Maine Wood Heat Co. teaches week-long, hands-on construction workshops several times a year in Maine and in other parts of the U.S. and Canada. In each workshop, 5-12 masons, builders or owner-builders construct a masonry heater, bakeoven, cookstove, or some combination of the three. Foundation work and chimney work above the unit is carried out by local masons. Workshops afford the interested professional mason highly informative, thorough introduction to the subject of heater construction without any risk of insecurity or underbidding on a first-heater job. For the owner-builder, the workshop offers a concentrated dose of heater design and construction as well as exposure to basic masonry techniques. Several masons who have attended MWHCO workshops now make heater construction a major part of their businesses. Furthermore, masons who demonstrate a mastery of basic masonry skills and a continued interest in heaters following a workshop become part of a valuable pool of identifiable skilled laborers from various parts of the U.S. and Canada to whom we can make referrals. Current cost for a workshop is $450.00 per person, paid in advance. Room and board are not included in this cost. Most workshop sites and dates, however, are chosen with a low-cost camping capability for participants in mind. Customers or organizations wishing to sponsor or host a workshop are benefited directly in three ways: (1) a qualified instructor with extensive heater experience supervises all phases of the project. (2) the project is completed on an efficient one-week time schedule. (3) labor costs for the sponsor are limited to the instructor alone rather than to a full masonry crew (three persons). Should the sponsoring individual or group choose to organize the workshop, tuition fees are paid directly to the sponsor to offset construction costs and the MWHCO instructor is paid our current hourly rates plus all expenses. When the MWHCO organizes the workshop, the MWHCO instructor is paid our current hourly rate and tuition fees are also paid to the MWHCO Higher instructor fees are charged for dual unit workshops. Dual unit workshops (a cooker-heater complex, etc.) usually take approximately 10 days and will have higher labor and tuition fees. Persons wishing to attend a hands-on workshop should make contact with the MWHCO at least two months in advance. The MWHCO maintains a list of current interested participants and will send notices of upcoming workshops for up to one year to those persons who send us $5.00 for this service. Anyone wishing to sponsor a workshop should make contact with us at least three months in advance.

Contact us: Maine Wood Heat Co., Inc. 254 Fr. Rasle Rd. Norridgewock, ME 04957 Phone: 207-696-5442 Fax: 207-696-5856 E-mail: mwhcoinc@prexar.com

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