Your Environment and Masonry Heaters

There is continuous debate around the world about the significance and substance behind the issue of global warming.  And although most scientists around the world who study climate agree that global warming is occurring, I am not going to enter that debate here.

Rather, it is wise to look at the overall bigger picture.  I can remember as a grade-school student learning about various kinds of pollution.  We looked at everything from noise pollution (loud, disturbing sounds) to visual pollution (too many, or obnoxious blinking signs, etc.) to the more common air pollution and litter.

Pollution of any kind is a disturbance to most healthy people.  Really, who wants to walk down a sidewalk and see trash lying around everywhere?  Who would enjoy loud boisterous music when she is wanting a quiet stroll in the park?  And who would think the smell and appearance of smog is one of the benefits of living in a big city?

A disturbance like excess noise or smog doesn’t have to cause a specific illness in order to be unhealthy.  The mere fact that it is a disturbance makes it unhealthy for a given individual.  Indeed, loud, blasting music might be a pure pleasure for the one who turned on the radio, but it could raise the blood pressure of someone who was looking forward to a quiet day or who just doesn’t like that kind of music.

Of course, it can again become debatable as to just how harmful blinking lights or loud noises can be.  But there is pretty uniform acceptance that air pollution is a threat to everyone’s health.  Recent elections resulted in widespread prohibitions on smoking in public places all over Ohio.  It doesn’t take a scientist to realize that breathing all kinds of chemicals and particles not normally part of the natural atmosphere is going to have unhealthy results.

Regardless of your overall feelings about the various kinds of pollution and their impact on health and well-being, you should be aware that a masonry heater is one of the lowest impact ways of heating in the world when it comes to any kind of pollution.

Consider sound. A masonry heater burns for a few hours a day at a time of your choosing.  The resulting “noise” is the crackling of a real wood fire.  There are no motors, fans, or blowers vibrating and running on and off all day long.

Consider the materials.  A soapstone heater is just that – thousands of pounds of soapstone, an all-natural stone simply cut to the right shapes to make a heater.  Or a kachelofen is simply fired clay - hardened earth. This means waste is an all-natural bunch of minerals.  It also means that the product has low embodied energy – the amount of energy needed to produce the stove.

Consider air pollution and CO₂ emissions.  Masonry heaters are the cleanest-burning woodburners in the world, burning its fuel at combustion efficiency approaching 100%.  This means that the exhaust of a masonry heater is mainly CO₂ and water.  What’s more, the quantity of CO₂ emitted is no more than what results from wood rotting in the forest.

                In short, masonry heaters are low-impact ways of heating that don’t depend on foreign oil or expensive electricity.  Masonry heaters are an intelligent choice for a cleaner, healthier, energy independent America.

An American Kachelofen

This past winter I had the pleasure of constructing a unique, one-of-a-kind kachelofen here in my home state of Ohio. The beauty of constructing a masonry heater from kacheln (structural heater tiles) is that, along with unlimited design possibilities, there are virtually unlimited color possibilities as well. 

While I love soapstone and its unique and superlative masonry heater qualities, all structural soapstone of which I am aware is a gray color.  I really like it and so do a lot of other people.  And gray is neutral enough that it is compatible with many, many decorating schemes and colors.  Most people who see, in person, a soapstone masonry heater, recognize that soapstone is usually not just gray.  Like marble, it has veins of beige, white, or lighter or darker gray.  Often it will also have specks of iron in it that, when honed and aged, look gold.  Nevertheless, it is predominantly gray.

Kacheln are a complete other story.  Just like the plates and coffee cups in your kitchen cupboards, kacheln can be really any color imaginable.  This means, when someone has distinct tastes and a definite decorating theme planned for their home, they can complement that theme to whatever extent they like with tiles.

So you can have something with very bright, vibrant colors like this (original website here):

Or, you could have something more gentle like this (original website here):

In my view, the kachelofen is THE THING for those who truly want an indivudualized piece of art for their masonry heater.  And this past winter, I built such a piece of art for a couple in Ohio.

The kacheln for this kachelofen were made, by hand, by Jessica Steinhauser, of Stonehouse Pottery in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.  Jessica does wonderful kachelofen of her own, as you will see if you visit her website.  It is fantastic to work with her.

Though color is a very individual thing, when my clients are put on the spot to name the colors with which they will live for the rest of their lives, they are often at a loss.  Jessica helped a lot by sending actual samples of ceramic with a wide range of colors.  After much uncertainty, my clients chose two basic colors and the matter was settled - or so we thought.

