Build a Backyard Fire Pit for your Family
April 29, 2008 – 6:07 amInstructions On How To Build A Backyard Fire Pit
Bringing my family together was my goal. Creating a place that we could gather together in the early evening that didn’t include a television took some thinking. A fire pit is a small dug out pit where you can start a camp fire and just gather around and talk. It is a somewhat cozy way of getting warm and at the same time bonding with the people around you.
A fire pit has been used for outdoor activities and camp outs for many years to help foster good relations among campers. Allowing people to gather around a fire and talk about anything under the night sky just builds a mood that is hard to describe. But how to build a fire pit has been a topic of many camp fires because it usually requires some planning and thought. You don’t want the fire pit too close to any structures that might catch fire easily or any dried up plants or wood that are highly flammable.
Keep Safety in mind when Building your Fire Pit
Once you have chosen a safe location of your proposed fire pit, you can then begin to focus on the fire pit building basics. Initially plan just how big the circumference of your fire pit must be. A fire pit shouldn’t be a huge hole in the the ground; an ideal circumference can be a foot and a half.
Home Depot or Lowe’s can provide you with some great ideas for building your fire pit. It really can be quite easy once you gather all your materials. At a minimum you will want to have some digging tools and a supply of pea gravel and sand. You might want to pickup some concrete pavers or blocks to surround your fire pit.
With your fire pit supplies in hand, start by drawing a circle on the ground that equals the inital size of your fire pit. Dig down about one foot. Within this new hole you want to dig a smaller hole with the circumference of about six inches and about 8-12 inches deep.
Fill up both holes with pea gravel and then add about three inches of sand at the very top of your fire pit. The sand should be level with the ground already. The gravel acts as a drain for your fire pit. You can now surround your fire pit with the concrete pavers or blocks. It would be better if your pavers would be at least two stacks high to prevent any rolling logs of sticks.
You might want to also build a nice place to sit around the fire pit. A simple bench can be constructed using a couple of cinder blocsk and a six foot length of redwood 2×6 lumber. Dress up the bench by using “Key Stone” landscaping blocks. These blocks are typically used to build retaining walls and come in a wide variety of textures and colors.
It doesn’t have to be expensive to build a backyard fire pit. Make it a fun family project.
Tags: Landscaping Gardening
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.