Frequently Asked Questions

We lay down drop cloths around the hearth, run a HEPA-filtered vacuum to keep dust out of your living room, and brush the full length of the flue from the roof down or from the firebox up, depending on access. The brush removes creosote and soot buildup, then we do a visual inspection of the liner, damper, cap, and mortar joints. The final step in every job is the camera. You see what we saw, inside your own chimney, and we explain what's fine, what to watch, and what genuinely needs attention.

A straightforward fireplace cleaning in Dix Hills takes 45 to 90 minutes from start to finish. Wood stove inserts with liners run a little longer, usually 90 minutes to two hours. If we're doing a full Level 2 camera inspection, add another 30 minutes. We give you a window when you book and we call if anything shifts. You won't be waiting around all day wondering when the truck is going to show.

Once a year, burn or no burn. The National Fire Protection Association standard says chimneys should be inspected annually and cleaned as needed, and for most Long Island homeowners who use their fireplace regularly through the cold months, a yearly sweep matches how fast creosote accumulates. Even if you barely use the fireplace, we still recommend an annual inspection, because chimneys break in the off-season too. Freeze-thaw cycles, critters, and water intrusion do their damage when nothing is burning.

Yes, but gas fireplaces produce far less residue than wood, so they often need less frequent attention. The bigger concern with gas is venting. A blocked or corroded vent sends carbon monoxide back into the house, and you can't see it or smell it. We clean the venting, check the connection, and make sure your carbon monoxide detector placement makes sense for how the unit is installed. If you've never had the gas flue inspected since moving in, it's time.

Yes, and these are some of the most important chimneys to keep clean. A wood stove burns slower and cooler than an open fireplace, which produces more creosote, especially in the connector pipe between the stove and the flue. We pull the insert when needed, clean the full liner, and put it back properly sealed. If the liner is an older aluminum one, we'll check for warping and thinning and show you the footage before we talk about replacements. Your flue doesn't care how the fire looks. It cares how it breathes.

Creosote is the black or brown residue left behind when wood smoke cools inside the flue. First-degree creosote is a brush job. Third-degree is a glaze, catch it early. If it builds thick enough, a stray spark ignites it and you have a chimney fire, which burns hot enough to crack the liner and spread into the house framing. We remove it with rotary brushes and, for heavy glaze, mechanical scrapers and chemical treatments that break the bond. No pressure washing, no shortcuts. We'll show you before and after on the camera.

We're based here, and we work throughout Dix Hills, Huntington, Huntington Station, Melville, South Huntington, Elwood, Wheatley Heights, Baywood, Greenlawn, Wyandanch, North Bay Shore, and North Babylon. Wendell lives twenty minutes away from most of these stops. The truck carries the name on the door, and you'll run into him at the hardware store on a Saturday, which is the oldest accountability mechanism there is. We don't pass your job to a crew from another county. Local roots, our L.O.C.A.L. value, isn't a tagline. It's an address.

We work with Copperfield, DuraFlex, and HeatShield, three proven names in the trade. Copperfield liners are a solid choice for masonry and wood stove applications. DuraFlex is a flexible stainless liner we often recommend for retrofits where the flue has become unsafe. HeatShield is a resurfacing system that restores clay tile liners in place rather than tearing them out, which is sometimes the smarter repair on Long Island chimneys with tight access. We'll show you your flue on camera and explain why we'd pick one over the other for your house.

Yes. A cap is the cheapest fix in the trade and the one most Dix Hills homes are missing. It keeps rain, snow, leaves, birds, squirrels, and raccoons out of the flue, and animals are a real problem in this area. When we install a cap, we also check for existing water damage and repair the crown if needed. If you're hearing scratching sounds in the chimney, the cap failed or was never there, and the fix starts with getting the critter out and the cap on.

A chase cover is the metal top over a factory-built chimney, the kind common in many Long Island houses built in the 1960s and 70s. They rust through over time, and water dripping inside the chase rots the framing and soaks the flue. If you see rust streaks on the siding below the chimney, the cover is done. We fabricate and install stainless steel replacements, and we'll show you the rusted seams on camera before you spend a dime.

