call (650) 600-3117, and he’s the reason we can say a live person answers 24 hours a day. He schedules every San Mateo appointment, assigns the technician, and sends the text when your crew is en route - part of the Haven Standard’s “Arrive on schedule” and “Verified crews” requirements. Javier cross-checks every written estimate against the photo record before it goes out, and he’s the one who follows up if a customer brings us a competitor’s quote for a free second opinion. He grew up in Hayward and commutes up 92 every morning, so he understands the timing realities of Peninsula service calls. He also knows every permit office in San Mateo County by first name, which matters more than you’d think when a rebuild needs city approval.
Aisha K., Apprentice Technician
Aisha joined us in 2023 after four years in HVAC duct cleaning convinced her that the interesting problems were vertical, not horizontal. She’s completing her CSIA certification while working full-time in the field, and she’s already handled solo sweeps on more than 200 San Mateo chimneys under Marcus’s remote supervision. Aisha has a sharp eye for Class III creosote - the glazed, tar-like buildup that burns hot enough to crack a flue liner - and she’s become our go-to for explaining, in plain terms, why a “clean” chimney from a cut-rate sweep might still be a fire hazard. She lives in San Mateo’s Baywood neighborhood and bikes to most local jobs when the weather cooperates, which means she’s unusually careful about drop cloths and shoe covers.
One Standard, Every Job
The Haven Standard travels with each of us, whether we’re sweeping a fireplace in San Mateo’s Aragon neighborhood or rebuilding a chimney in Hillsborough. Clause 1 requires that written price, scope, and warranty before work starts. Clause 4 requires the documented photo record that goes to you and stays in our archive. The 365-Day Done Right Promise backs every job, and the free second opinion policy means you can test our numbers against anyone else’s. We’re independently owned and operated here in San Mateo, not a franchise, and we source materials through Haven’s buying network from DuraFlex, HeatShield, Gelco, Olympia Chimney, Famco, and Copperfield to keep pricing honest. Corrine Halstead set that standard in 2009, and every person on this page is responsible for holding it.
Written by Corrine Halstead, Owner at Emberly Chimney Cleaners San Mateo, serving San Mateo since 2009.