The Most Comprehensive Book About Masonry Heaters Available Today.
Masonry Heaters is a lively and informative guide to designing and living with one of the oldest, and yet, one of the newest heating devices. Author Ken Matesz brings the subject to life. The book shows that masonry heaters offer more than just another way to heat living space. A masonry heater’s design, placement in the home, and luxurious radiant heat redefines 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. It feels better on the skin. It truly warms the home both gently and efficiently.
The value of a masonry heater lies in its durability, quality, serviceability, dependability and health-supporting features. Masonry heaters are an investment in self sufficiency and freedom from fossil fuels. In addition they’re an elegant and intelligent solution to home heating that can redefine the very fabric of the home itself, and the quality of life of its inhabitants.
The book discusses the pros and cons of many different masonry heater designs, outlines 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 only be familiar with open fireplaces and metal woodstoves, Masonry Heaters will bring them to 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 of convection heat from forced air systems, and more personal than that offered by “radiant” floors. As Matesz proves, 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 modern 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 about masonry heaters within these pages.
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“. . . a clear path through the woods to getting an heirloom masonry heater. . . ”
“I have the honor to be one of those who have used a trowel alongside
Ken Matesz in some wild places, building masonry heaters and discussing
this fascinating world’s best cordwood burning technology. I am likewise
honored to have read his new book Masonry Heaters: Designing, Building,
and Living with a Piece of the Sun.
Ken does not tell everything he knows about masonry heaters. What he
does is guide us as readers on a clear path through the woods to getting
an heirloom masonry heater with a fascinating and enervating conversation
along the way as to why we should want to go there. You will learn about
many more things than masonry heaters along the journey; some things
about energy and how your house works (or should), even more how to
have your own radiating energy source at its center with exactly what it
takes to get it designed, built, and burning.
And you will get the details to flesh it all out with some wonderful stories
of the people who have made masonry heaters a part of their lives, these
fascinating and varied people we who build their heaters start by calling
“customers” and end by calling friends.
May the sun shine on this work!”
Timothy Seaton
Former President, Alliance of Masonry Heater and Oven
Professionals, Inc.
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“There is more knowledge and truth about masonry heaters between
these two
covers than has ever been published before in English.”
"In Masonry Heaters, a rich and wonderful book, Ken Matesz sweeps away the
ashes of our ignorance about the right relationship to fire. He argues—with
quiet and crystal-clear clarity—that masonry heaters are the most intelligent,
gentle, efficient, environmentally friendly and sustainable, beautiful, and
healthy form of heating humans have ever known. There is more knowledge
and truth about masonry heaters between these two covers than has ever
been published before in English.”
Albie Barden
Maine Wood Heat Company
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“. . . captured the true beauty and user-friendliness of these exquisite heaters.”
"This book should be on the required reading list for anyone wanting to
become a heater mason, or for those who are planning to install and heat
with a masonry heater. Matesz has captured the true beauty and
user-friendliness of these exquisite heaters, and, with ease, helps guide
readers through the process of designing a beautiful, and functional
'bit of sun' for their homes. I highly recommend the book, as well as
masonry heaters.”
Tom Stroud,
Founding Member and Former President of the
Masonry Heater Association of North America
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“This book is assembled with all the methodical care that
Ken Matesz obviously
lavishes on his building projects.”
“Matesz has been designing and building masonry heaters for
many years, and this new book glows with his expertise. He has
a scientist's mind for analyzing all the variables that go into
good design, as well as an artist's eye for the aesthetics
that these durable works of art deserve. And as an author he
writes very clearly, even passionately, about what he loves.
This book is assembled with all the methodical care that he
obviously lavishes on his building projects.
This is one of the most beautifully illustrated books I have seen.
There are color photographs on almost every page, and most of
these are examples of the amazing variety that masonry heaters
can embody. The book is worthwhile just for inspiration in how
one might design such heaters, but there is also enough
information to have a thorough understanding of all the
elements that go into good physical design.”
Kelly Hart
Greenhomebuilding.com
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“This is a truly delightful book.”
“Masonry heaters provide a quiet comfort that must be
experienced to be believed. In this book, Ken Matesz shares
his love of masonry heaters and artfully explains how they work,
how to use them to provide efficient and comfortable heat throughout
the day, and what it takes to install one in your home. This is a truly
delightful book.”
David Bainbridge
Author of The Straw Bale House, and Passive Solar Architecture
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“. . . well grounded in nature, and delightful to read.”
“A wonderful book! Well thought out, well grounded in nature, and
delightful to read. When I visited a house built around a masonry
heater, it was a "just right" experience, and one I have never forgotten.
This book is a great introduction from a man who obviously knows and
loves the subject.”
Debra Lynn Dadd,
Author of Home Safe Home
Ken Matesz is a timber framer and heater mason who first learned about masonry heaters in the early 1980s, built his first one in the early 1990s, and has been building masonry stoves exclusively since the dawn of the 21st century. Ken’s first solo heater project in 1994, a Finnish-style heater in his own home, gave his family heating energy independence. Now, with his new book, Masonry Heaters, he hopes to show many others how they can achieve the same freedom and a better standard of living using this simple but elegant way of heating. You can learn more about Ken and his vocation by visiting his website at
www.kenmatesz.com.
If you would like more information about designing and building masonry heaters, provide your E-mail address for forthcoming updates.
$40.00 Paperback
