Building A Fire Pit With Natural Rocks

Especially when great professionally made fire pits are available for purchase on the internet.

Building a fire pit with natural rocks.

Air and water permeable rocks are much more likely to explode than dense non permeable rocks. Using a level make sure the bricks are relatively even all the way around. And if your fire pit decides to explode don t say i didn t tell you. If you are using river rocks be sure to give them several days of direct sunlight to properly dry.

Flatter and roughly rectangular shaped rocks are easiest to stack but rounded rock can be used to build the low stone walls of the fire pit. Apply a bed of mortar on top of the previous layer of stone or fire brick and then set stones and bricks. If the circle is more than an inch or two uneven remove the higher bricks and dig out the dirt underneath until they re level with the rest. Create the first tier of the fire pit by forming a circle alternating the large and mini bricks to create a pattern.

When selecting and building your diy fire pit make sure you avoid using wet stones. Flagstone and crushed stone are ideal materials for the fire pit cap and the stones in the center of the pit respectively. Overlaid stone diy fire pit. Snag my book.

Other rocks that are safe to use around and in your fire pit include fire rate brick lava glass lava rocks and poured concrete. If you have rocks in or around your fire pit be cautious when lighting fires after it has rained. However if i still haven t talked you out of it at least be careful when obtaining the river rocks and building your fire pit. If you want a more natural fire pit that you could build for free check out my post on building a backyard firepit with free materials.

Avoid wall weakness by staggering the joints between previous and subsequent layers of stone and brick. Keep the excavated area level as you work. This is one area where you can use lava rocks for fire pit safety. If you do not have access to fieldstone many garden and landscape design centers sell rocks which are perfectly suited for lining the perimeter of a fire pit.

Continue building the wall of the fire pit by alternating layers of face stone and fire brick until desired height is reached. If you are building your stone fire pit on top of an existing backyard patio cement the first layer of blocks onto the patio to prevent shifting. Pack the dirt solidly all the way around with a hand tamper.