Susan Kosko on thu 28 mar 02
hi all claybuds -
i get alot from this group, but haven't felt i was in a position to
offer much. i finally finished installing a gas kiln and i want to tell
my saga in the hope that somebody else who's looking to install a kiln
might have an easier time of it because of something that i said.
i live on a lake in a small town in new hampshire (usa). the town is
justifiably concerned with any construction on the lake. i decided to
talk to the building inspector, with whom i have a good relationship,
about where to place the kiln on our site before we got too far into the
project. i also didn't want to buy the kiln and do the design and then
find out i couldn't do what i wanted. first thing he told me was that i
had to get a home occupation permit (as did my husband, a software
consultant who works out of our house too). we discussed the kiln
requirements. i told him i was buying a bailey kiln, and offered him
any of the literature he wanted (he never asked for anything). he
suggested a place on our property that might work for many reasons.
after that conversation, we talked to our architect who agreed that the
area we thought would be best was perfect. no headaches with the plans,
or with the building inspector. we applied for our home occupation
permits. the planning board (responsible for voting on these permits)
spent about ten minutes asking me questions. they seemed most concerned
about whether i would smash my seconds and leave the shards in the
ground! permit approved unanimously.
bailey kilns need to be enclosed with four walls, so the building itself
looks like a garage, and will be functional as a garage whenever we sell
our house. there's a crushed stone driveway leading to the building
from the street.
then construction started. january 15, 2001. the second day on the
job, the excavator pulled out our water line, which ran under the kiln
site (the architect didn't do his homework to determine exactly where
the line was). of course, i was in the shower at the time. about a
half hour later, the excavator pulled down our power and phone lines.
everything was running by sunset. then construction stalled until
april. the kiln was delivered on march 1 to the rigger who would be
delivering it here.
the building itself was being put up, despite the excavation of the site
not being complete. then in may, once the excavator could return (i
know, we should have fired him before this day), he pulled up the
propane line and crushed our septic system (again, the architect's fault
- we had two surveys which showed the septic system in two slightly
different places - it turned out to be in a third place, right under the
driveway that was leading up to the building). construction was stopped
until we could design and install a new septic system. that took 2 1/2
months. at this point, excavator was fired!
after that, no major disasters. everything just took a long time, since
this wasn't a big project for any of the contractors working for us and
therefor not a priority for them. there were small problems with just
about everything. that being said, i have to commend jim bailey and
mike in manufacturing at bailey for being very responsive to the
problems relating to the kiln. all were minor, but they were handled
efficiently and gracefully.
first firing (bisque) on january 18, 2002. i have a long way to go
before i really learn the kiln, but i've had pretty successful glaze
firings. loaded the kiln loosely so i wouldn't ruin too many pots at
once!
it shouldn't have taken that much time to construct - i should have been
up and running by april 1 last year. it caused alot of headaches, most
of which were avoidable. during that time, i wasn't throwing much at
all - it was too depressing to make pots without having a place to fire
them. the hassles with construction depleted most of my creativity and
desire. i'm glad it wasn't permanent! hopefully something i said here
will help one of you avoid problems with your construction.
i got some help from people on and off the list (they know who they
are), and i'd like to thank them for their generosity. i couldn't have
made it through the year without them. of course, i also couldn't have
made it without my husband - when i was too frustrated to deal with a
contractor without screaming, he became the voice of reason. one of the
best things to come out of this is that he now loves shino since i've
gotten some serious carbon trapping with my firings.
as i learn more about firing, i hope i can contribute something back to
the list.
susan kosko
new durham, nh, usa
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