daleeper said:
Alex,
Please give us more details on the masonry heaters. I really like the concept, and want to hear more about them. Did you build them yourself? It looks like the second stove is a tile heater, if this is one you constructed, where did you get the tiles? It would be good to see a larger photo of that second heater.
Thanks and welcome to Hearth.com!
If you read the entire post on AS somewhere I did mentioned that I did buid the stove that I am using now myself. The pictures of the one I posted was the one I had in last year that was build by a gipsy woodstove maker with me as a helper.
In fact I learned a whole new way of building while living in Europe,my favourite building material for walls is no longer wood studs and drywall but ecological mud bricks.It`s way harder (labour wise) and messier than building with wood, takes way longer since you build in 3-4 stages so the walls won`t collapse or bow under it`s own weight,the bricks take awhile to cure/season on the sun heat being turned over from time to time and covered if it rains, however it`s cheap(you use the dirt from the construction site mixed with cement to stabilize it) saves a ton of money on cooling/heating because it`s the perfect insulator and it`s very ecological. Funny thing is the wood frame constuction is just catching up here and is very well paid therefore the rich want Canadian woodframe constructions which keeps me pretty busy however I built my cabin/vacation home that became a permanent home now for us out of mud bricks however with wood framed ceiling (rafters/trussers) and roof which I believe is the best of both styles
The tiles are available at some lumber yards,in some area in Romania they`re people making them just like pottery.Do a google search on terra cotta tiles,I`ve seen them in Greece and Italy I`m quite sure you can order them in the States or Canada.However the masonry is a bit complicated since you cannot use cement but a certain clay mixed with sand . It`s actually a proffesion here and it takes awhile to learn all the ins and outs of it because woodstoves are built different than natural gas stoves that had relatively no smoke and wood stoves that can be converted or use both wood and natural gas are a whole other deal.
It took me months and building/demolating/rebuilding several stoves before I found the perfect receipe for them and simply watching how it is built/build reading the books won`t cut it. Don`t forget that the smoke and the heat that normally tends to go up have to be controlled to go thru a maze that goes up and down,swirls thru 15-20 yards of tunnel 6" X 6" wide before it goes thru the chimney almost cold. So it isn`t easy to make a fire send it`s smoke out that way instead of simply coming out inside the room.BTY, in the fall or when you make the first fire in it(basically when the stove is cold) it does send smoke inside the house for about an hour sometimes more,and lots of it too until the tunnels get warmed up and the smoke obediently follows the right path.What is adviced is that the first fire for the season to be staretd when it`s cold outside and to preheat the room with another source so the smoke would tend to go towards the chimney where is colder.
Although I know to build them and I built quite a few for my clients, I didn`t think that terra cotta tile stove would go well with the very modern style interior on my cabin.I like modern industrial style interiors in slate, gray or rich burgundy, leather furniture and solid oak desk/diner table, aluminum and glass, stainless steel,bamboo blinds and . So I disguised the stove so will look just like the walls (most of it is actually inside the walls ) and it`s funny to watch my guests looking for the heating source.
I like rustic looks too but I keep it on my patio and the exterior appearance.