When Ms. Steinhauser began glazing and firing glazed kacheln, she was panicked to find that there was tremendous color variation among the kacheln arising  from the kiln.  She had not used this particular type of glaze for kacheln before and she was worried that, rather than finishing the job, she was ruining it!

She sent photos that I forwarded to my client.

And they loved it!

And here is the resulting kachelofen:

A true American kachelofen combining plastered benches topped with black granite, a firebox turned 15 degrees from the otherwise rectilinear aspects, and beautiful golden kacheln.

It's a mufti-faceted masonry heater.

Granite shelves complement the black granite benches.

It's Been Quite a Year!

It's been quite a while since my last post.  I have been utterly swamped with work for over a year and it's been very difficult getting anything else done - including updating my blog!

Anyhow, as follow up to the last post from last year, here are some photos of the completed soapstone/sandstone project:

Current Project Update

Here are a few photos of the sandstone/soapstone heater in progress.  More to come soon! 

Entire base-course complete showing 7" diameter air inlet in the far right and base-course flues. Red sandstone dominates the esterior finish stones.  The two square holes in the foreground are clean-out accesses into the flues.

Here the base course has been covered with 60mm thick soapstone bench slabs.  Notice the curved  shape to the back right stones and the foreground stones.  The big opening in hte foreground is for wood storage.  The red knob in the lower right is the control for opening the air-tight air intake.

Another view with bench tops in place.  Notice the steel column (covered in wood) in the upper right of the photo that  passes through the bench top.  The owner plans to lean against that columns while sitting on the heated bench with her legs up.  Lower left corner shows the 7" diameter air intake that will eventually be covered with an antique iron grate.

Upcoming Project

One of our several upcoming projects is in northeastern Ohio.  In keeping with the claim in my book, Masonry Heaters: Designing, Building, and Living with a Piece of the Sun, I assured my clients that the design of a high-performance masonry heater begins with creating a "container" which will hold the firebox and all the flues of the heater.  The outer appearance - the container -  of the heater can be designed almost by anyone in a myriad of shapes and sizes.  There are some limitations surrounding the need to be able to house a firebox of sufficient size and to provide enough space for enough flues to make the heater efficient.  But once those items are accommodated adequately, the design can proceed in many directions.

In this particular project, the clients opted to have their architect design the container.  Here is my first rendering of the heater designed by Martin Johannessen of Harmoni Designs: 

Red Sandstone combined with Soapstone.

This masonry heater is to be built with a combination of red sandstone (represented in red) and soapstone (represented in gray).  Although I personally would not use sandstone for the masonry heater because of its inferior heat storage and heat transfer qualities - especially as compared to soapstone - the heater does make use of a fair amount of soapstone.  Generally, I am not interested in building heaters that don't use the best performing materials.

Though this photo makes the heater look like it is almost all red sandstone, the fact is that the soapstone, which covers all the horizontal bench surfaces and is shown to the right of the firebox door, wraps all the way around the back and even the left side (it is barely visible in the shaded left side of this rendering).  In actuality, most of the lower half of this heater is soapstone.  On the other hand, most of the upper half of the heater is red sandstone.

As the rendering portrays, this heater goes all the way to the ceiling.  In fact, part of the heater will continue on the next floor in the form of a heated sitting area.  Also not visible is that on the opposite side of the heater is a baking chamber.  This masonry stove will have a white oven on the reverse side..

Check back later for photos of this project in progress.  It is scheduled for construction in March.

A New Maonry Heater Starts Here

As built.

Original AutoCad Rendering

In my January 11, 2011 post I show photos of a recent project.  As I pointed out both in my book and in my blogs, projects like this are one-of-a-kind.  No one else on Earth has built this heater before.  There is no pre-made, pre-designed, pre-engineered kit for making this masonry heater.  Every aspect, right down to the size and configuration of the firebox as well as the spacing and size of the shelving are completely unique to this project.  You won't find this heater in some manufacturer's catalog and, chances are, this heater will never be built again.

