Norbert,

Well, we now understand why we never came across any negative comments on living with a masonry heater! It is perfect and performing up to all the praises we have heard and read about these heaters.

We designed our home around the heater and it has worked out perfectly. Our house is on a slab with 4" foam under slab, 2x6 walls with 2" foam on outside, and R60 in attic. We have oriented our house south with tile around the heater and in the adjacent dining area to transfer radiant heat from the heater and the sun (I think they are cousins) into the tiles and slab. We positioned the two bedrooms and master bath above the heater and used an open stringer and tread stair system to allow adequate heat distribution.

We are burning low quality (high softwood content) firewood from the lot clearing but the heater has performed beyond our expectations! The living area of the house is always comfortable and the upstairs does not overheat as it would with a woodstove.  Our electric baseboard heaters have not even turned on and we are nearing the end of January in New Brunswick!

Thank you for all your assistance in the building process and answering all my questions while we built the core (my father-in-law and I are both handy but are not in the construction business).

We have attached a few pictures of the core assembly, facing, and the finished product.

Feel free to pass our names along to anyone who may be inquiring about masonry heaters in New Brunswick. We would definitely be open to showing it or answering any questions for anyone who may be interested in building one.

Thanks again and we are so thankful we went with this in our home!

Peter Davison and Stephanie Rheault

Scoudouc, New Brunswick

peterdavison20@msn.com