How To Build a Fire Pit
Here's the pit...all that's missing is the fire.
As the weather gets warmer, people tend to spend more time outdoors. If you have a fire pit outside your home, you’ll have even more reason to be outside.
If you have just moved into a home, building a fire pit is a great way to make it more livable. If you plan on selling your home and moving out, putting a fire pit in the backyard can make the home more desirable and possibly more valuable. Even if you haven’t moved recently and don’t plan on moving any time soon, a fire pit is a good idea for any home.
The first step in creating a fire pit is to decide where you want it. Since you’ll be making a fire in it, you should decide on a location that is a fair distance away from your house and any trees or other objects that are flammable.
Once you have decided on a location, you can get started. First, you’ll need to map out the dimensions of your fire pit. Take a stake in put it in the ground where you want the center of the pit to be. Then, tie a piece of string around the stake. This string should be half of the diameter of your desired size; a string of three feet will give you a circle with a diameter of six feet. Tie the string around the stake. Pull the string until its taut, and walk around with landscaping spray paint to mark off the edge of the circle.
After marking off the circle, dig an even hole about one foot deep to form the base of the fire pit. The hole should be filled with gravel and then topped off with sand. This will serve as the foundation of your pit and prevent fire from spreading to underground roots or nearby grass. Tamp down the gravel and sand, and you can then place your first layer of the wall, for which you can use paving stones or bricks. Though you’ll want to arrange the stones in a close-fitting circle, you should leave some space (about an inch) in between a few of the stones. This will give your fire more air; without ventilation, the fire will go out sooner.
Some people may choose to put cement or another type of binding between the individual bricks. However, this could react to the heat of the fire, causing it to melt or release dangerous fumes. This means that the bricks could come out of place a little, but, without any cement, they will be easy to realign.
Once you have the first layer in place, you can add additional layers of stone on top. Be sure to place each stone on top of the meeting place of the two stones below it, like a typical brick pattern. After you have a couple layers down, put some more gravel into the bottom of the pit, which will help to stabilize the base and create a platform for the fire. Continue to add more layers of bricks, until you reach your desired height. Anywhere from three to seven layers should be a good height.
All that’s left to do is to find some wood and start a fire. Then, you and your friends or family can sit around your new fire pit and enjoy the rest of the night.
