Overloaded or not?

Sometimes you just have to squeeze a little more into a kiln, and you start to wonder if the lid is going to close or not.

To check, you can take a long straight edge and lay it over the top and see the clearance, or you can use the edge of the kiln as a sight and slowly squat down until you can see the far edge of the kiln just over the top of the closest edge. If nothing is sticking up, you're ready to fire.

The only problems we ever have is the very top of the kiln is always just a little bit cooler, so we make sure to put glazes that respond well at cooler temperatures up top.