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
AfterFamco Chimney Liner & Rebuild in Long Island: What to Know First
Famco chimney liner and rebuild work in Long Island typically runs $1,800 to $4,200 depending on whether we’re relining, rebuilding the crown and top courses, or doing a full teardown from the roofline up. Most Famco jobs get done in one to three days. We’re an independent Famco service provider, not a factory arm, and we quote the real price before a single tool comes off the truck.
This page is for the Long Island homeowner who’s been told their Famco flue needs work and wants to know if it’s true. If you have a Famco liner that’s been in the ground of your chimney for a decade or more, or a Famco crown that’s spalling, we can tell you what’s actually wrong and whether it needs fixing now. Call (516) 968-5380 and a live person picks up, day or night.
How Famco Products Fail - and How We Fix Them
Famco builds solid galvanized and stainless components, but every brand has its failure patterns. Here’s what we actually see in Long Island chimneys before we touch anything, and how we handle each one.
- Famco rigid stainless liners pitting at the first elbow. This is the weak link we find most often. The 316 alloy handles the flue gases fine, but the elbows collect condensation from Long Island’s humid shoulder seasons, and the weld seam at the bend is where pinholes start. Fix is a liner section replacement with a welded or banded joint, not a patch that traps moisture against the metal.
- Famco flexible liners kinking in offset flues. These are great in straight runs. In older Long Island homes with corbeled or stepped flues, the flex gets worked hard during installation and again with every heating cycle. Once a kink becomes a crease, you get a restriction that slows draft and holds smoke in the flue longer than it should. We pull it, inspect the full length, and either re-route with a smoother transition or replace the section.
- Famco crown forms cracking at the pour line. The crown is often the first thing to go, especially on Nassau County homes near the water where salt air works on the concrete. Hairline cracks at the form joint let water into the flue chase, and freeze-thaw cycles in January widen them fast. We rebuild crowns with a proper overhang and drip edge, which is the detail most installers skip.
- Cast Famco caps and dampers rusting out from the underside. These sit right at the weather line. The top looks fine, but the underside traps condensation and rots from the inside out. The symptom is rust flakes in the firebox and an occasional whiff of wet metal. Replacement with a proper stainless cap of the same footprint beats trying to save a cap that’s already lost a third of its metal.
- Famco stove pipe adapters loosening at the thimble. This connection gets hot and cold 300 times a winter. The screws back out, the joint opens, and suddenly you have a draft leak right at the wall. We re-seat the adapter, re-secure with the right fasteners, and check the clearances. Takes an hour. Costs less than you’d think.
Our Famco Chimney Liner & Rebuild Process
Here’s how a Famco job goes from your first call to the last brick, step by step.
- 1
You call, a person answers. Wendell or one of the crew picks up. We listen, ask about the symptoms, and book a time that works. Inside the county, there’s no trip charge.
- 2
We put eyes on it. Camera inspection of the flue, the liner, the crown, and the firebox. You see the footage. We don’t recommend work that we can’t show you.
- 3
Plain-English diagnosis. We tell you what’s wrong, what it’s doing to the chimney, and whether it can wait. Wendell’s answer on a borderline chimney is no more than he’d do on his own house.
- 4
Fixed price, in writing. The number we quote is the number on the invoice. No addenda, no surprises. We talk parts: Famco OEM where the warranty matters, quality aftermarket where it’s just as good and costs you less.
- 5
The work itself. Liner sections replaced or full relining, crown rebuild, masonry repair around the flue. We protect the roof and the hearth, and clean up every trace before we leave.
- 6
Test and walk-through. Draft check, smoke test if needed, and another camera pass so you see the finished flue. Then we hand you the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing.
What Famco Chimney Liner & Rebuild Costs in Long Island
Here are the numbers, as straight as we can put them. These are real ranges for the jobs we see in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
- Famco liner section replacement (one elbow or joint): $850-$1,600
- Full Famco flexible liner replacement in a straight flue: $2,200-$3,400
- Full Famco rigid stainless reline with elbows: $2,800-$4,200
- Crown rebuild (including form work and drip edge): $1,200-$2,100
- Partial rebuild (top 4-6 courses plus crown): $2,500-$3,800
- Full chimney rebuild from roofline up: $5,000-$9,000
What moves the price is access, flue offset, and whether the existing Famco liner is salvageable or needs full replacement. We’ll always tell you if a section repair will buy you another 10 years before we quote a full reline. Estimates at (516) 968-5380 are free, and the number we quote is the number you pay.
Why Long Island Homeowners Call Top Hat Chimney for Famco Work
We’ve been in these chimneys since 1999. Wendell Pike started this company with a truck and a brush and built it into the crew it is today by telling people the truth about their flues. Ask anyone on your street. We’re the ones who show up in uniform, give you a real arrival window, and call if the schedule slips.
Every Famco liner and rebuild job is backed by the 90-Day Done Right Promise: if it’s not right, one call brings us back, no charge. We also carry the other brands Long Island homes run into, including DuraFlex, HeatShield, and Gelco. So if your liner turns out to be a mixed system, we can fix the whole thing in one visit. Seniors and veterans take 10% off, always. That’s been true since the first year.
FAQ
It depends on the age and the specific warranty language. As an independent Famco service provider, we can’t speak for Famco, but most Famco warranties cover defects in materials, not installation or age-related wear. A liner replacement done properly doesn’t void a materials warranty. We’ll tell you before any work begins whether your repair is likely to affect a claim, and we document everything with camera footage you can keep.
Yes. Famco liners and caps have specific stamping, seam patterns, and in many cases, visible UL listings. We’ll identify it during the camera inspection and show you the footage as we go. Knowing the brand matters because the failure modes differ, and the fix should match the original design. If your chimney has a mixed system, we’ll walk you through each component so you know exactly what came from where.
For pinholes at a single weld seam or elbow, a section repair often buys five to ten more years if the rest of the liner is sound. For widespread pitting, creasing, or rust through in multiple sections, replacement is the honest answer. We’ll show you on camera, in your home, why we’re saying what we’re saying. Wendell’s rule holds: if it doesn’t need fixing, he’ll tell you that first.
We schedule in days, not weeks, for liner and rebuild work. Inside most of Long Island, we can be out within a few days, and we’ll give you a real arrival window. Call (516) 968-5380 to us set up a time, and we’ll have a live person on the line who can tell you exactly when the crew will be there.
Both, and we’ll tell you which makes sense for your job. Famco OEM parts hold their warranty value and match the original install exactly. Quality aftermarket stainless often matches the spec at a lower cost on older systems where the manufacturer warranty is long gone. The decision is yours, always, with the price difference laid out in plain numbers before we begin.
We’ll show you the camera footage, the spalling, the crumbling mortar joints, the liner condition top to bottom, and we’ll tell you if a smaller repair will hold. A rebuild is expensive; we only recommend it when the structure itself is going. If you have a competing written estimate, bring it. We’ll give you a free second opinion and tell you if their scope matches what the chimney actually needs.
Written by Wendell Pike, Owner, Top Hat Chimney at Top Hat Chimney, serving Long Island and nearby areas.