Every pro working under the Top Hat name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires for chimney and venting work, and that standard comes from the top of the brand. Wendell Pike publishes his name, his address and his license number, and answers his own phone. If you want to see documentation before we start, just ask. We'd rather hand it over than have you wonder. A name you can verify and a face you'll see again is the whole point of hiring locally.

A live coordinator answers when you call, and that person connects you with the local team from Top Hat Chimney. Wendell is on the job personally for many Dix Hills-area appointments, wearing the top hat to the door, which is the oldest good-luck figure in the trade and how the company got its name. We're not routing you through a phone bank three states away. The window we give you is the window, and we call if it slips. On time is one of our five L.O.C.A.L. values.

Because nothing gets recommended without camera evidence you see for yourself. That's the rule on every single job. If we say the liner needs replacing, you'll watch the footage with us and see exactly where it's cracked, spalling, or separated. We tell you plainly when work can wait a season, which costs us money today and is why we still have customers from when this branch first opened. A company that loses a sale by being honest is a company you can trust on the next one.

It can be. Water getting behind the brick or into the flue is doing damage every day, even when it's not raining. Freeze-thaw cycles on Long Island widen hairline cracks into open channels quickly, and a wet flue mixed with creosote creates an acidic slurry that eats mortar from the inside. If you see water in the firebox, stains on the ceiling near the chimney, or a damp smell after rain, call (631) 318-8656 and we'll schedule you as soon as the calendar allows.

Our regular hours run Monday through Friday from 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM, and weekends from 8:30 AM to 7:30 PM. We keep these hours because they match when homeowners in Dix Hills, Huntington, and Melville are actually home to let us in. Booking ahead during the fall rush is smart, but if you're calling in season, we'll find you the soonest slot within those real hours. No phone tree, no callback roulette.

Call the fire department first, even if you think it's already out. Chimney fires burn inside the flue, where you can't see what's still smoldering in the attic or behind the chase. Once the professionals have cleared the structure, call us. You'll need a full inspection before you light another fire, because a chimney fire cracks liners and warps metal components even when the house looks untouched. We'll run the camera and show you exactly what survived and what didn't.

Ninety days in writing on every chimney job, and one call brings Wendell back. That's the promise stamped on every page and every invoice. If something we touched isn't right, you don't have to work for it. You call, we come, and we make it right. We would rather keep you for twenty years than win one big ticket, and that means standing behind the work long after the truck leaves the driveway.

Our workmanship carries the ninety-day written guarantee. The parts themselves are covered by the manufacturer's warranty, and we handle the paperwork and the follow-through if a defect shows up. Copperfield, DuraFlex, and HeatShield each have their own warranty terms, and we'll walk you through what's covered at install time. You shouldn't need a law degree to know what happens if a part fails, so we keep it in plain English and put it in writing.

You call (631) 318-8656 and we come back. The truck carries the name on the door, and the owner answers the phone. A national outfit quoted you one price on the phone and another at the door, and that's exactly why you're asking this question. We're the local answer to that problem, committed first and accountable always, two of the five L.O.C.A.L. values we operate by. If something isn't right, we'd rather hear it from you than read about it later.

We can't guarantee that, because how fast creosote accumulates depends on what you burn, how often, and how hot you run the fire. Burning green or unseasoned wood builds residue quickly. Burning dry hardwood and keeping the fire hot produces far less. What we guarantee is that the chimney is clean on the day we leave, documented on camera. If you burn a lot through a hard winter, call us for a mid-season check. Better to look than to guess.

This is one job where the pro is worth every dollar. Brushing a flue from the roof means working at height with tools that don't forgive mistakes, and roof falls injure more homeowners than any other home-maintenance task. On top of that, you won't know if you've actually removed the creosote unless you can inspect the full length of the liner, which takes a camera, not a flashlight. We're not saying you can't do it. We're saying the roof risks aren't worth the few hundred dollars you'd save, and the camera finds problems a brush never touches.

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