Masonry stoves - anyone built one?

[Runestone]

We're building an addition to our house and will be installing a masonry stove as the primary heat source. They have been used for at least a 1,000 years in Scandinavia. I wish I could afford a Tulikivi soapstone from Finland BUT..I'm definitely not made of $$. We've found a good supplier for the core and we will build the rest of the masonry stove on our own. Thankfully, DH is very good with concrete.
I'm just wondering if anyone else has used a masonry stove and if so, what we should 'watch' for during construction.
Thanks

[Beeman]

I have no idea where you live. Stone or masonary stoves would be nice in very cold climates for the heat retention. This is not a good thing in areas where it warms up during the day as you can't shut the heat off.

[Mike in Ohio]

Runestone, care to share your core supplier?

TIA

Mike

[Tabitha]

my brother built one that really looks good and does a great job. It has been in service for twenty some years. I would like to build one and do have the plans, it does not require a core, it is made of firebrick, relatively easy. not a lot of complicated drafts. It probably is not legal to post the pictures, as it is from a book which is copyrighted. those stoves are great in climates with long cold spells. with a metal core they heat up a lot faster.

[Runestone]

Beeman, we live in N. Ontario so we expect to use the stove from probably mid-November through to mid-April give or take a few weeks on either side

Rose, sorry I don't have pictures myself, but if you go to either of the websites below, they do have pictures.

Mike - We looked at three different suppliers of the core unit - One was Tempcast, the other is Crossfire and the third...I don't remember the name but they were located in Quebec. I'm not sure if Crossfire does business in the US but I do know Tempcast does for sure.
We've chosen Crossfire because DH likes the way its constructed. We'll be building one with the bake oven - seems DH is going to bake bread

Here's are the websites
www.crossfirefireplaces.com
www.tempcast.com

[autumnbloom]

This sounds about like heaven... i would love to have a wood fired oven in my home when we get to building our house out on our property... definitely something to keep in mind...

[Jenn]

I'll never (unless I move!) want or need one but sorta wish I could have one for the three weeks a year we'd use it (with windows open by afternoon of some of those days). However just came from UK and envied also their cast iron stove oven house and hot water heaters. Can you have heating water part of the equation in this masonry stove you're going to build? Since it'll be custom made why not incorporate this if possible? Would counteract the dryness of such heat, and could even be connected to your hot water and/or to a radiator heating system (as they are with some of the Raeburns and Agas I saw). Also try to enable clothes drying- some place that won't clutter living space around it warm but not too hot for hanging your washing or at least some clothes wet from outside.