When someone comes to me and wants a custom masonry heater, I don't just look for a different way to wrap a factory-made inner heater core (called the "inner life" in my book, Masonry Heaters: Designing, Building and Living with a Piece of the Sun) with a new combination of masonry materials.  Rather, I try to discover what it is the person really wants.  Do they want something unique, interesting, unusual?  Do they want or need something short? Tall?  Skinny? Broad?  Do they like modern or minimalist design?  Do they like rounded shapes or boxy shapes. Do they want something that looks soft and organic or hard and crisp? More importantly to me as the "salesman" of a masonry heater, do they understand that the masonry heater will become THE PLACE that they will want to be in their house during the winter?  Therefore, do they want seating areas?  If so, how much?  It is from gleaning information like this that arises designs for a truly custom masonry heater.

The next step is to translate the apparent desires of the owner-to-be into a design.  But how can the new owner know if he likes the design if he or she cannot properly visualize it?  Now, I have seen some designers, who are more artistic than myself, do pencil sketches of masonry heaters for their customers.  In mere moments they can draw a representation of what they have in mind for the masonry heater.  This enthralls and fascinates me.  I can do drawings and sketches by hand, but they never seem to reach the level of artistic expression some of these designers can attain.  But I have found a different way.

When I do a design project, I begin by drawing the concept using AutoCad professional computer design software.  This is the same software used by engineers at Fortune 500 companies to design and detail everything from soda bottles to the volume control knob on the radio of  an automobile.  It is also used by architects for designing homes and skyscrapers.  It's used by civil engineers to design bridges and roadways.  I use it to design both the inner life and the exterior appearance of masonry heaters.

As built

Original AutoCad Rendering

Using AutoCad, I first design the "container" - the outer, visible appearance of the masonry heater - in an attempt to capture what my customer wants.  Sometimes I get it largely right the first time.  Sometimes I have to try many different styles before I strike a chord with the owner-to-be.  In order for a decision to be made, my drawings must realistically portray what I intend to build.  The more realistic I can make it look, the better the customer understands what to expect.

The Illinois project described below is such an example and within this text are two preliminary views of how this heater was designed.  I think you can see from the pictures that the preliminary drawings well portrayed the way the heater would look.  We did make some subtle changes from these renderings as the project moved toward actuality, but the flavor and scope of the design stayed very true to these original AutoCad renderings.  This is the start of a custom masonry heater.

Current Projects/Better Photos

As noted in my post below, better pictures were in order.  My client thankfully has a better camera than I and graciously provided these shots - and with a fire burning no less!  As you can see, this heater is unique from all perspectives.  The upper photo shows a chaise lounge styled sitting area, two different shelving units and decorative soapstone pieces.  There is no shortage of warm places to sit on this one-of-a-kind masonry heater.

Current Projects

In my book, Masonry Heaters: Designing, Building, and Living with a Piece of the Sun,  I sought to explain that a masonry heater is the most versatile wood burning appliance ever imagined.  While wholly maintaining high heating efficiency, it need not be any particular shape or size.  In short, it can be virtually anything the homeowner wants it to be.

My latest project is a good example of this principle.  The above picture is of a project in Illinois after its first coat of stucco.  While some people think a masonry heater is represented by a large box (see article from October 2011 below), projects like this one reveal that a masonry heater is not something so easily defined - or confined.

The owners of this heater formerly had a wall separating their kitchen (seen beyond the heater) from the living room (from whence this photo was taken).  They wanted a masonry heater, but they wanted a relatively unobstructed view from one room to the next.  My solution for them, depicted here, is a masonry heater that is never taller than about 4' - 6" anywhere in the line of site between these two rooms.  It is true that there are "standard" masonry heaters (you know, the rectangular box style?) that are short - even as short as this.  But this couple wanted a heater that has the potential to heat their whole home - about 2500 square feet.

This heater is designed primarily as a 7 kilowatt (approx. 22,000 BTU) heater, but has the potential to output more than 30,000 BTUs - which is the maximum heating demand of this house according to conventional HVAC principles.  As I discuss in my book, heating with radiant heat actually requires less BTUs for the same comfort level.)

The far left, tall element acts as a wall defining a hallway separating the living room from a library and leading to the more distant bedrooms of the the house.  This taller element has wood storage here on the living room side that is about 20" deep.  The rest of that construction contains flues and will be a heating element of this stove. The middle section is all seating - roughly 5 feet of it - with heated seat backs.  Next is the firebox followed by, at far right, a wood storage area..  The opposite side is completely different from this side but has additional heated seating, shelving, and a tall, narrow viewing window into the firebox.  I'll post a photo that later.

I admit that the photo is of relatively poor quality, but I wanted to get this posted as an example of what is being done right now here in the United States.  Masonry heaters: Get what you really want and be warm!

