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 Hempstead Team Behind Top Hat Chimney
Top Hat Chimney has been working in Hempstead homes since 1999, and the crew that shows up today is the same kind of crew Wendell Pike built this company with: local, trained, background-checked, and allergic to shortcuts. We don’t rotate technicians through from another region. The people who knock on your door know Nassau County chimneys, they know the old brickwork in Hempstead Village, and most of them have been doing this long enough to tell a third-degree creosote glaze from a first-degree brush job before the ladder’s even up. Ask anyone on your street. These are the names you’ll see.
Our People
Wendell Pike, Owner
Wendell founded Top Hat Chimney in 1999 and still runs the company from the truck, not from a desk. He’s the one who answers the phone half the time, and if you call at 2 a.m. with a smoking fireplace, there’s a real chance it’s his voice on the other end. Wendell started as a sweeper himself and has spent 29 years in flues all over Hempstead, Uniondale, Garden City, and the surrounding towns. He’s the reason the 90-Day Done Right Promise is stamped on every job: one call brings him back, and he puts his name on the work because he runs into you again on Saturday. Wendell’s also the one who’ll tell you, straight up, if a liner can wait another season. Your flue doesn’t care how the fire looks. It cares how it breathes. He’ll show you the camera footage and give you a plain-English verdict, every time, no exceptions.
Marcus T., Lead Technician
Marcus has been with Top Hat for 14 years and handles the heavy end of chimney repair and rebuilds. He’s HEARTH-certified and has done more flue liner installations in Hempstead basements than he can count. Marcus is the guy who can tell from the sound of a hammer tap whether crown mortar is still bonded or just sitting there pretending. He’s also the one who found a 1978 Mets schedule stuffed behind a chimney cover in East Meadow two years ago. Wendell still brings it up. Marcus lives in Roosevelt and coaches youth basketball in the winter, which is exactly when chimney calls pile up.
Elena R., Senior Installer
Elena has been installing chimney caps, crowns, and liners with Top Hat for nine years. She’s the brand specialist on the crew: DuraFlex, HeatShield, Gelco, Olympia Chimney, Famco, and Copperfield, she works with all of them and knows which one fits which situation before Wendell even asks. Elena did her early training on masonry restoration and still handles most of the repointing and crown work. She once pulled a pair of reading glasses out of a chimney in Baldwin that had been missing for three years. The homeowner’s wife had given up. Now Elena’s the only person on the crew who writes her job notes in pen and paper, and her invoices are always the cleanest.
Devon S., Service Coordinator and Apprentice Sweep
Devon is the one who picks up when you call Top Hat Chimney, scheduling jobs and working through the pricing before a single tool comes off the truck. He’s been with the company for four years and is working through his sweep apprenticeship under Wendell and Marcus. Devon grew up in Hempstead, so he knows the local blocks and the older housing stock. He’s the one who gives you the arrival window and actually calls if it slips, which doesn’t happen often. And yes, he’s the youngest on the crew, but he’s the reason the coffee is always in the truck before 7 a.m. and the ladder racks get wiped down whether anyone asked or not.
One Standard, Every Job
Every chimney in Hempstead gets the same crew standard no matter which one of us shows up. Upfront pricing before the ladder comes off the truck. Background-checked, uniformed, and on time with a real arrival window. Camera footage in the flue before anyone tells you what needs doing. Once a year, burn or no burn, and if it’s not done right, the 90-Day Done Right Promise means one call brings us back at no additional cost. Fourth-generation brick in Hempstead Village or a newer liner in Uniondale, it’s the same checklist, the same plain-English verdict, and the same person who picks up the phone.
Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney, serving Hempstead since 1999.