How to Build an Outdoor Sand Fireplace
On a summer night, there's nothing like a backyard or a campsite bonfire with s'mores, songs and storytelling. A dig fireplace --- better known as a fire pit --- is low-maintenance, low-cost and easy to build either in your yard or at a campsite. Wherever you are, you can create a fire pit in soil or sand with basic tools. Spend 45 minutes digging a fireplace, and then create lasting memories around it with friends and loved ones. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Push a stick in the ground where you want the center of your fire pit to be located. Next, measure a circle around the stick so you have an even fire pit and "draw" the diameter of the pit on the ground with another stick. For safety reasons, choose a flat location away from any trees, buildings or bushes in your yard or camp site.
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Stick a spade into the soil and then pull it out. Work the spade around the soil in a circle, just sticking it underneath the grass. Stop when you've gone all the way around the circle. If you're building your pit in sand, skip this step and the next one.
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Stick the spade under the grass and wiggle it. Grass has shallow roots, so it should come right up. Pull up all the sod inside your circle and discard it.
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Dig down into the dirt or the sand 1 foot. Remove any rocks you find. Pile the dirt or the sand beside the pit.
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Line the bottom of the pit with 3 inches of sand. According to the Home Envy website, the sand prevents oxygen from getting into the soil so that nothing in the soil (such as a tree root) catches fire. If you're building your pit in sand, you don't have to worry about this.
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Line the perimeter of your fire pit with rocks. You can use the rocks you pulled out from the hole or other rocks on the site.
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Remove grass or plants in a 10-foot radius from the fire pit, suggests SmokeyBear.com. Take firewood and twigs to use for kindling. Discard all other vegetation, since sparks from your fire pit can cause these things to catch on fire.
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Tips & Warnings
Always fully extinguish a fire before you go to sleep or leave a camp site.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
