Building a fire pit...

[TAftonomos]

Gonna start/finish this tomorrow, wanted to hear if anybody out there has any tips/tricks?

I plan on using castle blocks, the kind with the lip at the back.  I would lock/glue the blocks in place using loctite fireproof concrete adhesive. 

I've see them done with a natural base and a few stones/pea gravel, or with a paver-type base.  I'm wondering how clean-up would be with a pea-gravel base/rain/ashes....


Who's got one, what kind of base did you use, and would you change it?   For about 150$, I can have a concrete slab/base poured down to build the whole thing on, but I'm not sure that is necessary.

[WarrenJ]

No personal experience, but I just saw something on building firepits - They were recommending a rank of fire brick around the inside of the opening to protect the other bricks from bursting due to steam buildup - like river rocks exploding in a campfire ring. FWIW

[ducpainter]

I pulled rocks/stones out of the garden for years and just hollowed out a depression in the pile.

Low tech.

[ute]

Semi truck rim here ...low tech rules

[Mother]

1) take rocks

2) put in circle

3) put chairs around rocks

4) light shit on fire

(bonus) its better if the shit is within the circle before combustion

[Thuddds]

An old washer/dryer drum with some posts bolted on the sides for legs.

[DarkStaR]

Don't know if this is possible for you, but if you plan to be around it, especially with multiple people, natural gas is so much more comfortable to be around, less maintenance, and is so much easier to get going.

Yes,...it's not a real FIRE, but it will still do what it's suppose to do.

FUBARS the whole $150 target though.

[zooom]

line the pit with a good red clay 1st....

[lazylightnin717]

Random stones arranged in a circle

Light shit on fire and watch it burn

Let is smolder and eventually burn out

Shovel out the ashes and dump them in neighbors yard when the pit gets too full

[Speedbag]

Semi truck rim here ...low tech rules

+1

Half-buried tractor tire rim here.

[TAftonomos]

I used 17 80# bags of quick crete, some re-bar, to make the base.  It's ~7.5' in diameter.

I used/recycled castle-wall stone that was local and unused/abandoned for years.  I bought a bag of mortar and some cap stones to make this:



It's "great dane" approved

I used ~80 of the blocks, 17 of the capstones, a large bag of mortar, and 17 80# bags of quick-crete.  Cost was around $75 as I had most of the stone for free.  Would have been ~$125 to buy it all (estimate).  It's large enough to burn a pallet easily, so I anticipate lighting a bunch of things on fire 

Not sure if I need to use fire-brick in the bottom of it.  Plan on "breaking it in" this coming weekend.  Anyone here is invited down, wife/kids out of town for the entire week....

[ducatiz]

...make sure you know the rules for fire pits in your locality as well...

fire chief showed up at my house when i was burning some stuff.. told me to put it out.. i asked him to quote the law, and he couldn't -- so i did.  my fire pit was legal, but the tool was threatening to cite me, i told him i'd happily see him in court if he did. 

keep an extinguisher handy as well to show you know your ass from a hole in the ground just in case capt. numbnuts shows up at your house.

[fastwin]

Note to self: don't make the beast with two backs with gun toting lawyers who like to burn shit in their yard.

[Mother]

two questions

and this may be a difference in location/purpose

1) why do you need a base for a fire pit, does it do something that the ground does not?

2) why build it so tall, if you are sitting around it doesn't the height block the radiant heat?

I'm serious since it seems a lot of you use a base

[TAftonomos]

As I understand the code in my area, firepits can be a hassle.  However, they can't prevent you from having a contained "cooking fire"...even in times of drought or water banning. 

I built mine 4 rows high cause I thought it looked better.  Pretty sure once it gets heated up it'll be giving off lots of radiant heat as well.  Then again, it could be a huge flop, dunno.

I built it with a level base for 2 reasons.  The walls are tied into the base as I didn't want to take a chance of it caving in/out.  Also, it will make clean-up a lot easier....sweep it up then hose it out.