Masonry Heaters is a complete guide to designing and living with one of the oldest, and yet one of the newest, heating devices. A masonry heater’s design, placement in the home, and luxurious radiant heat redefine the hearth for the modern era, turning it into a piece of the sun right inside the home. Like the feeling one gets from the sun on a spring day, the environment around a masonry heater feels fresh. The radiant heat feels better on the skin. It warms the home both
Masonry Heaters is a complete guide to designing and living with one of the oldest, and yet one of the newest, heating devices. A masonry heater’s design, placement in the home, and luxurious radiant heat redefine the hearth for the modern era, turning it into a piece of the sun right inside the home. Like the feeling one gets from the sun on a spring day, the environment around a masonry heater feels fresh. The radiant heat feels better on the skin. It warms the home both gently and efficiently. In fact, the value of a masonry heater lies in its durability, quality, serviceability, dependability, and health-supporting features. And it is an investment in self-sufficiency and freedom from fossil fuels.The book discusses different masonry heater designs, including variations extant in Europe, and explains the growth of their popularity in the United States beginning in the late 1970s. For the reader who may be familiar only with open fireplaces and metal woodstoves, Masonry Heaters will bring a new understanding and appreciation of massive heat storage and gentle-but-persistent radiant heat. Masonry heaters offer a unique comfort that is superior to that from convection heat from forced-air systems, and more personal than that offered by “radiant” floors. As Matesz demonstrates, the heat from the sun or from a masonry heater is genuine heat instead of just insulation against the loss of heat.Those who are looking to build, add onto, or remodel a house will find comprehensive and practical advice for designing and installing a masonry heater, including detailed discussion of materials, code considerations, and many photos and illustrations. While this is not a do-it-yourself guide for building a masonry heater, it provides facts every heater builder should know. Professional contractors will find this a useful tool to consult, and homeowners considering a new method of home heating will find all they need to know
^ Masonry Heaters: Designing, Building, and Living with a Piece of the Sun ISBN 9781603582131 (revised Feb 2026)
^Masonry Heaters: Designing, Building, And Living With A Piece Of The SunIndigo. ISBN 9781603582131 (revised Apr 2016)
^Ken MateszMasonry Heaters: Designing, Building, and Living with a Piece of the Sun, Chelsea Green Publishing. Amazon. ISBN 9781603582131 (revised Feb 2015)
This is the best book I have found so far for mass masonry heaters. The text has many illustrations of different heaters, and includes quite a bit of design information-- almost enough to design your own and certainly enough to avoid making obvious blunders in heater size, design, and placement.The text isn't technical enough to actually design your own heater-- the general impression I get is that custom masonry heater design is still more of an art based on experience than a science. Regardless, one cou..
Excellent, and modern, up-to-date review of Masonry Heaters and their use and construction in America.The rationale, use, differences, and construction of MHs is exhaustive; there are scores of beautiful full color photos of different heaters - it almost seems he has a photo of every current heater in America.The author shows the different uses and qualities of masonry types, right down to how fast they transfer heat, and how much heat each can store. He provides formulas for calculating how big the firebo..
This is best masonry design book I have found to date. It presents a good overview of the designs/options available as of 2010. It also contains many color pictures of actual masonry heaters to whet your creativity. For those interested in calculating masonry heater heat gain (BTU's) we added a calculator to our website that you can find by Googling Borst Engineering & Construction LLC.
