About New England Hearth & Soapstone
Our mission at NEHS is to design and build masonry heaters that give a home a heart. We strive to provide your home with a focal area full of comfortable warmth. Each of our products will have the highest efficiency, lowest emissions, create a healthy living environment, and last for generations.
Our Philosophy
Selecting the correct materials for your home is an important step, but other factors have equal impact. Conscious design will lend grace and ease to all of your kitchen movements, and a master's understanding of details will elevate a good kitchen to an extraordinary living space.
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About the Designer
Rod Zander of New England Hearth & Soapstone, LLC in Goshen, Connecticut, has a national reputation as a master designer and builder, and is renowned by homeowners and contractors alike for his meticulously engineered one-of-a-kind soapstone masonry heaters. Although he began his career as a cabinetmaker and woodworker, the masonry heater he installed in his own home so intrigued him that he sought out the best craftsmen and technicians to learn everything he needed to know about masonry heaters. Using a global network of contacts he acquired within the field, Zander became knowledgeable about the interior mechanics of the heaters by building them, and adapted construction methods to comply with modern building codes. His travels took him to factories and quarries in Sweden, Finland and Nova Scotia, where he absorbed the time-honored skills of master craftsmen to hone his engineering, stone cutting and design abilities. Because of this background, he brings to his work an attention to detail which results not only in efficient heating systems, but in beautiful pieces of functional sculpture.
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Rod has been designing and building premium-quality masonry heaters since 1986. He was the second masonry heater installer in the United States to be certified by the Masonry Heating Association, the organization which sets industry standards in North America. Rod does all his own design and fabrication, and his custom installations can be found from New York to California.
Affiliations
Among the nation’s foremost experts on masonry heat, Zander is the former chairman of an ASTM International Task Group working to develop safety and emissions testing standards for masonry heaters. (ASTM International, the American Society for Testing and Materials, is a prestigious global forum for developing safety and quality standards for materials, products, services and systems.) He was also a Corresponding Member of the Masonry Alliance for Codes and Standards (MACS). A former vice president of the Alliance of Masonry Heater & Oven Professionals (AMHOP), former board member and past treasurer of the Masonry Heater Association of North America (MHA), he was also the former chair for the MHA Technical Committee.