By Eric Moshier – Certified Heater Mason, Third-Generation Mason, MHA Technical Committee Member, ASTM E1602 Masonry Heater Group Member
Solid Rock Masonry LLC in Duluth, Minnesota teaches hands-on masonry heater workshops across North America. Owner Eric Moshier is a Certified Heater Mason, a third-generation mason, an MHA Technical Committee member, and an ASTM E1602 committee member with more than 25 years in the trade and over 800 completed projects. He has been teaching masonry heater and oven building since 2010. Three sessions are on the calendar for 2027: two masonry heater building workshops at the North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minnesota on January 15 to 17 and February 26 to 28, with tuition of $335 plus a $75 materials fee and a class size limited to 10 students, and the Masonry Heater Association of North America annual meeting at Wildacres Retreat in Little Switzerland, North Carolina, April 12 to 18. Open-enrollment masonry heater classes are rare. Only a handful are taught anywhere in North America in a given year.
Where can you take a masonry heater workshop in 2027?
Eric teaches at two locations in 2027. Both are open to the public, and neither requires previous masonry experience.
- North House Folk School, Grand Marais, Minnesota. January 15 to 17, 2027.
- North House Folk School, Grand Marais, Minnesota. February 26 to 28, 2027.
- MHA Annual Meeting, Wildacres Retreat, Little Switzerland, North Carolina. April 12 to 18, 2027.
Masonry heater building workshops at North House Folk School
North House Folk School sits on the harbor in Grand Marais, Minnesota, on the north shore of Lake Superior. Eric has been teaching there since 2010. Classes are capped at 10 students and run as a mix of presentation, hands-on building, and open question and answer time. The course is listed under the school’s Shelter category.
Session one: January 15 to 17, 2027
- Friday and Saturday 9am to 5pm, Sunday 9am to 1pm
- Tuition $335, materials fee $75
- Class size limited to 10
Session two: February 26 to 28, 2027
- Friday and Saturday 9am to 5pm, Sunday 9am to 1pm
- Tuition $335, materials fee $75
- Class size limited to 10
Registration is handled by North House, not by Solid Rock Masonry. These classes have sold out in past years, so early registration is worth it. If you want background before you sign up, start with what a masonry heater actually is and the masonry heater planning guide.
MHA Annual Meeting: Wildacres Retreat, April 12 to 18, 2027
The Masonry Heater Association of North America holds its annual meeting each spring at Wildacres Retreat in Little Switzerland, North Carolina. Eric teaches a hands-on build there most years. Past projects have included a German and Austrian style Grundofen with a cook top, and squirrel tail oven builds. Photos of many past Wildacres workshop projects, including builds Eric taught, are preserved in the Masonry Heater Association workshop archive.
This is the single best week in the year for anyone serious about the trade. It is a week long, all-inclusive event with lodging and meals, and the days are filled with seminars, clinics, hands-on workshops, demonstrations, a design contest, and a pizza party fired in ovens built on site. Beginning, intermediate, and advanced projects run side by side, so it works whether you have never touched a firebrick or you build heaters for a living.
The 2027 dates are April 12 to 18. Registration details and pricing are published by MHA closer to the event and are handled through them directly. Watch the MHA annual conference page for the registration link, or check back here and we will post it as soon as it is live.
Why are masonry heater workshops so rare?
You can find a welding class or a timber framing class in most parts of the country. Masonry heater building is different. Only a handful of open-enrollment classes are taught anywhere in North America in a given year, and most years the list is short enough to write on the back of a business card.
Part of the reason is history. In much of Europe, where the masonry heater originated, the trade moves through guild apprenticeship rather than public classes. Shop methods are held closely and passed to the next generation inside the shop. There is no tradition of teaching an outsider how the core works.
The other part is simply that the trade is small. There are a few hundred people in North America who build masonry heaters for a living, and only a fraction of them teach. That is why the same two or three programs come up every time somebody goes looking.
Solid Rock Masonry takes the opposite view from the guild tradition. The more people who understand how these heaters work, the better the work gets and the fewer bad installations end up in front of a code official. That is the same reason we publish masonry heater building code information and sell course-by-course plans to owner-builders.
What do you build in a masonry heater workshop?
At North House, the class builds a classic Finnish-style masonry heater roughly 36 inches wide by 31 inches deep by 72 inches high. The brick is laid in clay mortar rather than refractory mortar because the heater comes apart at the end of class, which means every student gets to lay brick rather than watch someone else do it.
