[nancylee]

Hi all,
I am getting the wiring put in for an older Skutt kiln today, and I am putting it in a spare room - for electrical reasons, I cannot put it in the garage. I have a wooden floor, polyurethaned, in the room. Is this safe? If not, can I put the kiln on some ceramic tiles, or a slab of granite, etc., for safety? Thanks in advance for your help,
Nancy

[Marcia Selsor]

You could put it on spacers on backer board. This creates an air space. Also it should be at east 18 inches from a combustible wall. It should be vented.
Personally, I'd put it outside on a covered patio.
Marcia

[nancylee]

Hi Marcia,
Thank you for your advice - I am not sure what spacers are, though? Sorry, I am new to this!
Nancy

Marcia Selsor, on 22 February 2012 - 07:53 AM, said:

You could put it on spacers on backer board. This creates an air space. Also it should be at east 18 inches from a combustible wall. It should be vented.
Personally, I'd put it outside on a covered patio.
Marcia

[Arnold Howard]

nancylee, on 22 February 2012 - 06:47 AM, said:

Hi all,
I am getting the wiring put in for an older Skutt kiln today, and I am putting it in a spare room - for electrical reasons, I cannot put it in the garage. I have a wooden floor, polyurethaned, in the room. Is this safe? If not, can I put the kiln on some ceramic tiles, or a slab of granite, etc., for safety? Thanks in advance for your help,
Nancy

I agree with Marcia that you should fire the kiln outside, perhaps on a covered patio. Many people do that. If you fire the kiln in a spare bedroom, you will need to vent the fumes outside anyway.

I don't think it is safe to fire a kiln on a wooden floor.

Sincerely,

Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com

[minspargal]

I have to agree with Mr. Howard, i would not have a kiln on a wooden floor nor be firing it in a house even with a vent system. I have mine in the garage with a vent system and that kiln can really heat up that place and i even have a 13 ft high ceiling.

[Pres]

nancylee, on 22 February 2012 - 07:47 AM, said:

Hi all,
I am getting the wiring put in for an older Skutt kiln today, and I am putting it in a spare room - for electrical reasons, I cannot put it in the garage. I have a wooden floor, polyurethaned, in the room. Is this safe? If not, can I put the kiln on some ceramic tiles, or a slab of granite, etc., for safety? Thanks in advance for your help,
Nancy

I would not put a kiln on a wood floor for several reasons. Beyond the obvious(fire safety) there is another consideration. Constant kiln heat will dry out the wood fiber allowing more chance of rot and collapse of not only the floor but the floor joists as well. Even with spacers, and coverings the rise in heat at the floor will be detrimental to long term structure. Best to have it on concrete or even dirt, not wood.

[teardrop]

I would approach it like you are putting in a wood stove. (a VERY common thing here in Snow/Ski country) Adhere to clearances. Make a brick "hearth" and cover it with 1/2" cement board. Vent the kiln AND the room (seperately) OUTSIDE. (have your electrician run a 120V circuit for the fan off the 240V if there's no outlet in place)

I gotta laugh at all of the "just put it on the patio" comments. You folks obviously live in a different climate than I do.....snicker....

good luck. BE SAFE.

[nancylee]

teardrop, on 22 February 2012 - 09:37 AM, said:

I would approach it like you are putting in a wood stove. (a VERY common thing here in Snow/Ski country) Adhere to clearances. Make a brick "hearth" and cover it with 1/2" cement board. Vent the kiln AND the room (seperately) OUTSIDE. (have your electrician run a 120V circuit for the fan off the 240V if there's no outlet in place)

I gotta laugh at all of the "just put it on the patio" comments. You folks obviously live in a different climate than I do.....snicker....

good luck. BE SAFE.

Hi,
I was wondering about that patio idea also. We usually have 3 to 6 feet of snow outside by this time, and we go down to 20 below zero. That can't be good for a kiln, can it?? The room I am putting it in is not heated, and is an old barn, attached to the house. Very drafty already, even without outside venting!! It can be closed off from the rest of the house by two doors.
Thanks,
Nancy

[Mark C.]

teardrop, on 22 February 2012 - 09:37 AM, said:

I would approach it like you are putting in a wood stove. (a VERY common thing here in Snow/Ski country) Adhere to clearances. Make a brick "hearth" and cover it with 1/2" cement board. Vent the kiln AND the room (seperately) OUTSIDE. (have your electrician run a 120V circuit for the fan off the 240V if there's no outlet in place)

I gotta laugh at all of the "just put it on the patio" comments. You folks obviously live in a different climate than I do.....snicker....

good luck. BE SAFE.

Inside is not the 1st choice but as noted by Teardrop its a choice as long as you treat it like a wood stove and vent it all-Garage is a better choice as patio states are only in certain climates-Inside kilns really need to have the venting worked out so not to be a hazard to your health-
Mark

[Chris Campbell]

NO to the wood floor! I have a friend who is an extremely experienced potter whose studio burned down because of this.
I do not totally understand the science but the firemen said that the ignition point of wood gets lower and lower over time if exposed to this level of heat. Eventually it will just go up in flames at a lower temp than you would expect.
So you could lose your home only to find out your insurance won't cover it because of how you placed the kiln.

[~janie]

As wood ages, it loses moisture. Oak weighs a ton, until it gets old, then it is very light. All wood does this, thus the lower ignition temperature. I would not put a kiln on a wood floor for any amount of money. Take that floor out and install bricks, concrete, granite, whatever it takes, but you are risking it all on a wood floor. This gives me the shivers, but that might just be because my house burned to the ground. Not because of a kiln, but burning is burning.

[lacemuse]

Yes, the patio is NOT an option for me. It would be waaaaaaaay too cold during parts of our winter to be able to fire it out there.

Lots of people have wood burning stoves in their homes here. They are the appropriate space away from walls (my Skutt needs to be at least 18" away from a wall.) They lay down fire resistant brick to set the stove on, & often will tile the wall behind the stove. Venting your kiln is about the same as venting a wood burning stove, however, there are times when you will need to prop the lid of your kiln open, or have peep holes open, so even vented, there can be fumes.

My kiln is in our garden-level mudroom & is next to the garage. There is a door into the house, but once my kiln is wired, I'll keep that door closed while firing. My kiln sits on a cement floor & 1 wall is cinder block, the other 2 have sheetrock, so I'm making tiles to put on those 2 walls about 1/2 way up where the heat will be.

As you've already heard, don't place it on the wood floor. In my city, once the electrician wires the kiln, a city inspector has to come out, so you probably wouldn't pass a fire code inspection if it was on the wood floor here - something to think about.

[TJR]

I always seem to be the guy awimming against the current here. I worked in a studio in a brick warehouse for 26 years. The building was built in 1917. We had FIVE kilns on a beautiful hardwood floor.All were vented and all were inspected. We did place a sheet of tin under all of them after we got a new owner who had to get the place inspected. We complied with his request. All kilns had those metal stands that they come with, and all were placed 3 feet from any wall.
My new studio has a concrete floor. Was I lucky to get out of there before it went up in flames? Don't know.Maybe you could sit your kiln on a big patio block.
Patios in most of Canada are out of commission for six months. All of our kilns are inside.
TJR.

[neilestrick]

A kiln can only be placed on a wood floor if it is used on its supplied stand, and there are at least 2 layers of cement board under it. A layer of cement board strips under those would also be a good idea, as they would allow air flow under the boards. Make sure there is good support under the legs of the stand.

Neil Estrick
Kiln repair tech
L&L Distributor