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 Commack Team Behind Top Hat Chimney
Top Hat Chimney started in Commack in 1999, and the crew who climbs your roof today is the same kind of crew Wendell Pike has always kept: local people who know chimneys because they’ve fixed chimneys. We’re based on Commack Road, we live in the same towns you do, and when you call (631) 502-3612, the person who answers likely knows which school district you’re in before you say it. No rotating franchise crews. No strangers with clipboards. Just neighbors who happen to be very good at this specific, sooty trade.
Our People
Wendell Pike, Owner and Lead Technician
Wendell founded Top Hat Chimney in 1999 after spending the early nineties working for a Long Island masonry outfit and watching too many sweeps rush jobs to hit a quota. He has personally rebuilt more Commack flues than he can count, and he still runs most of the repair calls himself. His specialty is diagnosing draft problems that other companies can’t pinpoint, usually with a camera and a lot of patience. On Saturdays you’ll find him at the Commack Home Depot arguing good-naturedly about chimney caps with anyone who’ll listen. He’s the one who answers the phone at 2 a.m., and yes, that’s actually him.
Mike R., Senior Installer
Mike has been with Top Hat for 17 years, which means he’s installed roughly 400 liners from Commack to Kings Park. He handles the heavy rebuild work: full liner replacements, crown teardowns, and flue block reconstruction. Mike is certified on DuraFlex and HeatShield systems, and he’s the guy who can tell you whether a cracked flue tile is cosmetic or structural just by tapping it. He grew up in North Babylon and still refers to every ladder as “the long one” regardless of size. Off the clock, he’s rebuilding a 1968 Firebird, which his wife says has taken longer than his chimney career.
Sarah T., Service Coordinator
Sarah is the voice on the phone when Wendell’s up on a roof, which is most days. She joined Top Hat in 2016 after years dispatching field crews for a Smithtown HVAC company, and she brings a no-nonsense approach to scheduling: you’ll get a real arrival window, not a “sometime between eight and whenever.” She knows the Commack streets better than most GPS apps and will tell you honestly if we can’t make it that day. Sarah keeps the warranty records, the permit paperwork, and Wendell’s calendar, which she describes as “the actual hardest job in the company.” She also bakes a suspiciously good banana bread that somehow disappears every Friday.
Danny C., Apprentice Technician
Danny is the newest member of the crew, two and a half years in, and he’s learning the trade the way Wendell believes it should be learned: on roofs, not out of books. He started as Mike’s helper and now runs his own sweep appointments across Commack and Hauppauge under Wendell’s supervision. Danny handles most of the routine cleanings and cap inspections, and he’s developing a reputation for the cleanest drop cloths in Suffolk County. He’s background-checked, uniformed, and trained on every product line we service. He once found a squirrel skeleton and a VHS tape in the same flue, which he now uses as the standard for “you won’t believe this.”
One Standard, Every Job
Every Top Hat crew member, whether they’ve been here 17 years or 17 months, works the same way: upfront pricing before any tool comes off the truck, a camera inspection with footage you can see, and a plain-English explanation of what’s actually necessary versus what can wait. Wendell’s 90-Day Done Right Promise applies to every single job in writing, no exceptions, and if something isn’t right, one call to (631) 502-3612 brings somebody back at no additional cost. The senior discount, the veteran discount, the free second opinion, the $40 off any repair over $200: all of it stands for every tech, every time. The person who shows up at your door in Commack is the person accountable for the work. That’s not a slogan. That’s just how we’ve operated since 1999.
Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney, serving Commack and the surrounding communities since 1999.