A little background. My wife and I are in the process of building our house. Money is tight so we are doing all the work ourselves. The house is a 3200sqft ICF house. We have the outside shell, roof, porch, inside walls, door and windows complete so far. Both floors are concrete with radient tubing and its heated with a heatpump
We were living in a small trailer but as winter got closer it was getting hard to heat. I finished a small section of the house to heat and live in. We designed the house for a wood stove but haven’t bought or installed any of it. Recently we had a bad storm and lost power long enough we needed to relocate for a few days. As i think about how to make things better. I started listing somethings i want to have if we lose power for a long time in the future. A wood stove would probably work but as i do more research I love what a masonry heater can do for us. I think it pairs well with the type of house we are building. I am a machist and welder by trade and have decent construction skills. I am currently working on the design of my heater but i dont know what i dont know. Im hoping you all can help guide me on my journey. I like the 5 run design. I want a cooktop and oven built in and possibly a heated bench on one side. Im trying to stay inside the spot designated for the wood stove. Which is a alcove with 45s on either side.
Hey @Stitch, welcome to the community!
In your design process, I recommend you check out the Corner Masonry Heater Design Brief I put together:
The corner design is interesting. Is the downdraft on the sides and updraft in the back? The area I’m trying to stay in is 4ft wide along the back, 3ft deep and 10ft in the front. The room its in is a combination dinning and living area. We can go out into the room a bit if needed, it just takes away from the other spaces. Also the chimney chase is already framed in the middle of that alcove.
