Frequently Asked Questions

We start by laying drop cloths and running a vacuum that filters down to the fine dust level, so your living room in Bensonhurst doesn't end up gray. Then the brush goes up the flue to break creosote and soot loose. After that, the camera goes up, and you see exactly what we saw. Fifteen minutes of cleaning. Twenty minutes of looking. You get a plain-English verdict: clean, schedule-repairs, or keep an eye on it. Wendell has always believed the camera is the only proof that matters. You see it with your own eyes.

Plan on 60 to 90 minutes from the time we ring the bell to the time we're rolling up the drop cloths. A simple flue with light soot can go faster. A bad creosote situation with an animal nest or a flue liner that needs documenting can run longer. The camera check is the part that takes time, and it's the part we won't rush. If you're in a brownstone with a steep roof in Brooklyn Heights, add a little for access. We'll give you an honest window when you book, and we call if it slips. That's the L.O.C.A.L. value: on time means the window we give you is the window.

Once a year, burn or no burn. That's the rule Wendell always gives, and it applies double in Brooklyn because the housing stock is old and the flues were built for different fuel than most people burn now. A chimney you haven't used in three years still needs a look: animals move in, mortar crumbles, caps rust through, and nobody notices until a storm drives rain down the flue. Chimneys break in the off-season too. Don't wait for the first cold snap to make the call. By then, every sweep in the borough is booked solid.

Yes, and you should. An unused chimney in Brooklyn is still a vertical hole in your roof. Rain gets in. Birds get in. Squirrels get in. The damper rusts. In Canarsie and Flatbush, we see flues that haven't had a fire in a decade and have raccoon nests halfway down. Before you light a fire in a chimney that's been dormant, let us sweep it and camera it. The sweep clears what's living in there. The camera shows what the fireplace is actually connected to. If it's disconnected or damaged, you'll know before the first spark.

Clear a path to the fireplace and move anything fragile from the mantel. Don't light a fire for 24 hours before we arrive, since a hot flue is dangerous to work in and creosote hardens as it cools anyway. Close the damper if you can, so dust doesn't drop into the room when we start. If you have pets, keep them in a back room for the first twenty minutes until the noise settles. That's it. We bring the rest: drop cloths, vacuum, brushes, camera, and a guy in a top hat if you get Wendell himself.

A sweep removes creosote and soot so air can flow. An inspection answers the other question: is this chimney safe to use? We do both at the same time because they're the same visit. The brush clears the flue; the camera shows the condition behind what we just swept. That's the part most Brooklyn homeowners never get from a cheap sweep. First-degree creosote is a brush job. Third-degree is a glaze, and catching it early is the difference between a $250 visit and a $3,000 repair. Catch it early.

Yes, and that's one of the reasons we're such a good fit for Brooklyn. Brownstones in neighborhoods like Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights have chimneys that were built 100 years ago and rebuilt three times since. Shared chimney stacks mean your flue might be falling apart because the neighbor's is, and the mason who fixed it last time might have used the wrong liner. We know the building styles here. We know what flues in this borough look like after a century. The camera tells the rest.

We typically install parts from Olympia Chimney and Gelco when we're putting in a liner or a cap in Brooklyn. Those are the names we trust because they hold up to the weather we get here: freeze-thaw cycles, salty air off the harbor in Red Hook, and summers that bake the crown. We'd rather put in a part that lasts twenty years than one that brings you back for a redo. If you have a preference for a specific brand, tell us. We'll tell you if it's the right call or if you're paying extra for a name.

Yes. A chimney cap is the cheapest insurance your chimney has, and in Brooklyn it's almost mandatory. The borough has pigeons, starlings, squirrels, and enough rain to rust a bare flue tile in five years. A good stainless cap keeps animals out, keeps water out, and keeps sparks from landing on a tar roof in Bushwick. We stock caps from Olympia Chimney and Gelco, and we'll match the cap to the flue, not grab whatever's on the truck. If your cap is rusted through, you'll see it in the camera footage.

Yes, and a lot of chimneys we see in older Brooklyn houses need it. A damper that rusts open lets your heat escape up the flue all winter, and a damper that sticks shut sends smoke back into the living room. Neither one is acceptable. We replace standard throat dampers and top-sealing dampers, depending on what your chimney was built with. If a liner is failing near the damper, the camera will show that too, and we'll quote the whole repair honestly so you're not getting nickel-and-dimed across six visits.

Yes, and it matters more in Brooklyn than in a dry climate. Cheap caps are thin-gauge steel with a flimsy screen. The salt air in Red Hook and the freeze-thaw winters pinhole them in a few seasons. Good caps, like the ones Olympia Chimney and Gelco make, are thicker stainless or copper, with a screen that actually keeps starlings out. A bird in the flue means smoke in the house. A rusted cap means water in the flue. Pay a little more up front and you won't be calling us twice. We'd rather install it once.

