permaculture

[Keith Johnson <keithdj@mindspring.com>]

David,
I was already versed. I was a chimney sweep, mason, stove installer, and 
a Massachusetts certified wood stove safety inspector. Plus our floor is 
an insulated, tiled slab that grabs heat whenever the sun shines (in the 
summer it receives no sunlight at all and then it helps us stay cool). 
We even have heat pipe in the slab for the time when we get around to 
connecting it to solar water heating.
Keith

David Neeley wrote:

> Keith, 
>
> Sounds like a lovely project!
>
> You either were lucky, very bright, or already versed--but
> every fireplace or stove used for primary heating is better
> when put into such a "pit" so that the level of the fire is
> at the level of the floor. Much of the heat is radiant--and
> the elevated fires people seem so fond of leave *awfully*
> cold feet!
>
> David
>
> "Soapstone is lovely to work with. I got 1/2 a ton from an
> old quarry in Virginia in Nelson county. I cut and polished
> it to use as heat sink mass around a woodstove that I sank
> 8  inches below floor level in our 
> clay/straw (or light clay) house at Earthaven Ecovillage
> (the pit handily confines the wood and ash mess around the
> stove)." 
>
>  
Keith Johnson
Permaculture Activist Magazine
PO Box 1209
Black Mountain, NC 28711
(828)669-6336

also Patterns for Abundance Design & Consulting
Culture's Edge at Earthaven Ecovillage
http://www.permacultureactivist.net
http://www.earthaven.org
http://www.bioregionalcongress.org