[Clayart] Kiln with soft floor?

[wschran at twc.com]

I know there were some brands that had insulating hard fiber boards
used in the lids, but I don't know if this material was used for
floors. It does sound from the description this may well be the case.
If so I would place a full shelf directly on the bottom.

Bill

William Schran wschran at twc.com 703-505-1617

	-----------------------------------------From: "Teri Lee" 
To: "Clayart"
Cc: 
Sent: Tuesday August 27 2019 11:44:30PM
Subject: [Clayart] Kiln with soft floor?

A clay colleague of mine recently came to possess an old Duncan kiln.
She
 has no idea how old it is, but she is guesstimating it was built in
the
 1970s (no automatic anything, no vent, uses a kiln sitter). She has
no
 manual, so she figured she would place three 1/2-inch kiln posts on
the
 kiln floor to hold up an initial shelf, then stack her pots the usual
way.

 She did a cone 5 firing and all seemed to go well, but when she
unloaded
 the kiln, she found that the three kiln posts had actually sunk
slightly
 into the kiln floor, leaving three "dimples."

 I have never heard of a kiln with such a soft bottom. Was the kiln
built
 with super soft brick or other material? Does this kind of sinking
indicate
 that the kiln is deteriorating? Is it safe to use? Should she place a
shelf
 directly onto the bottom of the kiln to evenly distribute the weight
of her
 pots and stack per usual? Any and all insights are greatly
appreciated.

 Thanks,
 Teri Lee
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