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Some Like It Hot

The idea is to construct a masonry heater in the main dining area. While the black outline looks suspiciously like an outhouse, rest assured it is the current and longest champion answer to the key question of where the masonry heater ought to go. The glass doors are going to face the main dining area accessed from the front doors. The black oven faces in towards the kitchen for hopefully making roasts, pies, breads. Maybe couches around the heater? Who can predict the future anyway,

These things are basically radiant wonders. You have a burn in the AM and a second at night; the rest of the time the chimney is closed. As it is a black oven, the professionals will typically wait until the fire is over and start their deeds of wonder. The rest of us bask in its warmth and smell the ensuing goodness.

We are talking to Fyrepro out of Ft. Collins to build a Temp-Cast core masonry heater. Using a kit takes the guesswork out; this is an expensive and immoveable decision. Fyrepro comes with the core and provided there is a 12″ slab plus a 2″x15″ external air intake waiting, the 22 1/2″x36″ core will be put together not more than 4 days. The whole thing will be about 8000 lbs. It’ll be a long chimney as it has to be higher than the roofline which is in talks about getting still higher. More on that some other time. The chimney itself comes out of the L or R sides; it is asymmetrical. There can be a pair of 30 degree bends in the approximately 10″ exterior diameter chimney should the symmetry as drawn be the right thing to do. The heater is then covered in cardboard and that stage is complete though the unit is not yet ready for service until the exterior cladding is also finished.

The exterior cladding is what we see and apparently a free-standing structure of its own, built over the yet to be well desiccated cardboard. It must be freestanding for crack’s sake as the masonry used to build the core will expand at a different rate than the cladding. Now we all know the plethora of extraordinary rocks in this area. The BTA itself contains gazillions. How about cutting some of them into bricks for the façade? Well that is the plan folks.