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If you want to stay warm in Petersburg Alaska, you need a good heater.  First, cut a hole in your floor and pour about 100 sixty lb. bags of concrete for a footing.  Next, order a Tulikivi masonry heater from Finland.  This unit has a thousand soapstone pieces weighing up to 200 lbs each.  We schlepped each piece up the beach from our landing craft (see previous blogs).  Here are Isaac and Brian, from Alaska Masonry Heat, sorting soapstone in the center of the house trying to find out which piece is which:

This is like building blocks when you were a kid.  Here’s a shot of the third course:

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And four days later, we’re enjoying our first firing.  This heater is a contraflow system where the flu gasses circulate around and around and finally under the bench and up the chimney to the left.  The masonry remains hot 24 hours a day with a single firing once a day.  This will keep the grand piano happy!  Stay tuned…..I’ve been laying granite rock on the other fireplace, too….