Masonry Stoves

Three hundred years old, and still more efficient than most of what has replaced it.

Beauty, history & efficiency

The masonry stove

Masonry stoves and heaters are originally a Swedish refinement of the fireplace, capable of producing even and long‑lasting warmth for the home in a sustainable and beautiful way. This 300‑year‑old technology is astonishingly efficient — more so than even current wood‑burning stoves.

Masonry stoves come in different shapes and sizes, different finishes, different outputs. So there is a masonry stove to suit every property, modern or traditional.

The secret to the masonry stove, and what differentiates it from the steel or cast‑iron stove, is not simply the material but also the flue passages inside the stove, which extract as much thermal energy as possible from the fuel. That is what makes masonry stoves so efficient.

Masonry heaters have significant advantages over other kinds of wood‑burning stove, and we believe more British households and businesses should consider these beautiful, highly efficient heating systems.

Beauty

A part of your home

Masonry stoves are built rather than installed, because of the weight: our smallest starts at 270kg and climbs to over 1,500kg. Different products are built differently, some as dry‑stack products while others are bonded together using high‑temperature mortar.

History

The 17th‑ and 18th‑century ecologists

Masonry stoves were developed to improve the efficiency and heat storage of the open fireplace, in Sweden around the 17th and 18th centuries. Scandinavians were eating through their pristine woodlands to heat their homes, and realised that to keep as much of their forests as possible, fireplaces would have to become more efficient.

Efficiency

90% heat where you want it

The modern masonry stoves we supply and install offer high efficiency and can give off heat for up to 20 hours after burning. That allows a masonry stove to be the only heat source in a home, or a supplementary one.

An E580 silicon carbide masonry stove by Ecco Stove, installed in a low‑energy home in the Trossachs

An E678 masonry stove installed in Comrie, with two additional sections raising the door height and adding mass — around 700kg

An E678 with back boiler on Loch Tay, photographed after the installation

An E678 with our custom copper boiler, heating a radiator in the kitchen

An E678 by Ecco Stove with a custom copper boiler

A traditional Italian tile stove by La Castellamonte

A refurbished antique tile stove alight, white with blue-and-white banding, in a hand-painted room

The masonry heater at the Gondwana office, alight, with Willow the labrador sitting on the rug in front of it

A white‑tiled masonry heater alight in an open‑plan kitchen and living room

An Osier masonry heater part-built in raw blocks, a spirit level resting on top

Installation

Georgian town houses to seaside villas

We have installed masonry stoves in many rural and city homes across Britain, from Georgian town houses in Edinburgh to stunning villas in seaside locations like Gullane and the Inner Hebrides.

Masonry stoves are normally located on the ground floor, because of the weight, and ideally centrally, to let heat permeate the ground floor evenly before rising to the next. There are practical factors too — hearth requirements, and the chimney system, which is the same as for a standard wood‑burning stove.

The Ecco Stove

British‑made silicon carbide

We are proud to be authorised installers and retailers of the innovative British‑made silicon carbide wood‑fuelled masonry stove.

These British beasts are made in the UK from refractory castable with silicon carbide chips, which lets them absorb heat very well and push that stored heat to the extremities of the property. Ecco Stove has a range of models and colours to suit contemporary and traditional properties, as well as different heat outputs.

We also produce a range of copper back boilers to fit the Ecco Stove range, so your masonry stove can heat water for central heating and hot taps when installed with one of our thermal storage tanks.

The Osier

Built to the height of the room

We also offer the Osier masonry heater, which varies in height to suit the home. It can be left as a raw heater, or painted or tiled to suit a customer's taste and budget.

The picture above is one mid‑build. Finished and tiled, a masonry heater of this kind sits in a room like a piece of furniture — the one in our gallery is white‑tiled in an open‑plan kitchen.

La Castellamonte

Italian designer tile stoves

We are delighted to offer the amazing La Castellamonte ceramic stoves in Scotland. This artisan company has been making traditional tile stoves in the hills of Piedmont since 1975, building on a long tradition of the craft in the area.

La Castellamonte produce both traditional tile stoves and the “Stack Stove” range, which are contemporary Italian stunners.

Ask about a tile stove

A masonry stove is built, not installed — so it starts with the building.

Tell us about the room and we will work out what size, what weight and where it can stand.

Get in touch