How Level Two Chimney Sherman Oaks Was Born in Sherman Oaks
It was a Tuesday morning in late October, the kind of dry Santa Ana day where the light turns everything amber and you can smell wood smoke drifting from somewhere in the hills above Sherman Oaks. We had just finished a Level 2 inspection on a stone chimney off Dickens Street. The homeowner, a woman in her sixties who had lived in that house since 1987, walked us to the door and said something that stuck. She told us she’d paid another company for a “full inspection” three weeks earlier, received a handwritten note saying everything was fine, and only called us because her daughter insisted on a second opinion. Our camera found a cracked flue liner with creosote glazing the gap. She had been burning fires two feet from a combustible wall cavity for twenty years without knowing it.
That afternoon, driving west on Ventura Boulevard with the camera footage still on the dashboard tablet, we made a decision. Sherman Oaks deserved a branch of Level Two Chimney Co. that operated the way the brand had always meant to. Not fast. Not cheap. But with the camera down every flue, the price in writing before the truck rolled, and the evidence in the customer’s hands before anyone asked for a signature. We opened this branch in 2009 because that homeowner’s situation was not unusual here. It was normal. And normal was not acceptable.
Corrine Halstead’s Personal Connection to the Chimney Cleaning Trade
We did not grow up in this work. Corrine Halstead came to it sideways, through a rental property in Van Nuys with a chimney that would not draw. The first company charged for a sweep, declared it fixed, and left a pile of soot on the hearth that stained the stone. The second company suggested a rebuild that would have cost more than the down payment on the house. The third company, a one-man operation out of North Hollywood, arrived with a camera on a fiberglass rod and spent forty minutes showing Corrine exactly what was wrong: a partially collapsed clay liner, not a structural failure, something that could be relined without tearing the wall apart. The smell of creosote in that man’s van, like burnt sugar and old campfires, is still vivid. So is the way he handed over the SD card and said, “This is yours. Don’t let anyone tell you what they saw without showing you first.”
That was the moment. Corrine trained under that tradesman for three years, learning to read a flue the way a sailor reads water. The weight of a fiberglass rod in your hands teaches you patience. The first time you see a hairline crack open into a full breach on a camera monitor, you understand that most chimney fires are invisible until they are catastrophic. The work means something personal because it is hidden. Because homeowners in Sherman Oaks and Studio City and North Hollywood are making decisions about their safety based on what someone tells them they saw in a dark tube they will never look inside themselves. Corrine gets out of bed for the customers who have been told three different things by three different companies and need someone to show them the truth in a language they understand. If this work did not exist, Corrine would probably be restoring old motorcycles, something else that rewards patience and punishes shortcuts.
Meet Corrine Halstead - The Person Behind Every Job
Corrine Halstead is the Owner and Founder of Level Two Chimney Sherman Oaks. Corrine holds the state license required to perform chimney cleaning, repair and liner installation in California, and has spent the years since 2009 building this branch’s reputation one documented inspection at a time. Training came first through hands-on apprenticeship, then through manufacturer certification on Olympia Chimney liner systems and Famco chimney cap installations. Corrine is the person who reviews every photo report before it goes to the customer, and the person who calls back when a question needs more than the report can explain.
Outside of work, Corrine rebuilds vintage Honda engines in a garage in Reseda, a hobby that reinforces a belief most homeowners share: the person who will do it right is the person who cannot stand not knowing how something works. Corrine’s personal commitment to every customer is simple. You will see what we see. You will know the price before we start. And you will never be asked to trust a verbal diagnosis when a photograph exists.
Before
AfterOur Promise to Sherman Oaks Homeowners
Our values are not posters on a wall. They are the terms under which we accept your call.
Honest pricing, in writing. Clause 1 of the Haven Standard requires a flat price, a written scope, and a written warranty before anyone starts. We do not estimate. We quote. The price you approve is the price you pay.
Quality parts, specified by name. When we recommend a Gelco stainless steel liner or a Copperfield chimney cap, we tell you why that brand and not another, and we show you the part before it goes in. Cheap parts fail in ways that are expensive to discover.
Standing behind every job. Our warranty is written, dated, and attached to your photo report. We have returned to homes in Tarzana and Westwood to address questions years after the original work, because documentation means accountability.
Our Credentials
Every pro working under our name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires. Level Two Chimney Sherman Oaks operates as a state-licensed chimney contractor, insured and bonded for residential work throughout the San Fernando Valley and Westside. Our branch has built its reputation through years of local service, with a documented record that speaks for itself.
- State-licensed - California requires specific licensing for chimney contractors, and we meet that standard without exception.
- Insured & bonded - Protection for your property and our team while we work in your home.
- Years of local experience - Since 2009, this branch has served homeowners from Sherman Oaks to Burbank to Beverly Hills.
- Strong local reputation - We are known for the inspections other companies skip and the documentation they do not provide.
These credentials matter because a chimney technician works inside your home, on your roof, and in the structural spaces between floors. Licensing verifies training. Insurance protects against the unexpected. And a local reputation built over years means we will be here when you need us again.
Rooted in Sherman Oaks
This branch lives where it works. Corrine Halstead knows the difference between a 1940s chimney in the hills above Beverly Glen and a 1970s zero-clearance fireplace in a Studio City condo because we have worked on both. We have swept chimneys before Burning Season opens in November, when the first cold snap sends smoke signals across Sherman Oaks. We understand how the Santa Ana winds affect draft in canyon-adjacent homes, and how the clay soil in parts of Northridge shifts flue liners over time. Level Two Chimney Sherman Oaks is independently owned and operated, with the standards of Level Two Chimney Co. behind it and the neighborhoods we drive every day in front of it.
Written by Corrine Halstead, Owner at Level Two Chimney Sherman Oaks, serving Sherman Oaks and surrounding communities since 2009.