[Clayart] Kiln with soft floor?

[wschran at twc.com]

One clayarter responded adding a sheet metal bottom underneath the
floor.Wonder if using a piece of expanded sheet metal might be
better...Like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Steel-Expanded-Metal-Sheet-Flattened/dp/B00FY3Y54K
[1]

Bill

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

	-----------------------------------------From: "Paul Gerhold" 
To: "Clayart international pottery discussion forum"
Cc: 
Sent: Wednesday August 28 2019 8:02:22AM
Subject: Re: [Clayart] Kiln with soft floor?

So the entire weight of the load was resting on less than one square
inch of kiln posts. Either put a whole shelf on on the bottom of the
kiln or rest the posts on broken pieces of shelf. Anything that will
distribute the load over more area will work. 

 Paul

 > On Aug 27, 2019, at 11:44 PM, Teri Lee  wrote:
 > 
 > 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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Links:
------
[1]
https://www.amazon.com/Steel-Expanded-Metal-Sheet-Flattened/dp/B00FY3Y54K

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