The Masonry Heater: Part II

The "core" is the functional part of a masonry heater. It's made out of fire brick, and is only visible when the heater is being built. Core kits are available, but Stephen wanted to build ours from scratch. When completed, the core is faced with decorative material, which could be brick, stone, soapstone, tile, or stucco. Our facing will be brick.
Here's the start of the core construction. The open space in front is the firebox.


Openings are created for the heat to circulate around the bake oven.


Soapstone is very good at retaining and then slowly releasing heat. For that reason it makes a good material for the construction of the bake oven. Mason and Stephen placed large slabs at the bottom, sides and back of the oven.


More firebrick and heat circulation chambers are added above:


The bake oven:


Here, the core is nearly complete:


Air chambers can be seen looking from above:


Stephen and Mason place slabs of firebrick to cap the core:


The completed core:


The bricks are delivered, stacked, and ready:


Playing with decorative design ideas:


Our next post will show the brick facing.

The Masonry Heater: Part I

We've joked that our primary reason for wanting to build a house is so we could have a masonry heater in it. Masonry heaters date way back in history. They are fueled with wood, and their function is to store the heat in a thermal mass which then radiates into the house slowly and evenly. One very hot fire is built and burned at a time. No wood is added during the burn (as with wood stoves). The masonry is never too hot to touch. The size of the burn is determined by how cold it is outside and how much heat is anticipated to be needed within the next 12-24 hours. They come in many forms.

• To see a visual example of how masonry heaters basically work, visit:
  http://www.boston.com/interactive/graphics/masonry_heater/


• To learn everything about masonry heaters, visit The Masonry Heater Association of America website:
  http://mha-net.org/index.htm

After seeing some of his work, and discovering that he lives locally, we dreamed that if we were to ever build a masonry heater, we would want Stephen Bushway of Deer Hill Masonry in Plainfield to build it. Well. . . . we got lucky! We first met with Stephen last fall, and now he is building ours. It will be the primary source of heat for the house.

• To see some of Stephen Bushway's impressive work visit:
  http://www.ultimateridgehook.com/deerhill/recentprojects.html


• And here's a news article on him from The Boston Globe:
  http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/articles/2009/01/11/extra_touch_of_warmth/?page=1

Beginning a few weeks ago, Stephen and his aptly named son Mason arrived. They're ready to start. Here's Stephen unloading the first load of material:


Remember the large footing we poured in the basement last fall? Here, the cinder block foundation is being assembled upon it. The block foundation will support the heater:


Mason mixes one of many batches of mortar:


The basement level is about done. One of the two flues is for a wood stove in the basement. We decided to install the wood stove for transitional (spring, fall) weather, when only a small amount of heat is needed, and for supplemental winter heat in the basement.


Now it's up to the first floor. Mason and Stephen discuss details:


Insulation and concrete cap the base. This keeps the heat upstairs, and provides a solid base for the heater.


The bricks start to arrive and are stacked around the room. This carrying tool looks like it has seen many a load of bricks.


More equipment also arrives. This is a diamond blade wet saw used for cutting the brick:


In the next post, We'll see the core assembly.

March Mudness

It's amazing to think that it's been six months since we began this project. I remember thinking last September, "What will all this look like six months from now?" I did not think about mud, but as you can see, there's plenty of it. Lots of activity has been in process these past few weeks. For one, Gary brought more gravel to make the driveway accessible.


We also had a snowstorm that buried John's truck for a few days.

Basement stairs, and a door were installed. The water was hooked up, too.

The electrical service cables and panels are installed. In the photo below, Sergei guides the cable into the conduit while Marc pulls on the other end with his van and a pulley and rope system.

And best of all, the power was connected!
No more noisy generator :-)

The interior framing continues. It's exciting to see new spaces created. Here are some framed skylights and knee walls on the second floor.

The future guest room:

Closets:

Ceiling:

And we laid out our rock collection. Why? A few of these "chosen" rocks will become part of the masonry heater. The mason has arrived and is currently working on the "core". More heater talk will come in future posts.

