Meet the Team - Top Hat Chimney

Meet the Coventry Team Behind Top Hat Chimney

Top Hat Chimney has been fixing and cleaning chimneys in Coventry since 1999, and the crew who shows up at your door is the same crew you’ll run into at the Highland Park Market on Saturday. We don’t rotate techs in from another county or another state. The people who sweep your flue, patch your crown, and install your liner live in the same Tolland County weather you do, and they answer to one person: Wendell Pike. That keeps the work honest, the pricing straight, and the follow-through real.

Our People

Wendell Pike, Owner & Lead Sweep

Wendell founded Top Hat Chimney in 1999 after spending his early twenties apprenticing with an old mason out of Willimantic who refused to let a chimney leave his sight until it drew properly. Three decades later, Wendell still climbs more roofs than most owners would, and he still answers the phone when it rings at odd hours because he figures if your flue is smoking at 9 p.m., you shouldn’t have to leave a voicemail. He’s CSIA-certified and has installed more HeatShield and DuraFlex liners than he cares to count. When he’s not working, he’s usually in his garage restoring a 1972 Ford pickup that runs about as reliably as a third-degree creosote fire. Which is to say, not always.

Mike D., Senior Installer

Mike has been with Top Hat for 17 years and handles most of the big rebuilds: full liner replacements, firebox tear-outs, and the kind of crown work that requires a grinder and a steady hand. He’s the guy who can look at a cracked flue tile from the roof and tell you within ten minutes whether it’s a repair or a replacement, and he’s right often enough that Wendell stopped second-guessing him years ago. Mike holds his manufacturer certifications for Olympia Chimney and Famco products, which matters when a liner warranty is on the line. He coaches his son’s Little League team in the spring and has been known to reschedule a chimney job around a playoff game, which Wendell pretends to grumble about.

Sarah T., Service Coordinator

Sarah is the voice on the phone when you call to book a sweep, and she’s been doing it for 11 years. She knows the Coventry roads well enough to give you a real arrival window instead of one of those “sometime between 8 and 6” guesses, and she calls if the schedule slips, which it occasionally does when a liner job runs long. Sarah works with Wendell on every estimate that involves a written quote, and she’s the one who makes sure the $40 off any repair over $200 and the senior and veteran discounts actually show up on your invoice without you having to ask twice. She keeps a running list of customers who need their chimneys swept before burning season and calls them in August, before the October rush hits.

Chris B., Apprentice Sweep

Chris is the newest member of the crew, two years in, and he came to Top Hat after spending five years doing residential roofing. That background means he doesn’t flinch on a steep pitch and he actually knows how to walk a ridge without knocking your shingles loose. He’s working toward his CSIA certification now and handles most of the brush work on standard cleans while Mike or Wendell handles the repair side. Chris is the one who runs the camera up the flue after every sweep, so you’ll see exactly what he saw, whether that’s clean clay tile or a glaze that needs a second visit. He’s a UConn alum, which gives him no practical chimney advantage whatsoever, but it does mean he’ll talk your ear off about basketball if you let him.

One Standard, Every Job

Whatever the job is, the standard in Coventry is the same as it’s been since 1999. Wendell prices the work before a tool comes off the truck, and the number you hear on the phone is the number on the invoice. That’s not a slogan; it’s how he’s kept customers for 29 years in a county where word travels fast. Every job gets the camera, every verdict gets a plain-English explanation, and every completed job gets the 90-Day Done Right Promise stamped on it. If something isn’t right, one call brings Wendell back, and he doesn’t make you chase him for it. The crew shows up in uniform, background-checked, and on time, because Sarah wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s it. No call center, no rotating subcontractors, no pressure to replace a liner the camera says is fine. Ask anyone on your street.

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