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 Santa Clarita Team Behind Level Two Chimney Santa Clarita
Every chimney in Santa Clarita tells a story, and the crew reading those stories has been the same core group for years. We’re the people who show up in uniform, text you when we’re ten minutes out, and hand you photos of what we actually found before anyone talks about what it costs to fix. Corrine Halstead built this team on one rule: name the finding, give the number, move on.
Our People
Corrine Halstead, Owner
Corrine started Level Two Chimney Santa Clarita in 2009 after ten years of watching homeowners get talked into work they couldn’t verify. She wrote the Haven Standard because she was tired of the industry’s guessing games: techs who couldn’t produce a license number, quotes that materialized after the ladder was already up, photo records treated like a premium add-on. Corrine holds NFPA 211 Level 2 certification and still climbs for the tricky inspections herself, especially in the older Canyon Country builds where the flue liners are original clay and the clearance issues need a second set of eyes. She keeps a worn copy of the California Residential Code in her truck and updates it with sticky notes when Santa Clarita amends local requirements. Off the clock, she’s usually restoring a 1974 FJ40 that has spent more time in pieces than on the road.
Marcus T., Lead Technician
Marcus has run the Santa Clarita service route for eight years and has personally documented over 4,200 chimney inspections under Haven Standard Clause 4. He’s the technician other crews call when they hit a masonry heater they’ve never seen before, or a factory-built fireplace with a discontinued parts list. Marcus holds CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep credentials and specializes in Class III glazed creosote removal, the hard, tar-like buildup that forms when homeowners burn unseasoned oak through damp Santa Clarita winters. He’ll tell you straight when a liner can wait a season and when it can’t, and his photo reports are detailed enough that three homeowners have used them to win insurance disputes. He coaches youth baseball in Saugus and has a running bet with the supply house about how many squirrel nests he’ll find in March.
Dana K., Senior Installer
Dana handles the cap, crown, and liner installations that require scaffolding, crane work, or navigating the steep-pitched tile roofs common in Valencia and Sand Canyon. She’s certified in HeatShield cerfractory flue resurfacing and DuraFlex stainless steel liner installation, and she’s the reason our rebuild quotes don’t balloon halfway through the job: she measures twice, photographs the existing conditions, and flags structural issues before the first brick comes out. Dana came to chimney work from commercial roofing, which shows in her tolerance for heights and her low tolerance for shortcuts. She keeps a spreadsheet of every Olympia Chimney and Famco part she’s installed since 2017, sorted by manufacturer batch number. On weekends she trail-runs in the Santa Susana Mountains and has strong opinions about hydration packs.
Rico V., Service Coordinator
Rico is the live voice that answers when you call (747) 294-2146 at 10 PM on a Saturday because you smelled something odd after the first fire of the season. He’s been with Level Two Chimney Santa Clarita since 2015 and has heard every description of chimney odor, draft failure, and “weird noise when it rains” that exists. Rico schedules every appointment, confirms the written price and scope before the truck rolls, and handles the documented photo record delivery so homeowners aren’t chasing down their inspection files. He knows which Santa Clarita neighborhoods have the HOA gate codes memorized and which ones require twenty-four-hour advance notice. Rico is also the person who calls you back if a technician is running behind, because Haven Standard Clause 2, “Arrive on schedule,” means he tells you the truth about delays instead of leaving you watching the driveway. He collects vintage concert posters and has never once used the phrase “your call is important to us.”
Jesse P., Apprentice Technician
Jesse joined the crew in 2023 after completing the Chimney Safety Institute of America’s training program and is working toward full CSIA certification under Marcus’s mentorship. He runs the standard sweep and inspection appointments in Stevenson Ranch and Newhall, where the newer construction means fewer surprises but stricter manufacturer warranty requirements. Jesse’s specialty so far is camera-scan documentation: he captures the clearest flue liner footage of anyone on the team, which matters when you’re proving to a homeowner that the crack is hairline and not structural, or the opposite. He’s learning to identify spalling brick, deteriorated smoke chamber parging, and the subtle crown cracks that let water into the flue system during Santa Clarita’s rare but heavy winter rains. Jesse is also the team’s designated ladder carrier on tight-access jobs in the older canyon homes. He plays bass in a local band and has explained the difference between a throat damper and a top-sealing damper to more people than he can count at open mics.
One Standard, Every Job
The Haven Standard wasn’t designed to sound good on a website. It was designed because Corrine Halstead got tired of apologizing for an industry that treated documentation like an afterthought and pricing like a negotiation. Every technician on this Santa Clarita crew operates under the same clauses: written price before work starts (Clause 1), verified and uniformed crews who text when they’re en route (Clause 2), background-checked assignment with license numbers visible (Clause 3), and a documented photo record included on every visit, not sold as an upgrade (Clause 4). The 365-Day Done Right Promise applies whether Dana installed your liner or Jesse swept your flue. Materials come from the same buying network, DuraFlex to Copperfield, so the price you get in Santa Clarita isn’t inflated by local supply-house markup. And if you bring us a competitor’s written estimate, Rico will schedule your free second opinion and Marcus or Dana will show you what they found with their own camera. No franchise playbook, no rotating subcontractors. Just the same standard, every chimney, every time.
Written by Corrine Halstead, Owner at Level Two Chimney Santa Clarita, serving Santa Clarita since 2009.