The plumber has arrived too. And in addition to pounding nails, John is also spending time designing the kitchen and bathrooms, lining up an HRV (heat recovery ventilation) system installation, and prepping for the cellulose insulation contractor. We've also started looking at appliances and deciding on the models. The specifications of some of them are needed now for roughing in. There's no lack of things to do!

Stair Framing

One of the first features to decide when designing a house is where to put the interior staircase. Staircases take up significant floor space and determine how the rest of the floor space will be planned. Style needs to be determined too. In our case we're choosing "winders" because they consume less space than other designs. Here, you can see the winder steps in framing mode:


Lower level of the basement stairs:


Looking down the basement stairs:


The main floor staircase:


And looking down from the second floor:

Of course we'll need to install permanenet treads and a railing system. This is where the fun will really begin.

The Biggest Stud

This is a cross section of a black birch log that John and Paul cut last Friday afternoon from the woods out back. It's a perfect candidate for the load bearing column we need in the main section of the house. The photographer was unavailable to document the actual felling, but, by all reports, it was as unconventional as it was challenging. The birch had to first be cut about nine feet in the air, and then cut again at ground level (which was frozen and snowy), to retain its character. The fact that it was growing over an unforseen rock also challenged the chainsaw. And then all nine plus feet of trunk had to be hauled about 100 feet to the house and then hoisted a few feet more to the first floor. This was accomplished by two sturdy Michiganders, a sled, and some rope.



John then proceeded to remove the aromatic bark with his draw knife. Black birch bark is used to make "Birch Beer". To me it smelled like wintergreen and the "kids paste" we had in grammer school.




Along with the bark, the cambium layer was removed to expose the light wood underneath.




It took a few hours and lots of muscle to finish the surface.




Another challenge was making the "butt" end perfectly square and flat. John discovered that the hand planer was an appropriate tool for this...



along with his level. Plane some... check it with the level... plane some more, and eventually it was flat and square.




Now it just needs to be vertical. John spent some time putting it in place...




And it fit! The temporary supports can now be removed.


The weekend's project is complete.

Double Studdin'

Before we begin, here's a shot of some birches through a 2nd floor window:



"Double Studding" is sometimes termed" super insulated". In our case the outside wall studs are doubled up with a strips of rigid foam insulation between them which serve as a thermal break to prevent heat from being conducted through the studs from interior to exterior. This also creates contained cavities for the cellulose insulation. Here's an example of how the second set of studs are installed. Notice the rigid foam strips along the edge of the studs:



Here, the second set of studs are erected:

The rim joists also need to be insulated. See the blue rigid insulating board at the top of the wall:

Spray foam is applied to the cracks around the rigid insulaion inside the rim joists. All spaces must be air sealed!

Upstairs, the rafters have extra insulation and framing added, too:

Full sheets of rigid foam board are installed over the rafter assemblies. The space behind the rigid foam will be filled with blown-in cellulose.

Meanwhile, John contemplates how to frame the skylights:

Interior walls are being framed too. The house has become a studding display:

(Builder's note: I once worked with a carpenter whose truck sported a bumper sticker that proclaimed "It Takes Studs to Build Houses" Sigh.)

Medium Bronze, Seal Brown

Even roofs have fun color names: Medium Bronze, Seal Brown, take your pick -- that's what the color sample called the color of our metal (aka brown) roof material.
Tim Luce (Luce Brothers Roofing), took measurements a few weeks ago. Then the pieces were fabricated at a nearby metal fabrication shop. Here's Matt prepping a piece:

This type of roofing is called "standing seam". In the photo below, the right edge is secured with screws. The left edge of the adjoining piece hooks over this edge covering the screw holes. This creates a water tight seam.


Andy and Tim install the first panel:


Here, the ridge vent is being installed.


Tom patiently poses in the frigid cold: (yes, he's standing on the ridge; and, yes, it's quite windy. Don't try this at home!)


After a few days, the roof is finished:


They will return to finish the last few pieces after the chimney is up.