How to Make Outdoor Fire Pit

Building your own outdoor fire pit gives you and your family a convenient and private place to have your own campfire. In cold climates, the fire will provide valuable heat. In warmer areas, the fire pit can be a relaxing place to hang out with friends and toast marshmallows. A fire pit can be built without any expensive materials, making it a great do it yourself project.

Things You'll Need

• Stake
• Hammer
• String
• Nail or stick
• Spray paint
• Shovel
• Gravel
• Sand
• Concrete blocks or stones

Instructions

1. Select a location that is not near any buildings or trees. You want the fire pit to be far enough away that a stray spark cannot set anything on fire. For maximum safety, build your outdoor fire pit in an area that can be reached with a garden hose to extinguish any sparks that do fly out. Before digging, make sure there are no cables or wires running under your chosen location.

2. Hammer a stake into the middle of your fire pit location. Attach a two-foot long string with a large nail or stick on the end of it. Use the nail or stick to scratch a circle in the ground, then mark this boundary with spray paint. If you do not have paint, baking flour or chalk will also work.

3. Use your shovel to dig inside of the marked circle to remove all dirt and grass. The hole should be about one foot deep. Dig a deeper hole in the middle of the fire pit. This second hole should be around eight inches square and a foot deep.

4. Line the inside of the fire pit with a few inches of gravel, including the hole in the middle of the pit. Use the gravel to level out the bottom of your fire pit if the ground is sloped. You want the pit to be level so that your firewood will not slide to one side as it burns. The gravel adds aeration and drainage to the bottom of the pit.

5. Cover the gravel with a few inches of sand. This protects the ground underneath from any burning embers that would have slipped through the gravel.

6. Stack concrete blocks around the perimeter of the fire pit. Do not use glue or mortar to stack the blocks. The fire may melt such adhesives and create noxious fumes or cause the blocks to collapse.

Tips & Warnings

• Consult your local building code to make sure backyard fire pits are allowed. Some areas with poor air quality do not permit open fires. Leave at least two feet of space when sitting around the fire to be sure no sparks will hit you or your chair. Keep a bucket of water or a garden hose nearby at all times when burning a fire. Extinguish all burning embers when you are done for the night.