Hobbies And Pastimes

How to Instrutions on Building your Backyard Fire Pit

A fire pit is a small dug out pit where you can build a camp fire and just gather around and talk. My goal was to bring my family togther by creating a place that we can gather in the early evening that did'nt include the Television. It is a cozy way of getting warm and at the same time bonding with the people around you.

For so many years, a fire pit has been used for outdoor activities and camp outs to foster good relations among campers. Getting people around a fire and talking about anything under the night sky just create 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.

Build your Fire Pit and Keep Safety in Mind

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.

Gather your fire pit supplies, then mark the circumference by drawing a circle on the ground. Make sure you dig your fire pit about one foot deep. In the center of your first hole, you want to dig another hole about six inche around and another eight to twelve 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.

Don't forget to create a place to sit around the fire, you can build a simple bench using a couple of cinder blocks and a six (6) foot length of redwood 2x6 lumber. You can dress up the bench by using "Key Stone" landscaping blocks. These blocks are used to build retaining walls and come in a variety of colors and textures.

It doesn't have to be expensive to build a backyard fire pit. Make it a fun family project.