Frequently Asked Questions

Wendell arrives, introduces himself at the door, and walks the job with you before he touches anything. Then it's roof access, top-down brushing, flue inspection by camera, cap and crown check, and a full report with footage. Every inspection ends the same way: you watch the camera feed and hear a plain-English verdict on what needs doing and what can wait. First-degree creosote is a brush job. Third-degree is a glaze - catch it early. We leave the firebox clean, the hearth swept, and the chimney breathing the way it should.

Most single-flue cleanings take between 45 and 90 minutes from roof to hearth. A two-flue home, an older chimney with heavy buildup, or a cap that needs real attention stretches that to two hours or more. We don't rush. We don't linger. We work until the camera says the flue is clean and the cap is doing its job. If you're home during the sweep, you'll hear us working up top and see the results when we're done. If you're not home, the report and the footage are waiting for you when you get back.

No, but it helps. We can handle the job without you there as long as we can access the roof and the firebox. Plenty of our Northampton customers leave a key with a neighbor or give us garage access, and we send the report and camera footage afterward. But there's real value in being there. You'll see the creosote coming out, watch the camera run, and hear the verdict directly from Wendell. If you're home, you'll never wonder what you paid for. If you're not, the report tells the story.

It usually does. That stale, ashy smell Northampton homeowners notice in humid weather is nearly always creosote and soot in the flue pulling moisture and pushing odor back down into the living space. Once a year, burn or no burn. Chimneys break in the off-season too, and the smell is often the first sign. A good cleaning removes the layer that's holding that odor. If the smell persists after a sweep, that points to a damper or cap issue, which the camera inspection would have flagged. We'll tell you honestly if it's not the flue.

We can, but we prefer top-down from the roof because it's the only way to inspect the cap, crown, and upper flue at the same time. An inside-only cleaning misses the top two feet of chimney, which is where Northampton's wind, rain, and freeze-thaw cycles do the most damage. If roof access is genuinely unsafe or impossible, we'll work from inside and tell you clearly what we couldn't see. But most Northampton roofs give us safe access, and the top-down method means you get a complete job, not a partial one.

We work primarily with DuraFlex stainless liners and HeatShield for resurfacing existing clay tile liners when the damage is limited. DuraFlex is a flexible stainless system that holds up to the temperature swings we see in the Lehigh Valley, and HeatShield lets us restore a terra cotta liner in place without a full teardown. Gelco products show up in some of our cap and chase work. We recommend what serves the chimney, not what's on the truck. Every liner decision is backed by the camera footage, and we'll show you why we chose what we chose.

A cleaning is enough if the liner is intact and the flue is clear. But if the camera shows cracks, voids, or a liner that's spalling, brushing won't fix it and the chimney is not safe to burn. That's a structural problem, not a soot problem. We will show you the footage and tell you plainly whether the liner can wait a season or needs attention now. We don't sell liners. We document problems and let the camera make the case. If the liner is sound, we'll say so and clean it. Call (484) 859-1367 if you suspect liner damage.

Yes, and most homes here need one. Northampton sees enough rain, snow, and wind that an uncapped flue is asking for water damage, animal entry, and rusty dampers. A basic stainless cap stops the rain and the raccoons. A cap with a spark arrestor adds a layer of fire protection if you're burning wood. We'll match the cap to your flue size and the chimney's condition, and we won't sell you a cap if the old one is still doing its job. The camera inspection tells us whether what's up there now is working or failing.

Yes. The crown is the concrete or mortar cap at the top of the chimney, and freeze-thaw cycles in the Lehigh Valley crack crowns constantly. Water gets in, freezes, expands, and widens the crack, and eventually the brick below starts to spall. A cracked crown is a repair we handle as part of the same visit as a cleaning. We assess the damage, show you the footage, and give you a quote. If it's a hairline crack, a sealant repair works. If it's crumbling, it needs to be re-formed. Either way, you'll see it before you pay for it.

Yes. Every pro working under the Top Hat name in Pennsylvania is required to hold the license and insurance the state requires for chimney work, and we carry insurance that covers the job and your property. Wendell Pike puts his name and his reputation on every job in Northampton, and that means you get work that meets the local standard. Insurance matters because we work on roofs and around live flues, and if something goes wrong, you should never be left holding the bill. Ask for proof when we arrive and we'll have it.

