How Emberly Chimney Cleaners Evanston Was Born in Evanston
It was a Tuesday morning in late October when we walked into a home on Judson Avenue in Evanston and found a family who had already paid another company to “fix” their chimney. The homeowner, a woman about our age, showed us the invoice. It listed a “complete flue restoration” and a “certified safe” stamp. We sent our camera up anyway. Clause 4 of the Haven Standard requires it.
What we found was a cracked clay liner, still cracked, still dangerous, hidden behind a fresh coat of black spray paint. The other company had charged her for work they never did, then made the failure invisible. She had a toddler. She had trusted the paperwork.
We sat with her on her porch steps that afternoon, showed her the footage on our tablet, and explained what actually needed to happen. She cried. Not from fear, from relief that someone finally showed her the truth. That evening, we called the national office and asked what it would take to bring Emberly Chimney Cleaners to Evanston ourselves. We opened this branch in 2009 because this market deserved an inspection that actually looks inside, not a flashlight and a handshake.
Corrine Halstead’s Personal Connection to the Chimney Cleaning Trade
We didn’t start in chimneys. We started in a crawl space in Wilmette, holding a flashlight for a tradesman who trained us while we were still figuring out what we wanted to be. The work was dirty, cramped, and honest. We liked that. But chimneys were different. The first time we sent a camera up a flue and saw the inside of a chimney on screen, something clicked. It was like being given x-ray vision into a house’s hidden history.
The smell of creosote gets into your clothes, your hair, the lining of your nose. It’s sharp and tar-sweet, and after seventeen years, we still notice it when we walk into a home. We’ve come to associate it with responsibility. That smell means someone is burning wood in a structure they can’t see inside, trusting that everything is fine. Our job is to make sure that trust isn’t misplaced.
What gets us out of bed is the moment after the camera comes back down, when we turn the screen to a homeowner and watch their face change. Sometimes it’s relief. Sometimes it’s alarm. Either way, it’s real information, and they didn’t have it five minutes ago. If we weren’t doing this, we’d probably be fixing old houses somewhere, still crawling into spaces other people avoid. The work chose us more than we chose it, and Evanston is where we’ve done it longest.
We’ve worked in Victorians near the lake with flues that haven’t been opened since the 1920s. We’ve worked in new construction in west Evanston where the builder skipped the liner inspection entirely. Every chimney has a personality, a specific way it fails or holds together, and after all these years, we can feel the difference before the camera confirms it.
Meet Corrine Halstead - The Person Behind Every Job
Corrine Halstead, Owner and Founder of Emberly Chimney Cleaners Evanston. We lead every crew, review every inspection report, and personally handle any callback that doesn’t meet the Haven Standard.
Our training came up through hands-on fieldwork, not a classroom, supplemented by the certification requirements every pro working under our name is required to hold. What separates us from a corporate franchise technician is simple: we’re the one whose name is on the truck, whose reputation lives in this specific zip code, and who will still be here when you need us next season.
Outside of work, we restore vintage furniture, badly and slowly, because it teaches patience that power tools can’t. We believe anything worth building is worth building right the first time. When you hire Emberly Chimney Cleaners Evanston, you’re hiring us, and we don’t delegate our standards.
Before
AfterOur Promise to Evanston Homeowners
Honest pricing means we put the number in writing before we touch your chimney. Clause 1 of the Haven Standard. No “while we’re in here” surprises, no scope creep after we’ve started. We’ve seen too many neighbors in Evanston, Wilmette, and Oak Park get a low opener that doubles by the time the crew packs up. Our flat-price sweep is agreed before booking, and the written estimate is your protection.
Quality parts means we specify brands like DuraFlex and HeatShield by name in your paperwork, not “premium liner material” or “industry-standard sealant.” You deserve to know exactly what goes into your flue. We document it with photos.
Standing behind every job means if something we did fails, we come back. Not a phone tree, not a dispute. Our word and our name in Evanston are the warranty.
Our Credentials
- State-licensed - Every pro working under our name is required to hold the license their state requires. For you, this means legal accountability and recourse if something goes wrong.
- Insured & bonded - Protection for your property and your family while we work in your home. No exceptions.
- Years of local experience - This branch has served Evanston and surrounding communities since 2009. We know the local building stock, the regional freeze-thaw cycles that crack masonry, and the specific permit requirements you’ll face if repair work is needed.
- Strong local reputation - Our business lives or dies on what neighbors say to each other. We don’t buy our way into trust; we earn it with documentation you can see.
These credentials matter because a chimney technician works inside your home’s most dangerous system, with fire and carbon monoxide as the stakes. You need more than a friendly face. You need proof that the person on your roof is qualified, accountable, and still reachable tomorrow.
Rooted in Evanston
We’ve swept chimneys in the historic districts near Northwestern, in the bungalows of south Evanston, and in the newer builds creeping toward Skokie. We know which neighborhoods have the original unlined brick flues from the 1910s and which have the prefab metal systems installed in the 1980s that are hitting end-of-life now. We’ve worked through Evanston winters when the lake effect made every rooftop a skating rink, and we’ve learned which local suppliers actually stock the DuraFlex liners we specify instead of making us wait a week.
This is our service area. These are our neighbors. The Haven Standard is what we agree to work to; Evanston is where we prove it.
Written by Corrine Halstead, Owner at Emberly Chimney Cleaners Evanston, serving Evanston since 2009.