I've built a few masonery wood stoves, and used them, they were all based off a kit from a compeny out of Canada that is currently sliping my mind... they really do work, I've seen them in service for 10+ years, I've built them, made fires in them, slept next to them, cooked in ovens built in to them (nice idea, but people don't time meals well enough to make them worth while), it's correct that they must have their own foundation, if you have a crall space then you have to cut a hole in your floor and build a foundation coming up thru it, if you have a basement and want them in your main living space to be used like a normal fire place then you need to build a tall foundation up thru your floor, if you have a concreat slab it helps to cut around where the base of the stove is going to be on the slab so it can settle and move without affecting the rest of your floor, also unless your house is drafty (fix that!) they work best with air from the outside coming dirrecting in to them.
A few photos of stoves I've worked on:
Number one, see how the core looks! made of high temp cement and fire brick like kiln's use.
First stove with split granete stone facing (not my stone work), it also has a wood storage space to it's left, this was at the owners requiest and wouldn't be needed if space did not alow.
2nd stove, this one I built nearly all of it, useing the same kit for the core and split sand stone for the facing... spent way to much time on that facing.
I forget at the exact weight of these stoves, maybe 1,000 pounds for the core and another 2,000lb for the face? the idea is that you have enough mass that holds heat that it acts almost like a thermo fly wheel, both stoves were in straw houses were the twigs gathered out of the yard would nearly be enough to fuel the stove thru the winter... really! the first one has used one pickup truck leavle with wood per winter in northern wisconsin were as I write this it is -5.
You can also add a simple or
complex masonry chimny to capure some of the heat befor it goes out of the house.