Every pro working under the Top Hat Chimney name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires. We carry coverage because we work on other people's property in a dense city, and a brownstone in Brooklyn Heights has different risk than a country house in the Catskills. If you want proof, ask. Wendell Pike publishes his name and stands behind the work, and a real local company doesn't hide behind a phone number. Call (516) 289-9316 and ask us anything about credentials before we set foot in the door.

Yes. We're a Brooklyn branch of Top Hat Chimney, led by Wendell Pike, with an address in this county and trucks that carry the name. The L.O.C.A.L. code isn't a slogan: local roots means an address in this county, not a call center three states away. When you call, you talk to a live coordinator who connects you with the local team, not a menu tree. Wendell lives near enough that he's going to run into you at the hardware store, and that's the oldest accountability mechanism there is. Ask anyone on your street if they've seen the hat.

Insurance covers damage if something goes wrong: a fire escapes the flue, a brick hits a car, a water line gets clipped. Bonding covers you if the work isn't completed as promised. We carry the coverage our state requires and we'll show you proof if you ask. In Brooklyn, where you're often working on a shared wall in a building you don't fully own, that coverage matters. It's not something we advertise because it's the minimum; it's just the floor. The real guarantee is that Wendell puts his name on the work and comes back if it isn't right.

Ask when you call. We'll tell you exactly what credentials our team holds and what that means for your specific chimney. We don't hide behind jargon or vague claims. Wendell has been at this since 1999, and a guy who's spent that long looking at flues knows the difference between a legitimate certification and a laminated piece of paper. If you've been burned before by an outfit that quoted one price on the phone and another at the door, you're exactly the kind of homeowner we're built for. Call (516) 289-9316 and put us on the spot.

Four situations count as true emergencies. Smoke backing into the house when you light a fire. Water coming down the flue during a storm. A chimney fire with flames or a rumble from the flue. And gas odors from a vented appliance connected to the chimney. In the last two cases, get out and call 911 first, then call us. For smoke or water, call (516) 289-9316 and we'll get you on the schedule as fast as the book allows. A dead bird in the flue is unpleasant but not an emergency. A cracked liner leaking heat into the wall is.

It depends on the schedule and what's going on at your place, but we do our best to squeeze in true emergencies fast. Our phone is answered 24/7, so when a storm rips a cap off in Williamsburg at midnight, a real person picks up. For a standard cleaning, same-day isn't realistic most of the time, and you wouldn't want us to promise it and push someone else's job. Book a week out and we'll be there when we say we will. If you have smoke in the house, tell us that when you call. The dispatcher knows the difference.

Leave the house. Call 911. Do not light anything, flip switches, or wait around to see if it clears. Gas from a chimney vent in a Brooklyn apartment is a worst-case scenario because gas collects and one spark finishes it. Once the utility has responded and the immediate risk is handled, call us to inspect the venting. A chimney that should be carrying combustion gases out but isn't is an explosion waiting for a match. That's not scare talk. It's the reason building codes in New York are exact about flue liners and clearances. Get out first.

Yes, and we see a lot of them. Brooklyn roofs are flat or low-pitched, and water pools where it shouldn't. A chimney that leaks usually comes down to one of three things: a cracked crown, failed flashing at the roofline, or a missing cap letting rain straight down the flue. We'll find which one it is, show you the camera footage, and tell you what it costs to fix. Sometimes it's a $300 cap, not a $2,000 repoint. We'll tell you when it's small, because Wendell would rather keep you as a customer for twenty years than win one big ticket.

Ninety days in writing on every chimney job we do in Brooklyn. That's the Top Hat promise, and it's stamped on every page: Wendell Pike publishes his name, his address and his license number, and answers his own phone. If something isn't right within ninety days, one call brings him back. No forms to fill out in triplicate. No running it up the chain. The warranty isn't a marketing line; it's the way the trade used to work and the way it should still work. Ask anyone who's had us back. We show up.

Call us. Same day, next day, two weeks later. If we missed a spot, we'll re-sweep. If the camera missed something, we'll come back and look again. The guarantee exists because Wendell's been on the other side of bad work and knows what it feels like to pay twice for the same job. That's the loyal part of L.O.C.A.L.: we would rather keep you for twenty years than win one big ticket. Call (516) 289-9316 and say the word.

Yes, the ninety-day promise applies to every job we complete, not just brush-and-go cleanings. Liner, cap, damper, crown repair, masonry work: if we did it and it fails within ninety days of completion, we come back and make it right. Beyond that, most of the parts we install carry their own manufacturer warranties from companies like Olympia Chimney and Gelco, and we'll point you to the exact coverage before we start the job. You'll know what you're covered for in plain writing, not buried in a contract. That's accountable.

Ask three questions before anyone touches your flue. Are you actually local, with a Brooklyn address and a name I can look up? Will you show me camera footage of my own chimney before you recommend any repair? Is the price you quoted the price I'll pay? If they hesitate on any of those, keep looking. If they answer straight, you've found your sweep. Wendell has been doing this since 1999 because the guy in the top hat is the oldest good-luck figure in the trade, and good luck tends to be earned. Call (516) 289-9316 and ask us all three questions. We'll answer all of them without blinking.

Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney, serving Brooklyn since 1999.