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Fire pit ideas

acheron

acheron

Diamond Member
I am thinking of putting a fire pit in my backyard. Any suggestions?

I figure I will dig a hole deeper than I need and fill it with some gravel (or lava rocks?) for drainage. Line it with rocks or something and build it up to maybe a foot above ground. I wasn't going to do an insert or anything.

What should I line it with? I didn't want to do masonry or any kind of adhesive if I can avoid it. I figure regular red bricks are out since you'd really need to do masonry or something with those to keep them from falling over. What about those preshaped stone things for landscaping? Like these things: http://www.pavestone.com/rumblestone/ Their project ideas always show fire pits with an insert, but is there any reason I couldn't leave that out? I don't care if the blocks discolor, I just don't want them to, you know, explode. I figure they will be heavy/big enough to sit there without easily falling over.

Anything else to think about? I know not to build it next to the deck or under a tree. 😛
 
Pretty much what you said.

Buy two of these, one larger than the other:

Good1.jpg


Put one in the other, and fill the area between with sand. This allows the heat to dissipate so if a small child or pet leans or falls on the outside of the pit, they won't get burned. Then, but some landscaping bricks that don't require mortar and pile them around the outside. It ends up looking like this:

Round%20Fire%20Pit.jpg


Don't mortar the bricks together - use the no-mortar kind. The have ridges on the back edge so they lock in place. You never know when you might want to move it (we moved ours to relandscape) and being able to just move the thing saved us hours and $100's. Note that you'll have to level the bricks from time to time as they settle, unless you want to put a gravel and sand bed down like you would under a paver patio.
 
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A shelf or ledge around the fire pit is a good idea because it's handy to rest things on. Seating can be built in or benches made. Don't forget to leave weep holes at the bottom of the pit so water can drain out. Also, think about wood storage and a place for a fire extinguisher close by.
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
A shelf or ledge around the fire pit is a good idea because it's handy to rest things on. Seating can be built in or benches made. Don't forget to leave weep holes at the bottom of the pit so water can drain out. Also, think about wood storage and a place for a fire extinguisher close by.
Click to expand...

If you dig the pit deep enough and throw some rock in the bottom, it should drain. If you can get it to drain into the ground, you'll likely be better off. Weep holes will allow ash and soot to drain out of the pit....

Another good tip to consider is that if you burn in the pit often, you'll likely need to remove ash from time to time. If you could build a pair of circle frames with screens/grates, one course and one fine with handles, you could simply lift them out rather than shoveling. Put the course grate on top and the finer one or solid board (with holes) on the bottom with a few inches of space between them. This will allow airflow and catch the ash for removal.
 
Has anyone ever seen these fire pits?

image46.jpg


Looks like it's made from a concrete-like material.

My current pit is ~20 years old; a crumbling DIY mess that I made with regular cinder blocks faced with field stones. Time to replace it next spring.

iLYwA47.jpg
 
Take into consideration your family habits, how you use the yard, is it for you? for entertaining?, do you want permanent or mobile?...

People build them into patios, only to regret taking up so much space, and someone can always end up catching the smoke. If it's on a patio, you lose table, or chair space when you entertain. Consider one you can move around the yard, until you find that perfect spot or two where you like to sit.

60859_main.jpg
60859_main.jpg
 
You mentioned gravel at the bottom. I just used the sand base that's under the patio stones, and put an extra few inches into the fire pit so that the base of the fire is actually a little above the patio. It's worked well for drainage, and allows me to easily shovel out the ash occasionally.

Depending on the size of fire you plan on having inside the fire pit, and the diameter of the fire pit, you'll likely want a liner to protect whatever stone you have. It doesn't take too many years before the thermal stresses from heating and cooling result in cracked stone. Not as nice as some of the other AT projects, but I used this combination of pavers with larger blocks primarily because HD had a closeout type sale - $.25 per brick, and each stone for the fire pit (it's 3 layers high) was $.40. Total cost of the patio, including hiring someone to excavate (I didn't have the equipment at the time) was under a grand. I'd have made the patio bigger if they had more pavers - I bought all of the pallets that they had. But over the years, primarily due to having some huge fires (think flames 12 feet high), those stones have been abused, and ended up cracking. Fortunately at the time I bought them, and given the price they sold them to me for, I bought as many as I could transport. I'm down to one left though - and when I completely rebuild the fire pit in a year or two, I'll definitely go with a liner inside.
DSCN4089.JPG
 
i cut about 18 inches off the top of a 55 gal drum. works well and is nicely portable. just pick it up and dump out the ash.
 
DrPizza said:
You mentioned gravel at the bottom. I just used the sand base that's under the patio stones, and put an extra few inches into the fire pit so that the base of the fire is actually a little above the patio. It's worked well for drainage, and allows me to easily shovel out the ash occasionally.

Depending on the size of fire you plan on having inside the fire pit, and the diameter of the fire pit, you'll likely want a liner to protect whatever stone you have. It doesn't take too many years before the thermal stresses from heating and cooling result in cracked stone. Not as nice as some of the other AT projects, but I used this combination of pavers with larger blocks primarily because HD had a closeout type sale - $.25 per brick, and each stone for the fire pit (it's 3 layers high) was $.40. Total cost of the patio, including hiring someone to excavate (I didn't have the equipment at the time) was under a grand. I'd have made the patio bigger if they had more pavers - I bought all of the pallets that they had. But over the years, primarily due to having some huge fires (think flames 12 feet high), those stones have been abused, and ended up cracking. Fortunately at the time I bought them, and given the price they sold them to me for, I bought as many as I could transport. I'm down to one left though - and when I completely rebuild the fire pit in a year or two, I'll definitely go with a liner inside.
DSCN4089.JPG
Click to expand...

That's a very cool looking outdoor space!
 
DrPizza said:
You mentioned gravel at the bottom. I just used the sand base that's under the patio stones, and put an extra few inches into the fire pit so that the base of the fire is actually a little above the patio. It's worked well for drainage, and allows me to easily shovel out the ash occasionally.

Depending on the size of fire you plan on having inside the fire pit, and the diameter of the fire pit, you'll likely want a liner to protect whatever stone you have. It doesn't take too many years before the thermal stresses from heating and cooling result in cracked stone. Not as nice as some of the other AT projects, but I used this combination of pavers with larger blocks primarily because HD had a closeout type sale - $.25 per brick, and each stone for the fire pit (it's 3 layers high) was $.40. Total cost of the patio, including hiring someone to excavate (I didn't have the equipment at the time) was under a grand. I'd have made the patio bigger if they had more pavers - I bought all of the pallets that they had. But over the years, primarily due to having some huge fires (think flames 12 feet high), those stones have been abused, and ended up cracking. Fortunately at the time I bought them, and given the price they sold them to me for, I bought as many as I could transport. I'm down to one left though - and when I completely rebuild the fire pit in a year or two, I'll definitely go with a liner inside.
DSCN4089.JPG
Click to expand...
I like your arbor. Were there any concerns or special consideration to resting one end on your roof?
 
3chordcharlie said:
I like your arbor. Were there any concerns or special consideration to resting one end on your roof?
Click to expand...

To cut the angle to match the slope of the roof, I used a bit of geometry to get the angle perfect (arctan). But otherwise, no problems. Since putting it up, I had put in skylights for the kitchen, and a few years later, stripped and reshingled the roof - there was no noticeable damage from the wood resting on it. After reshingling the roof, I never put it back up - my wife wants one that's sloped, not level, with a method of putting a clear covering over it so we can go on the patio in the rain. I don't want that, so nothing's been done.
 
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