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 Evanston Team Behind Level Two Chimney Evanston
Our Evanston crew is the same four people you’ll see on every job. We’ve worked together long enough to know who brings the coffee, who forgets the extension ladder, and who can spot a cracked flue liner from the basement stairs. What unites us is simple: we’re the ones who actually show up, and we’re the ones whose names are on the photo record Clause 4 of the Haven Standard requires us to leave behind.
Our People
Corrine Halstead, Owner & Lead Inspector
I’m the one who answers when you call, and I’m the one who climbs if the job needs it. I started Level Two Chimney Co. in 2009 after five years watching other outfits quote one price on the phone and another in the living room. That doesn’t happen here. Haven Standard Clause 1 means I put the scope and the price in writing before anyone touches a tool. I’ve inspected and documented over 38,000 chimneys since then, and I still find something new in Evanston’s older masonry - the freeze-thaw spalling you get near the lake, the way 1920s flue liners shrink from sixty years of oil heat. My specialty is the Level 2 camera inspection. I’ll show you the footage myself, explain what the NFPA 211 standard actually requires, and tell you straight when work can wait a season. Off the clock, I restore vintage motorcycles in a garage that’s definitely not up to code.
Marcus T., Senior Installer & Rebuild Specialist
Marcus has been with us since 2014, which in chimney years means he’s rebuilt crowns, poured smoke chamber parges, and wrestled DuraFlex liners into places they weren’t designed to go. He’s our HeatShield certified installer and the reason we can offer factory-backed refractory repairs in Evanston rather than subbing them out. Marcus grew up in Rogers Park, so he knows the local housing stock - the balloon-framed Victorians with multiple flues, the mid-century ranches with cracked terracotta, the condo conversions where someone drywalled over a damper and called it a feature. He carries a folding ruler in his back pocket that he’s had since trade school. His detail: he names every liner he installs, and he will absolutely tell you why.
Darnell K., Service Coordinator & Dispatch
Darnell is the live voice when you call (708) 234-1174 at 10 PM on a Saturday because you smelled something odd after the first fire of the season. He’s been with us since 2017, and he schedules every Evanston appointment personally - no algorithm, no third-party call center. He knows which technician has the Olympia Chimney cap inventory in their van, which jobs need two people for a liner pull, and which blocks in the 5th Ward have parking that requires a permit on street-sweeping days. Darnell is the one who texts you when your technician is en route, with a name and a photo, because Haven Standard Clause 3 requires verified crews and he takes it literally. He also plays competitive chess and will analyze your opening move if you mention it.
Jin S., Apprentice Technician
Jin joined us in 2022 after completing the HVAC program at Oakton Community College and deciding that vertical spaces interested her more than ductwork. She’s our apprentice, which means she’s logged her NFPA 211 training, passed her background check, and is currently working toward her CSIA certification under Marcus’s direct supervision. In Evanston, Jin handles the initial setup - drop cloths, HEPA vacuums, camera calibration - and she’s already taken lead on a dozen standard sweeps in the Dewey and Lincolnwood neighborhoods. She’s particularly good at explaining creosote classes to homeowners: Class I (dust, normal), Class II (flakes, needs attention), Class III (glazed, real hazard). Her detail: she keeps a field notebook of every chimney condition she sees, and she’s started a spreadsheet tracking which Evanston blocks have the most squirrel-in-flue calls. The data is not flattering to the 60202 zip code.
One Standard, Every Job
Level Two Chimney Evanston is independently owned and operated, but we work under the Haven Standard that governs every job across the network. That means the same Clause 1 written price guarantee, the same Clause 4 photo documentation, and the same 365-Day Done Right Promise whether we’re sweeping a single flue in the 5th Ward or rebuilding a crown in Lighthouse Beach. Our materials come through Haven’s buying network - DuraFlex, HeatShield, Gelco, Olympia Chimney, Famco, Copperfield - so the prices we quote in Evanston aren’t padded by distributor markups. Corrine Halstead answers to no corporate office, but she answers to the standard we helped write. Every technician on this page is background-checked, uniformed, and named on the job record you receive. If it’s not done right, we make it right. That’s not a slogan. It’s stamped on the work order before we start.
Written by Corrine Halstead, Owner at Level Two Chimney Evanston, serving Evanston since 2009.