# Building a Fire Pit



## Supe (Jul 8, 2013)

Anyone here built a fire pit in their backyard?

The GF and Junior have been pushing to get some rinky dink patio top fire pit for smores. She has outgrown her swingset, and in the spirit of anything worth doing is worth overdoing, I'd like to build a stone fire pit back there, possibly with a paver or crushed stone patio around it (for seating), as part of a long list of shit I need to do in the backyard.

Any tips/inspiration would be much appreciated. I'm planning on using a steel insert with a grill grate attachment, rather than a fire brick liner.


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## snickerd3 (Jul 8, 2013)

our Fire pit is just a scorched piece of ground near the back of the yard. I'd love to do the official fire pit thing, but that area regularly floods during heavy rain so It is a no go on that plan.


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## blybrook PE (Jul 8, 2013)

Get an old semi tractor rim (~24" diameter) and set that upside down on the ground, build around it or bury it in pea gravel. Build a fire inside and you're all set. Some wood benches or camp chairs and you'll have a decent fire pit that is mobile should you need to move it / clean it out.

You can decorate around it with pavers if you want it to look better, but it's one of the cheapest ways I know if getting a good fire ring without trying to locate some old pipe.


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## MA_PE (Jul 8, 2013)

I bought this Coleman fire pit for my brother a few years ago. He uses it all the time. Nice granite surround and it comes with a cover. Basically a bowl of glass beads with propane flames but it does the job nicely. It uses a lot of gas, but he adapted a 20lb tank on it. I recall it was about $150. I can't tell if it may be discontinued because I don't know if the page is being filtered by IT or not.

http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-5071-700-Ambient-Firelight-Fireplace/dp/B000KYZFNI/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt


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## snickerd3 (Jul 8, 2013)

^blasphemer


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## Dexman PE PMP (Jul 8, 2013)

Here's the one we had built last fall:












It runs on natural gas (line run from the house). It really is nothing more than stacked landscape bricks, a metal perforated ring (to distribute the gas), covered with some red lava rock.


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## goodal (Jul 8, 2013)

Is there a foundation under the walls? I assume mortar is holding it together or is there something more? We are wanting to do something in the backyard this summer. Ive juts been putting it off because of the elbow grease its going to take.


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## MA_PE (Jul 8, 2013)

snickerd3 said:


> ^blasphemer


haters jus' gotz ta hate.


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## Dexman PE PMP (Jul 8, 2013)

There is a course of bricks underneath that are essentially buried, but they are sitting on compacted sub-grade material (pea gravel I think). The only thing holding them together is landscaping block glue (similar to Liquid Nails). The glue is so strong that if you need to take the wall apart, the bricks will fail before the glue will.


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## Road Guy (Jul 8, 2013)

Are those things legal in CO?

That's a sweet fire pit!

We have a circular ring of small retaining wall blocks and there is an insert we got from lowes... Total cost was around $120.00. I'll grab a pic when I get home but it looks much better than the pre assembled ones IMO

Camp fires are under-rated!!! Great family time....


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## Dexman PE PMP (Jul 8, 2013)

Depends on the fire ban. Unless its an extreme fire ban, it's legal. Most of the bans out here focus on open fires with wood/charcoal, where embers can blow away, but if there is an "off switch" I'm usually good.


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## sycamore PE (Jul 8, 2013)

My city recently started requiring a $30 permit to have a backyard fire. The permit is good for the whole summer, but backyard fires probably wouldn't occur enough to make it worthwhile, especially not worth the trek to city hall during business hours to procure a permit. Most people just ignore the rule. . . Not sure how the city plans to enforce the permit rule. I think it's over the top silly.


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## Capt Worley PE (Jul 9, 2013)

Jeez, just do it old school. Knock the ends out of a 55 gallon drum, punch some holes in the bottom, and go to town.

Throw your empty beer bottles in there. makes cool art.


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## Supe (Jul 9, 2013)

Road Guy said:


> Are those things legal in CO?
> 
> That's a sweet fire pit!
> 
> ...


Would really like to see that. All the "kit" ones look cheap, and are $450+ with not much in the way of wow factor for what it costs.

I'd considered the propane ones, but a) I'm too lazy to get propane most of the time, and b) the GF wants to be able to burn papers/statements and such, so it sure would diminish the look of those pretty beads/rocks in a hurry. Also tougher to hide, as I'll be plunking this in the middle of the yard. If it were closer to the house, I'd probably just have a natural gas line run.


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## Supe (Jul 9, 2013)

Capt Worley PE said:


> Jeez, just do it old school. Knock the ends out of a 55 gallon drum, punch some holes in the bottom, and go to town.
> 
> Throw your empty beer bottles in there. makes cool art.




Believe my HOA would frown upon that.

Badal - as long as you are using flat/manufactured stones, the stone glue Dex mentioned is the way to go. Dig a trough, put in some pea gravel, stack your first course below grade, and then go to town. My father did a series of small retaining yards in his backyard using this method. He's not exactly mechanically inclined, and his comment to me was "if I was able to do it, you sure as sh*t could a lot easier than me."


