Building a Backyard Firepit
When we bought our house four years ago the far back of our yard had a secluded koi pond with large trees that over hung the pond and created a graceful shady environment for the curved benches that surrounded it. It was the perfect quiet retreat sort of area. Unless you have children, then it screamed drowning hazard.
One of the first things we did was to drain the water out and turn it into a fire pit. This combined our two favorite things, burning things and roasting things over the burning things.
Most weekends during the summer you can find us out there. What better way to kick off the summer season than to build your very own fire pit this Memorial Day weekend.
It is one of the newest must have features in back yard designs. It makes sense doesn’t it? Why should backyard entertainment end when the sun goes down.
For home renovators it is nice to have something to do with the scrap wood from projects around the house, why not have somewhere to burn it. (Although I am sure everyone already knows this, but you don’t want to burn old painted wood in your fire pit, because the gases that paint produces are toxic. Most communities prohibit the burning of painted wood.) Old lathing? Burn away. Ugly old kitchen cabinets? Burn ‘em.
Who doesn’t have fond memories of roasting marshmallows over an open fire and making smores? For most of us this was something confined to summer camp or camping, but this is no longer true. At our house the kids will roast marshmallows and the grown ups will sit around the ring of fire and drink cocktails, while trying to ignore the children running around with pointy sticks eerily reminiscent of Lord of the Flies.
A fire pit can be as elaborate or simple as you desire.
This Old House has extensive detailed instructions and photos showing how to build a stone walled pit for your yard. These instructions utilize the interlocking blocks made from cast concrete that look like stone. Total price tag for this project about $500 and a bunch of sore muscles.
The optimal size for a fire pit is between 36 and 44 inches inside diameter. That will create enough room for a healthy fire but still keep gatherers close enough to chat… A fire pit should sit low to the ground, with walls rising no more than a foot off the ground. But for stability, the base of the wall must be buried below ground in a hole lined with gravel, providing drainage and protecting against frost heaves in winter. the gravel also creates a level base for the stones to rest on
The Garden Web is always a place to find other people who have undertaken the same project. People who have minimal handy skills.
Now don’t laugh! We aren’t professional builders, but we did have fun designing and building this fire pit so our kids could have friends over to roast marshmallows, etc. It will also be good for drum circles (where I ask the spirits to grow our garden!).
The pit site is not on level ground which created its own set of complexity. I dug out a (somewhat)circular pit, then filled it partway with pea gravel (a ton cost me $20).
How can you not love that sort of enthusiasm in a do it yourself project? Further down in the thread you will see photos of a fire pit that was built by a mason. Stunning.
There are many kinds of outdoor fireplaces that you can buy if you are not quite ready to make the time commitment involved in building a permanent one. Many of them sell for under $200, marshmallows not included.