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The Incredible Masonry Heater

A lot of people who have discovered masonry heaters first discovered them as a box, like the heater at left. What I mean is that, chances are, they read about them somewhere (other than my book) and the accompanying photo or drawing was of a big, rectangular box. I call it the refrigerator. I find it disappointing that most people's first exposure to these amazing appliances leads them to believe that, if they want a masonry heater, they need to find somewhere in their home to fit in a big, clunky box.

Now, don't misunderstand.  I built that box that you see here.  And it works just great thank you very much.  And for all of you who love red brick and rectilinear shapes, I'm sure you find this very attractive.  But I still think that this rectangular red brick box should not be the way people are introduced to masonry heaters.

The picture below proves that it is not the case at all that you have to have a box to have a masonry heater.  This wonderful sample (and you can find even more such samples at http://www.kachelofen-stoisser.at/kacheloefen.php where this photo was pulled) of how masonry heaters become artwork, fun, and a centerpiece while also being the true heart of the home. Here, free-formed plaster tree branches meld with the heater in every direction and colorful, handmade tiles create visual interest without destroying the soft lines of the rounded surfaces of the masonry heater. Most of us, when we think of tiles, think of square, uniform, flat surfaces. A handcrafted masonry heater like this proves that everything is not always what we expect.

Masonry heaters do not need to be big boxes. They don't need to be intrusive behemoths in the living space. Quite the contrary, they should be a magnet for people. Think about your own human body. Can you point to any distinct, sharply defined rectangles or squares on the surface of your body? Obviously not. The whole human form is a continuum of rounded soft forms. But more importantly, in addition to its soft roundness, the living human form is warm. Most people eventually find a mate who is attractive to them. What is attractive about one's mate is both their form (physical) and their warmth (physical, emotional, and intellectual). Masonry heaters, too, can (and should) hold that attraction. Someone who wants a masonry heater should choose the form most appealing to them. If you are attracted to big boxes made of bricks, then certainly that is what you should get. But if gentle curves and organic shapes are more appealing to you, you're in luck because masonry heaters can be that, too!

As I explain in Masonry Heaters: Designing, Building and Living with a Piece of the Sun, a masonry heater can be almost any shape. I start with a container that is appealing to the owner-to-be. Then my job is to fill the container with the parts that will turn that appealing form into a living, breathing and warm masonry heater. There is nothing else like it in the world of space heating.

An Heirloom Masonry Heater Part 1

An heirloom is an item one considers valuable and that gets passed on from one generation to the next. It is something that is expected to not only last for several (or indefinite) generations, but which will retain its value through that time. And, though it is not mandatory, often an heirloom is special because it is one-of-a-kind; it is peculiar to one family or household alone.

In my book, Masonry Heaters: Designing, Building and Living with a Piece of the Sun, I introduced the concept of an heirloom masonry heater. I characterize an heirloom heater as a unique heater, designed for a specific house, and designed to be as long lived as possible.

Though masonry construction, by its very nature, is very long lived, it is certainly not indestructible. And masonry heaters in particular are not just your typical masonry construction. They are purposely designed to be subjected to repeated cycles of extreme heat followed by hours of cooling, only to be hit by the extreme heat again. This is very stressful on hard, brittle materials made out of fired clay. These extreme cycles are, or can be, just as destructive as the well-known "freeze-thaw" cycles that masonry can be subjected to in the outdoors.

Heating anything makes it expand. It matters not whether you are talking about something as light as air or as dense as concrete. Heat makes things grow. Something that is heated gets bigger; when it cools, it gets smaller again. What's even worse is when one surface of a material gets substantially hotter than another surface of the same material. The differential expansion - the fact that one part of the same piece of material is expanding faster than other parts - can split a single piece into many pieces. Parts of masonry heaters are subjected to this kind of stress all the time.

The key to making an heirloom heater - one that will last for generations - is to understand how the building blocks of a masonry heater must always expand and contract. "Expand and contract" is the same as "open and close"; "bigger and smaller"; "grow and shrink". This is a lot like the way humans breathe. The chest expands with air, then deflates, expands, contracts. The muscles of the body do the same thing. They flex, then relax, flex, relax. In good heater building, we take note that what these systems have in common is materials of one kind or another that allow them to expand and contract without coming apart. In the case of muscles, the body has connective tissue such as tendons and ligaments that bind the muscle to bone and help hold everything in place as it moves with expansion and contraction. A really good heirloom heater uses those same principles.