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## Road Guy (Jul 9, 2013)

crap sorry we had scouts last night and I forgot to grab a pic.

we burn shit all the time, pizza boxes, old bills, were semi redneck so we enjoy a regular campfire and a CAB throughout the year


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## Capt Worley PE (Jul 9, 2013)

Road Guy said:


> we burn shit all the time, pizza boxes, old bills, were semi redneck so we enjoy a regular campfire and a CAB throughout the year




That reminds me...when I was a kid out in the sticks, everyone burned their own garbage. Three sided cinderblock deal, three blocks hig and maybe three feet to a side.

I'm guessing the HOA would frown on this, too.


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## rktman (Jul 9, 2013)

sycamore PE said:


> My city recently started requiring a $30 permit to have a backyard fire. The permit is good for the whole summer, but backyard fires probably wouldn't occur enough to make it worthwhile, especially not worth the trek to city hall during business hours to procure a permit. Most people just ignore the rule. . . Not sure how the city plans to enforce the permit rule. I think it's over the top silly.




That's nuts!


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## Supe (Jul 9, 2013)

Capt Worley PE said:


> Road Guy said:
> 
> 
> > we burn shit all the time, pizza boxes, old bills, were semi redneck so we enjoy a regular campfire and a CAB throughout the year
> ...






You should have seen what I did at the last place I rented (little dump waaaaaaaaaay out in the boonies.) Used to stack beer bottles on a dead log out back and shoot them with a slingshot. Burned papers, boxes, garbage, etc. all the time out back. Ran out of room when moving, and even burned most of a set of Cutlass front seats, too. Eventually extinguished themselves (not to mention the black smoke was AWFUL), so I had to turn them into a monument out in the woods somewhere. My crazy landlord came over to get rid of a hornets nest that had developed in a mattress box out on the front "porch" (I don't even know how this thing was attached to the house.) He eventually set fire to the thing on the front lawn. For a while, you could actually make out the burnt lawn on Google Earth. Serious redneckitude.

I have one of the bigger lots in my subdivision, so doing something nice with the yard to make it stand out from the neighbors can do wonders for resale, especially since the grass struggles in various areas from shade/roots impeding its growth.


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## Supe (Jul 9, 2013)

Link my father e-mailed me:

http://www.houzz.com/backyard-fire-pit-ideas


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## knight1fox3 (Jul 9, 2013)

sycamore PE said:


> My city recently started requiring a $30 permit to have a backyard fire. The permit is good for the whole summer, but backyard fires probably wouldn't occur enough to make it worthwhile, especially not worth the trek to city hall during business hours to procure a permit. Most people just ignore the rule. . . Not sure how the city plans to enforce the permit rule. I think it's over the top silly.


And what city would that be? Madison? LOL


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## sycamore PE (Jul 9, 2013)

knight1fox3 said:


> sycamore PE said:
> 
> 
> > My city recently started requiring a $30 permit to have a backyard fire. The permit is good for the whole summer, but backyard fires probably wouldn't occur enough to make it worthwhile, especially not worth the trek to city hall during business hours to procure a permit. Most people just ignore the rule. . . Not sure how the city plans to enforce the permit rule. I think it's over the top silly.
> ...


Nah, I'm in La Granolaville La CrosseThe idea was to raise revenue. . .

It's a small city with big city identity problems.


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## blybrook PE (Jul 18, 2013)

Just saw this on the Chive and thought that it'd be one way to get a nice fire pit in the yard:


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## Master slacker (Jul 18, 2013)

That is teh awesomeness


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## roadwreck (Jul 18, 2013)

RG, does your setup run on natural gas?

One of the first outdoor projects I do at the new house will be adding a fire pit. I hadn't really considered doing a natural gas one just because I was planning on adding it as a DIY project and really never planned on playing with gas lines. The house has external hookups for gas already (for a grill) so it could be done, if there is a pretty simple process to do it myself. I'm not hiring someone to build one for me though.

Dex, that's a really sweet setup. Maybe down the road, when all the other projects that our house will need are out of the way, I'll get around to installing something like that.


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## Road Guy (Jul 18, 2013)

Mine is not ng. It's just retaining wall blocks in a circle.... Sorry I keep forgetting to post a picture when I get home


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## roadwreck (Jul 18, 2013)

^^

that sounds pretty much like what I was planning to build. Now that I think about it I'd probably prefer a wood burning one anyway.


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## Road Guy (Jul 18, 2013)

We like to burn stuff....it's....relaxing....


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## Ble_PE (Jul 19, 2013)




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## Dexman PE PMP (Jul 19, 2013)

There are a few things we like about our Gas fireplace over a wood-burning one. We can turn it off/on instantaneously, control the flame size, use it during a fire ban, don't have to store firewood, and the gas for it is really cheap. But no matter how quick/easy/cheap it is, there is nothing like the smell of a good wood fire...


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## Capt Worley PE (Jul 22, 2013)




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## Supe (Jul 22, 2013)

blybrook PE said:


> Just saw this on the Chive and thought that it'd be one way to get a nice fire pit in the yard:




I like that, but am trying to make the HOA not notice. End result - I'll probably have to avoid any standing structures. I think the pit with a nice border and crushed stone is the way to go for the seating area around it, though.


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## Supe (Jul 30, 2013)

This one is pretty danged cool: http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=295481


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## blybrook PE (Jul 30, 2013)

That is pretty sweet. I like some of the projects they detail on that forum. I've copied a few myself.


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