Meet the Team - Emberly Chimney Cleaners Boulder

Meet the Boulder Team Behind Emberly Chimney Cleaners Boulder

Our crew lives in the same zip codes we sweep. We’ve worked through Boulder’s freeze-thaw winters, the sudden hail that spalls brick on Mapleton Hill, and the dry summer updrafts that turn a dirty flue into a real hazard. What ties us together isn’t a handbook. It’s the Haven Standard, Clause 1 through 5, and the fact that every one of us has seen what happens when a homeowner skips the camera inspection. We don’t skip it. Not ever.

Call (970) 598-0453

Our People

Corrine Halstead, Owner

I started Emberly Chimney Cleaners in 2009 after watching too many Boulder homeowners get a verbal “everything looks fine” and a bill with no photos, no written scope, and no way to verify what was actually done. I’ve personally inspected and cleaned chimneys from Chautauqua to Gunbarrel, and I still carry a flashlight on every site visit. My specialty is Level 2 NFPA 211 inspections, the kind with a camera scan up the flue liner, because guessing isn’t a service. I keep a file of every documented photo record we’ve produced since day one, all 38,000-plus, and I can pull your address in under a minute. Off the clock, I’m usually restoring a 1920s Craftsman fireplace in my own living room, which means my house is always half torn apart and my dog is permanently confused.

Marcus T., Lead Technician

Marcus has been running sweeps in Boulder County for fourteen years, and he’s the one we send when a chimney has a reverse slope, a cracked flue liner, or a family of swifts that moved in last spring. He’s certified in chimney fire damage assessment and can spot spalling, the flaking of brick or mortar caused by freeze-thaw cycles, before it becomes a structural issue. Marcus grew up in Longmont, so he knows which Boulder neighborhoods built in the 1960s have the unlined masonry that fails inspection every time. He also makes his own hot sauce, which he brings to every team lunch and insists we try, even when we’re covered in soot.

Dana K., Senior Installer

Dana handles our liner installations, crown rebuilds, and the full chimney rebuilds we do when a structure has deteriorated past the point of repair. She’s trained on DuraFlex stainless steel liners and HeatShield cerfractory resurfacing, and she’s the reason we can offer a written warranty on every liner job, not just a verbal promise. Dana came to us from a commercial HVAC background, so she thinks in terms of airflow, draft pressure, and BTU load, not just “sweep it and hope.” She lives in North Boulder, bikes to jobs when the weather cooperates, and has a running bet with Marcus about which of them will find the strangest object in a smoke chamber. Last year she won with a 1978 CU Buffs pennant.

Elena R., Service Coordinator

Elena answers the phone when you call, and she’s the one who makes sure your written price, your written scope, and your written warranty are in your inbox before a technician ever rings your doorbell. She’s been with us since 2017, which means she’s heard every question about creosote buildup, chimney cap sizing, and whether a gas insert needs sweeping. (It does, but the inspection protocol is different, and she’ll explain why.) Elena schedules every job with a named technician, a license number on the confirmation, and a text when we’re fifteen minutes out. She grew up in Basalt, moved to Boulder for school, and never left. She also keeps a spreadsheet of every “weird but true” chimney fact the crew reports back, which she claims she’s turning into a book someday.

Jesse P., Apprentice

Jesse joined us in 2023 after leaving a framing crew in Lyons, and he’s learning the trade from the ground up, literally, starting with crown and flashing work on Boulder’s older homes. He’s already certified in basic chimney sweeping and is working toward his Level 2 inspection credential, which means he’s the one holding the camera on most jobs while Marcus narrates what the flue liner is showing. Jesse has a good eye for masonry, probably from his framing days, and he’s the first to notice when a chimney cricket, the small peaked structure that diverts water behind a chimney, is improperly angled or missing entirely. He lives in a converted garage in South Boulder, plays in a bluegrass band, and has developed an almost supernatural ability to guess the age of a fireplace based on the damper design.

One Standard, Every Job

Emberly Chimney Cleaners Boulder is independently owned and operated, but we work under the same Haven Standard that governs every crew in the network. That means Clause 1, a written price before any work starts, delivered by Elena before Marcus or Dana ever loads a truck. It means Clause 4, the documented photo record, which Jesse uploads from the field and which I review personally if there’s any question about what the camera found. It means the 365-Day Done Right Promise on every repair, and it means our materials, whether a DuraFlex liner or a Gelco cap, come through Haven’s buying network so we’re not marking up retail parts and pretending it’s a favor.

We’ve done this in Boulder since 2009. The neighborhoods have changed, the building codes have tightened, and the price of a rebuild has shifted with lumber and masonry costs. What hasn’t changed is that every customer gets the same thing we got when we started: a named person, a visible license, a camera in the flue, and a written record they can hold in their hand. If that’s not what you’re getting from your current sweep, bring us their written estimate. We’ll give you a free second opinion, and we’ll show you what the camera sees while we do it.

Call us at (970) 598-0453. Elena answers live, 24 hours a day.

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