Over three days the class covers:
- Heater sizing and matching a heater to a house
- Brick selection and the difference between firebrick and common clay brick
- Bake oven integration, including black oven and white oven configurations
- Door and hardware installation, including combustion air
- Code considerations and what an inspector will look for
- Exterior finishing in clay brick, stucco, and clay plaster
- Larger systems capable of heating up to 2,500 square feet, and masonry cook stoves
- Firing technique, because a masonry heater burns hot and fast for 2 to 3 hours and then coasts on stored heat for 12 to 24 hours
Time and weather permitting, the class also spends time with the masonry heater already standing on the North House campus. If bake ovens are what brought you here, see our bake ovens and cook stoves page, and if you are drawn to the tile stove tradition, read about the kachelofen.
What the workshop does not cover
This is worth saying plainly. The class covers construction technique and exterior design. It does not teach internal core design. Firebox proportion, channel sizing, gas path, and the thermodynamics behind them are a separate discipline that takes years of dedicated study and belongs in the hands of a certified heater mason. A three-day class is not going to make anyone a heater designer, and any class that claims otherwise is selling something.
What the class does do is prepare you to build a heater from a proven set of plans. That is exactly how our SR Core DIY masonry heater kits are set up. The core is engineered and the drawings are course by course, so the part that requires 25 years of experience is already handled and the part you learned in class is the part you do. Several past students have gone home from a North House class, ordered a kit, and built their own heater.
Who should take a masonry heater workshop?
- Owner-builders planning to build their own heater and wanting hands-on time before they commit
- Professional masons looking to add masonry heaters to what they offer
- Homeowners who are hiring the work out but want to understand what they are buying and be able to ask sharper questions
- Architects and designers who need to know how a heater interacts with a floor plan, a foundation, and a chimney
- Anyone curious about wood heat done properly, with no masonry background required
What to bring
Required: clothes that can get dirty, eye protection, and ear plugs. You do not need to buy tools. Eric brings extras.
Optional and nice to have: a rubber mallet, elbow-length rubber gloves, and a 2 by 4 inch or 2 by 8 inch margin trowel from any masonry supply or hardware store.
Workshops we have taught over the years
- North House Folk School cabin heater workshop
- Wood-fired brick oven workshop
- Squirrel tail oven build, Wildacres, North Carolina
- North House Grundofen with cook top
- Wildacres Grundofen and cook top workshop
- Grundofens at Wildacres
- Introduction to masonry heaters webinar
- MHA Wildacres workshop archive (past projects, with photos)
More finished work is in the project gallery.
Frequently asked questions about masonry heater workshops
Do I need masonry experience to take a masonry heater workshop?
No. The North House classes are built for people with no masonry background. Professional masons take them too, and the mix usually works in everyone’s favor.
How long is the workshop?
Three days at North House. Two full days from 9am to 5pm and a half day from 9am to 1pm. The MHA annual meeting runs a full week.
What does a masonry heater workshop cost?
North House tuition is $335 with a $75 materials fee. The materials fee covers everything used in the build plus a complete resource packet you take home. MHA annual meeting pricing is set by MHA and is all-inclusive of lodging and meals.
Will I be able to build my own masonry heater after the class?
You will be able to build one from a proven set of plans, which is how most owner-builders do it. You will not be ready to design a core from scratch, and nobody should expect that from a three-day class.
Do you keep the heater you build in class?
No. The class heater is laid in clay mortar and taken apart at the end so the next class can build again. That is deliberate. It means every student lays brick instead of watching.
Are masonry heater workshops offered anywhere else in North America?
A few, but not many, and they come and go year to year. The MHA annual meeting is the most consistent. If you are looking for a class we are not teaching, the Masonry Heater Association is the best place to ask.
I want a heater but I do not want to build it. Is the class still worth it?
Many students come for exactly that reason. Three days with a heater in front of you will tell you more about what you want than a year of reading, and it makes every conversation with your mason and your building inspector go better. See custom masonry heaters for what a site-built project involves.
Questions about a workshop or a heater project?
Registration for the North House classes goes through North House Folk School, and MHA registration goes through MHA. For anything else, including kits, plans, doors, or a site-built heater, get in touch.
Solid Rock Masonry LLC
5347 Howard Gnesen Road, Duluth, MN 55803
218-343-2978
eric@solidrockmasonry.com
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