Ask who you'll see at your door. Wendell lives here, answers the phone here, and his name is on the work. Locally owned companies are owner-operated businesses in the towns they serve. The owner answers the phone, the truck carries his own name, and he's going to run into you again on a Saturday, which is the oldest accountability mechanism there is. You will pay more for a name you can verify and a face you'll see again at the hardware store. That's not a premium. That's the price of knowing the job was actually done.

We do. Our team lives and works in the Lehigh Valley, serves Northampton, Allen, Catasauqua, Palmerton, East Allen, Slatington, Hokendauqua, Coplay, Schnecksville, East Penn, Eldred, and Bath, and buys local when we can. Community first means we hire here, we buy here, we sponsor the team here. You're not getting a truck dispatched from two counties over with a crew that's never seen a Northampton roof before. You're getting neighbors who know this town's chimneys, this town's weather, and this town's people. That's what the L.O.C.A.L. code is about, and it's not a slogan. It's how we work.

Stop burning immediately, open a window, and get everyone out of the room. Smoke backing up into the living space is a draft failure or an obstruction, and carbon monoxide can follow the same path the smoke is taking. Don't try to solve it with the damper. Once the space is ventilated and everyone is safe, call us at (484) 859-1367. We'll assess the flue and tell you what happened. If there's any chance carbon monoxide is present, call your gas utility or fire department before anything else. A blocked flue is an emergency, not an inconvenience.

Our regular service hours are 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM, seven days a week, including Saturday and Sunday. That's our schedule, not a promise of instant dispatch. We book in the order calls come in, and during burning season fall and winter fills up fast. If you've got a real problem, a chimney that's smoking or a flue that's blocked, call us at (484) 859-1367 and we'll get you on the schedule as soon as we can. The best way to avoid a weekend scramble is to get the sweep done before November. But if you wait and it fails, we'll still be here.

That depends on the season and the schedule. During October, November, and December, our calendar fills quickly and we're often booking a week or more out. Spring and summer are more flexible. We don't promise same-day service and we don't claim dispatch times, because anyone who does is either lying or running a boiler room. What we do promise is that when we schedule you, we show up in the window we gave you, and if something slips, we call. On time means the window we give you is the window, and we call if it slips. That's the standard.

Yes. Wendell Pike publishes his name and his address, and he puts his name on the work. Ninety days in writing on every chimney job, and one call brings him back. If something we did doesn't hold up, if you're not satisfied with the clean, if you have a question about the report, you call (484) 859-1367 and we make it right. That's the promise. We would rather keep you for twenty years than win one big ticket, and a warranty that actually gets honored is how that works. It's in writing because your word means something here, and so does ours.

It covers the job we agreed to do. If the flue isn't clean, we come back and brush it again. If the cap we installed fails in the first ninety days, we repair or replace it. If you watch the camera footage and don't understand what you're seeing, we walk you through it again. The guarantee is tied to the work we performed, not to parts of your chimney that were already failing. We tell you about those separately, with footage, before we touch anything. That's the honest version. You get what you paid for, and the guarantee is the promise.

Yes, and we'll tell you when that's the case. If a chimney has structural damage to the masonry that requires a mason, a full rebuild, or engineering, we don't pretend to be the right crew for that. We document it with the camera, explain what we're seeing, and point you to someone who can do the work properly. What we won't do is sell you a liner when you need a mason, or brush a flue that needs a rebuild and call it clean. The camera doesn't lie, and neither do we. A chimney company that says it fixes everything is the one you should be careful with.

Because the person who shows up at your door should know the difference between a Northampton chimney and a Schnecksville chimney. The sweep in the top hat is the oldest good-luck figure in the trade, and Wendell actually wears one to the door. He sweeps the same chimneys every autumn and knows them better than the people who own them. He'll tell you when yours doesn't need doing, which costs him money and is why he still has the customers he started with. Every inspection ends with the camera footage and a plain-English verdict. That's not a sales pitch. That's how this business runs.

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