James Rodrigues
Make A Fire Pit In Your Backyard – This DIY Backyard Fire Pit post was sponsored by The Home Depot. I was compensated for my time and provided with product (tools). All ideas and opinions are my own. This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.
Summer projects are underway here and I have a whole list of things I want to do this summer. My outdoor DIY list mostly consists of projects in my forgotten, sad corner of the yard. My spring was full of work, activities, youth camp, family gatherings and lots of rain (for Utah 😉 ). At the end of April I finished my redwood arbor, which we love! Now it’s time to check on the next project from my outdoor bucket list!
Make A Fire Pit In Your Backyard
I wanted to make a permanent fire pit in the backyard, I actually bought a 36″ fire pit 3 years ago (hang your head in shame 🙂 ). We love cooking dutch oven dinners over the fire and the kids love roasting marshmallows for s’mores (or seeing how big they can pop their marshmallows!) The ring I bought ‘ a grill that rotates over the fire. I think my biggest problem with finishing the fireplace was choosing the location. Now that I have the big gazebo in place, and I’ve moved the kids’ playhouse, I’m starting to picture the room in my mind. Around the fireplace I want to make a round paved patio next.
Easy Diy Fire Pit Ideas
Since I already had a 36-inch fireplace, I went to Home Depot to see what blocks were available to make the fireplace. There was a variety of blocks to choose from but I decided on the Oldcastle brick blocks, I thought the stone texture on the front would go well with my cement fence. If I didn’t already have the fire ring I think I would have ordered a kit. There are several different fireplace kits to choose from.
I placed the mason blocks in a circle around my 36 inch fire ring. Being placed in a 36″ inside diameter circle gave the outside of the blocks a big gap which I didn’t really like. Also the lip on the back of the blocks (because when you create a wall) pushed the blocks back further than I would have liked.
So I decided the best thing to do was spend a few hours cutting the blocks at the right angle for my circle. (I used Sketchup to help me get the right angle and spacing for the trapezoidal blocks.)
I bought a 7 inch masonry saw blade and put it on my circular saw, the Ridgid circular saw comes with a built in blade wrench to make changing the blade easy and convenient. Cutting all the blocks really wasn’t too bad, but it took 5-6 hours. For the wall blocks I had to do 2 passes on each side because the blade is not deep enough to go through the block in one go.
Avoid Building A Backyard Fire Pit Without Doing These Things First
I reviewed this Ridgid Octane circular saw with a brushless motor. It’s a workhorse and worked like a champ with all that hard masonry work.
I probably could have done the fireplace in about 4 hours if I didn’t have to cut my blocks to fit how I wanted them too.
When I laid out my test block circle, I measured the outside diameter of the blocks and needed a space just over 52 inches in diameter. I put a string around a stick and drew a circle about 27 inches from the circle, this gave me a 54 inch diameter circle…and some wiggle room.
This part of my garden is the lowest point, and sometimes it gets very wet. I dug a 12 inch deep hole right in the middle and filled it with gravel to help with drainage.
Diy Pea Gravel Fire Pit Patio
The next step is to spread the paver base 1″-2″ at a time into the hole and compact the base with a tamper.
(Note: I had old concrete from a bad sidewalk that I saved for the base, I used that for my first layers and then added the packed paver on top.)
Add another 1″-2″ of paver and tamping, etc., until you get the height of the base you want to start the first row of blocks. I set the first row of blocks 1″-2″ below the surface.
To begin laying the blocks, I first placed the fire ring in the center on the base of the paver. Then I placed the first row of bricks around the fire ring. In the 13th block I had to cut it to fit.
Best Diy Firepit Ideas And Designs For 2021
I removed the fire ring and used a 4′ level to level the first row of blocks as best I could. Here and there a bit of the base was removed or added to get a fairly even first row.
Between the rows I used masonry glue in a squiggle pattern on top of the blocks. This glue is applied with a putty gun and it is very stiff, very pressure.
I sewed my second row and again my third row and applied masonry glue between the layers. I left the ring of fire in the middle as a guide.
These Digz Signature Hi-Dex gloves have really saved my hands when digging and handling the cement blocks. They are stylish as they have leather reinforcement on the palms/fingers and a stretchy back to make them very comfortable. They are easy to work with, super cute and machine washable!
Diy Fire Pit Ideas And Plans For Your Backyard
Finally I added my wall caps for the top, again I used Sketchup to give me the best angles for the trapezoids. You can download my block and top patterns for a 36″ ID circle here Firepit Block Templates. (Note: When printing, make sure your print settings are 100%, not “fit to page”.)
Finally I added granite stones to the fireplace and we were ready to rock and roll! I love how it turned out and am very excited to put it to good use.
“I acknowledge that The Home Depot is working with me on this outdoor DIY project. I am being compensated in the form of products and services for the purpose of promoting The Home Depot. All opinions and experiences expressed are my own words .My post corresponds.to W
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Best 38 Low Cost Diy Fire Pit Ideas And Plans For Yard
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All cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and that are specifically used to collect users’ personal data via analytics, advertisements, other embedded content are referred to as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to obtain the user’s consent before running these cookies on your website. I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to build a DIY fire pit in my backyard, with a stone path. Now, in 2021, when the safest place to meet friends and family is outside, a fireplace is one of the best solutions for cold spring, autumn and winter small gatherings.
One summer I built this outdoor fire pit in my backyard, which was a labor of love for me and my middle son (since he doesn’t like DIY projects). It looked great and served its purpose of roasting marshmallows for my family.
Tips For Designing A Patio Around A Fire Pit
Buuut…like all great outdoor projects, what started out looked great, within a year it was pretty broken and neglected. It’s inevitable: the sun fades things… the trees shed their manure… and the weeds take root. My garden was one
And what’s worse is that the wonderful fireplace looked just like a floating deck in my backyard when viewed from my son’s bedroom window. There was nothing anchored in the yard. It needs a home, sure (like a stone path!).
Sometimes projects are just that, aren’t they? You start PART 1 of a project thinking it’s all crazy and so wonderful…only to later realize you need to tackle PART 2. That’s exactly what this project was – divided into parts. I actually think there are some perennials I’d like to plant along the DIY gravel and stone path. So there may very well be a PART 3 of this project. 😉 This is PART 2.
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