My Backyard Fire Pit

After we purchased our home and finished remodeling the interior, attention was turned to the backyard. The first step was to redo the deck, which went well. The fire pit area was next. This project turned out well, and has been a source of enjoyment for us and all of our friends.

Materials used were crushed limestone, stone dust, Hanover pavers and wall blocks, a wet saw, paver poly sand and landscape adhesive.

The location selected for the fire pit was in a low area, and we knew it would be under water occasionally. It was decided to go up and have the finished elevation higher than the surrounding area. Concrete pavers and wall blocks were used. The area was laid out and vegetation was stripped. I assembled perimeter framing to contain the crushed limestone base that would extend 6-12 inches beyond the extents of the pavers. This perimeter was also staked so that the boards would not move as the limestone was compacted, and set at a 1" fall over the finished diameter of 18 feet. 6" of compacted limestone was installed and compacted with a plate compactor. After the compaction was nearly completed, I tamped in several bags of cement around the perimeter to help it retain the edges.

The center of the area was identified, and a 1/2" rerod was hammered into the base. A 3/4" pvc conduit was used as a radius to create the circle edge. A hole was drilled on one end of the conduit that would fit over the rerod. This was then rotated while placing the plastic paver edging to create a perfect circle. The circle was laid out for the seating wall, along with plastic paver edging The seating wall would occupy 1/2 of the circumference of the circle. After the base course of the wall was installed, the remainder of the circle was laid out. The same method was used after cutting the 3/4" conduit to the correct length. The pavers would start at the inside edge of the wall blocks. The edging was also installed at this time. 1" stone dust was placed using several 3/4" conduits as a depth guide which also serves as the method to create a perfectly smooth surface for the pavers. 3/4" pvc conduit has a 1" outside diameter and these are used on top of the gravel as a guide for laying down the stone dust. The conduit acts as a rail guide for a 2x4 screed. A circle kit was installed off center of the main circle shape of the area. I wanted the edge of the firepit to cross the center of the circle.

After completion of the inner circle of pavers, an outside border of black pavers were installed, and then the main area pavers were installed. Paver that need to be cut to fit were also installed along the way. These were cut with a wet saw.

The seating wall was was then constructed using landscape adhesive. Flat concrete 12x12 patio blocks were then individually cut with the wet saw to make a nice tidy installation. Perfect height for seating.

Construction of the actual firepit was next. This was built out of the wall blocks, cutting pretty much all the blocks at the proper angle and using adhesive for the assembly. After the assembly, I used two ratchet straps to hold the entire assembly tight while the adhesive cured. The top blocks were then all cut to fit in. I used ratchet straps agin to hold this together while curing. It turned out great, but so much labor in the cutting and fitting. You can see the off set to center. I wanted the pit close to the wall so that people sitting on the wall could be close to the fire, and on the opposite side, plenty of room for chairs.

The forms were removed and I brought in 12 yards of topsoil to fill around the pit area, gradual slope out into the yard. I did this in 3" lifts, compacting each lift until I had it to the place where it was pleasing to the eye. I welded up a circular grating to lift the firewood off the bottom. We really enjoy this area, and so do our friends and neighbors. We had a contractor quote us a price for this installation, and it was in excess of $18,000. We did the entire thing from base to grass seed for $5,600 in materials. We used no power equipment other than the wet saw, which was a Harbor Freight wet/moving table saw, and the plate compactor. Shovels, wheel barrows, and lots of muscle and sweat were the main ingredients. We did some additional paver walkways to connect this to other parts of the yard, but that is another project post! I hope this helped you in your next project!