Meet the Team - Level Two Chimney Arlington Heights

Meet the Arlington Heights Team Behind Level Two Chimney Arlington Heights

We’re the crew that shows up at your door in Arlington Heights with a vacuum, a camera, and a printed price sheet already in hand. Every person on this page has passed a background check, worn the uniform, and sat through the same training Corrine Halstead designed back in 2009. What unites us is simple: we name what we find, we write it down, and we don’t start work until you’ve seen the number.

Our People

Corrine Halstead, Owner

I started Level Two Chimney Co. in 2009 after watching too many homeowners in Arlington Heights get a verbal “ballpark” that somehow doubled once the tech was already on the roof. That doesn’t happen here. Haven Standard Clause 1 requires a written price, written scope, and written warranty before anyone touches a tool. I’ve personally inspected or supervised more than 38,000 chimneys since then, and I still catch things on camera scans that make me pause the playback and say, “Well, that’s not going to fix itself.” I live in the northwest suburbs with two dogs who have zero respect for my white uniforms. You’ll see me on jobs where the flue liner has separated, the crown is spalling (flaking apart from freeze-thaw cycles), or a homeowner has been told they need a full rebuild and wants a second opinion. Bring me the competitor’s written estimate. It’s free, and I’ve got the camera footage to back up what I actually find.

Marcus T., Lead Technician

Marcus has been running Level 2 inspections in Arlington Heights and the surrounding 17 communities for eight years. He’s NFPA 211 certified and specializes in Class III creosote removal, the hard, tar-like buildup that forms when wood burns too cool and can ignite at temperatures above 1,000 degrees. Marcus is the one who gets sent when another company has already “cleaned” the chimney and the homeowner still smells smoke in the upstairs bedroom. Usually he finds a disconnected flue liner section the previous crew didn’t camera-scan. Off the clock, he restores vintage motorcycles and has a running bet with Corrine about whether a 1972 Honda CB350 will ever actually start. It hasn’t yet. He’s up to $40 in losses.

Elena R., Senior Installer

Elena handles our chimney liner installations, crown rebuilds, and the occasional full rebuild when spalling brick or deteriorated mortar has compromised the structure. She’s factory-trained on DuraFlex stainless steel liners and HeatShield cerfractory flue sealant, and she’s the reason we can offer a 365-Day Done Right Promise on masonry work, not just sweeps. Before she joined us, she spent four years doing commercial boiler exhaust systems, so she’s not intimidated by tight flue passages or the 40-foot runs we see in some of the older colonials near Arlington Heights’ Historic District. Elena keeps a spreadsheet of every Gelco and Olympia Chimney cap she’s installed, organized by manufacturer part number. She will not explain why. She also makes the best coffee in the shop, which is not up for debate.

Darnell K., Service Coordinator

Darnell answers the phones. All of them. At 11 PM on a Saturday when someone in Arlington Heights smells something odd from the fireplace, he’s the live voice that picks up, not a voicemail or a web form. He schedules inspections, texts you when your technician is en route, and makes sure the written estimate packet is ready before Marcus or Elena pulls into your driveway. Darnell worked hotel front desks for twelve years before switching to chimneys, which explains his tolerance for unusual requests and his ability to stay calm when a homeowner describes “a noise like pigeons, but angrier” from the flue. (It was starlings. It’s usually starlings.) He knows the permit requirements for Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, and Palatine by heart, and he’ll have the village contact ready if your job needs one.

Jin S., Apprentice Technician

Jin joined us in 2024 after completing HVAC training at a community college in DuPage County. He’s working toward his NFPA 211 Level 2 certification under Marcus’s supervision and has already logged more than 200 camera inspections. Jin’s specialty so far is smoke chamber parging, the process of smoothing the rough corbelled brick above the firebox to improve draft and reduce creosote accumulation. He’s meticulous about it, which slows him down, but Corrine has stopped complaining because his rework rate is zero. Jin grew up in a household that used the fireplace for actual heat, not ambiance, so he understands the urgency when an Arlington Heights family calls in January and the flue isn’t drafting. He also plays competitive chess and will absolutely analyze your opening if you mention it.

One Standard, Every Job

The Haven Standard isn’t a poster on the wall. It’s a set of clauses we operate under, stamped on every job, whether the technician is Marcus in Arlington Heights or another crew at one of the ten home-service brands in our network. Clause 1 means you get your price in writing before work starts. Clause 4 means you get photos and camera footage, documented and dated, not offered as a paid upgrade. The 365-Day Done Right Promise applies the same way in Arlington Heights as it does anywhere else: if it’s not right, we make it right. No separate rules for different towns. Corrine Halstead built it this way in 2009 because she was tired of watching homeowners guess which version of “professional” would show up. You get one standard. That’s the point.

Written by Corrine Halstead, Owner at Level Two Chimney Arlington Heights, serving Arlington Heights and 16 surrounding communities since 2009.