How to Design an Outdoor Rock Firepit
If you want to spend more time enjoying your beautiful backyard, adding an outdoor fireplace is the perfect way to make your backyard inviting year-round. Installing your own outdoor fireplace may sound like a daunting task, but building your own outdoor fireplace is a lot easier than you might expect. By following some basic steps you can transform your backyard into a fire-lit haven in a single weekend. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Prefabricated fireplace (kit) Building material (mason stones, tile or brick) Cement Small-rock gravel Sand Tools (shovel, trowel, etc.)
Instructions
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Build an Outdoor Fireplace
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Plan out the size and shape of your outdoor fireplace before you begin construction. Consider the space available in your yard when determining the specifications of your outdoor fireplace. Consider what material you want to use for your outdoor fireplace and how big you want your fire box (the place where the wood, coal or charcoal burns) and how the ash pit will fit beneath it. Determine whether you want an open fireplace (provides warmth) or a closed, chimneyed (provides cooking heat and ambience) fireplace.
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Decide on the location for your outdoor fireplace. If you live in a cold climate or one that gets a lot of wet weather you'll want to build your outdoor fireplace on a slab of reinforced concrete or platform/deck of brick or stones set in mortar. If your fireplace is on the ground, the stones should extend four or five inches into the ground.
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After checking with your local fire department about the regulations for outdoor fire pits and obtaining (if necessary) any building permits, lay the foundation. Then sketch out your design. This will help you determine how much material you'll need for constructing your outdoor fireplace.
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Place a prefabricated outdoor fireplace on your foundation, if you chose to create a closed, chimneyed outdoor fireplace. It is much easier and less expensive to use a prefabricated outdoor fireplace than put in the time and labor to create the chimney and firebox required when building an outdoor fireplace from scratch. Secure the prefabricated fireplace as directed by the instructions.
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Create a circle for your open fireplace by tying a 1.5-foot string to a stake. Place the stake in the center of where you want to build your outdoor fireplace. Use the string to measure out a three-foot circle that centers around the stake. This circle will serve as the perimeter for your outdoor, open fireplace.
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Cover this circle with three to five inches of small-rock gravel and tamp down, then add a bucket of sand to this area. Spread evenly over the circle.
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Add one foot to the string you used to create the original circle. Now using the same staked position, with a 2.5-foot string create a circle that surrounds the original circle. This creates a circle a foot wider than the first. The second circle will be a guideline for the outer edge of the fireplace. In this circle, but outside the inner circle, dig a four-inch deep trench as a square around the perimeter of the inner circle.
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Starting in the trench you created, begin stacking stones or bricks to form the walls of the outdoor fireplace. If using a stacking method to create your fireplace's walls you won't need to use any adhesive substances to hold it together. Make sure walls are at least six inches in width and stacked tightly. The height of the outdoor fireplace is up to you, but a minimum of two feet is advised.
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Tips & Warnings
Creating a mason wall outdoor fireplace requires significantly more expertise and material.