Some masonry heaters are just built with common bricks and mortar. These items are quite strong for most purposes in construction. For example, they are very good at bearing lots of weight. But mortar is relatively weak as a connective tissue. It has no flex to it like the tendon of a muscle and not very good marks in tensile strength (the ability to resist tension - a pulling apart stress). So sometimes bricks and mortar will crack when subjected to the stresses of a masonry heater. Well, this is not an issue if the heater is built with some kind of mechanical tendon to hold everything together. But, most bricks are not laid that way. This is why what I call an heirloom masonry heater is not built with common bricks and mortar.

Instead, an heirloom heater is built with refractory (heat resistant) materials. In addition, we bind the heat resistant materials together, literally, with physical tendons that help hold everything together. The materials can expand and contract, but the tendons make sure everything remains where it belongs. This prevents cracks between materials, should they occur, from growing ever larger, which, inevitably, would tear the heater apart. The use of mechanical tendons means we can also use mortars that naturally have a little more "give" or flex than harder mortars. We want the heater to be able stretch and come right back to its original size without doing damage to itself. This is one aspect of an heirloom masonry heater.

Radiant Heat Advantages

When I completed my study for certification in Bau-biologie (Building-biology – the study of how our built living environment affects our health and well-being.) 15 years ago, I had learned that one of the most common causes of illness in the typical home is the presence of mold.

Mold alone can often account for many typical symptoms we might normally consider to be hay fever or just the common cold. Breathing problems, runny noses, coughing, and congestion are some typical complaints that sometimes are a result of the presence and growth of mold. Mold spores, like dust, can float in the air throughout your home.

There are actually very common places where mold often grows even in the homes of folks who take great pride in keeping their houses spic and span. One location is in the drip or evaporation tray at the base of the refrigerator. Another spot is the underside of the water tank portion of a flush toilet. The good news about these locations is that the average person can access these spots and clean up the problem.

But there are potential mold growth areas that are inaccessible. What’s worse is that sometimes the mold growth is encouraged by a forced air or other convection-type heating system. Specifically, mold can be encouraged to flourish in the dark, insulated stud wall cavities of the outside structure of the house.

Convection heat from normal woodstoves or forced air systems does not warm things directly. Instead, it heats air while objects, like the walls of the house, stay colder than the air. At the same time, the excessively warmed air is very low in moisture. But moisture has to go somewhere when it is not in the air. Some of it goes into the walls.

In addition, in most homes heated with a convection system, the outside air is more humid than the inside air. Thus we have moisture in the walls and moist air outside the walls and cold wall surfaces. And what often happens when moist air contacts a cold surface? If you answered “condensation”, go to the head of the class.

The cold, moist conditions created can be a superb environment for cultivating fungi of all sorts. Moist and dark areas like this also are very attractive to insects. The results of moisture in the walls can be as mild as some off odors or irritation and as severe as complete rotting of the wooden structure of the home and serious breathing problems.

By contrast, a masonry heater is not primarily a convection heater. Instead, 80% of its heat energy goes directly via infrared radiation into things. It is heating you, your furniture, your floors, and your walls. The heated items dictate the air temperature. Air temperature and wall temperature tend to be virtually the same.

Since the masonry stove is not superheating air, moisture is not driven out of the room and into your walls. Rather interior humidity levels stay at a higher, healthier, more natural level. At the same time, since wall temperatures are higher, condensation is much less likely from the outside. The end result is a healthier, more comfortable, and more carefree living environment.

Is This a Masonry Heater?

If you visit websites in the United States and Canada for masonry heaters, you are almost guaranteed to find a picture of a Finnish contraflow masonry heater. These are characterized by their tall, upright appearance. Often, they are around seven feet tall. The body of the heater is primarily symmetrical. The loading door and bakeoven door (if equipped) is centered on the mass.

For many people, this is a very pleasing appearance. Many people love symmetry. The Finnish contraflow also has some resemblance to what is commonly thought of as a fireplace in North America. However, all masonry heaters are not Finnish contraflows. What's more, Finnish contraflows lack some versatility.

Note the above picture. Yes, it is a masonry heater. But there definitely nothiing symmetrical about it! Nor is it at all upright. This demonstrates the unique quality of versatility truly available in the masonry heater world. The picture itself is from the website of Creatherm (www.creatherm.de/). I encourage readers to take a look at this website and browse the gallery. You will begin to really appreciate the wide range of possiblities in masonry heaters.