How to Make Your Own Fire Pit in 7 Steps

Creating a DIY fire pit may sound tough to do, but it's actually easier than many people believe. Aside from some digging and lifting heavy object, you can create your own outdoor fireplace within a day. All you have to do is grab a shovel, Quick-Sand, cement stones, and follow these 9 steps to create a place to relax and stay warm for years to come.

1. Check Your Local Laws and Ordinances

Some places have certain requirements for DIY fire pits (diameter, depth, location, etc.) that you'll have to use as guidelines before building one. In some states or municipalities, certain fire pits are considered illegal and carry a hefty fine if you choose to ignore them.

2. Be Nice to Your Neighbors

It's best to notify or ask your friends next door if they'll mind the smoke you'll be producing when burning large amounts of wood (or anything at all).

3. Choosing the Right Location

It's best to pick an open area that not only is far enough away from anything flammable, but also a spot that give you and your family enough room to walk around a DIY fire pit. The best distance is 6 ft from the edge, but you may have to judge according to the size of the pit you wish to make.

4. Start Digging

Once you've determined where and how big you want it, dig a circular hole, at least 6" deep for the wood to sit in while it burns. Some use the rim of a tire tractor for measuring the depth, but it's up to you if wish to use one.

5. Create a Shelf

After you've dug to hole, take some of the left over dirt and make a shelf. You should pack it down tightly so that it's sturdy enough for the Quick-Sand that you'll be using later. This is to create a solid base at the bottom for the wood to sit on when burning.

6. Build a Wall

Using the cement stones of your choice, place them around the edge of your DIY fire pit to create a barrier around the fire inside. It should at least be 1' tall and with 2" between each stone.

7. Cover the Bottom

Mix and pour the Quick-Sand (the kind that dries fast) into the bottom of the pit and smooth it out until it's flat. If you want, create a dip in the middle so you can lay some newspaper down to start fires with.

That's all it takes to make a DIY fire pit. Once the concrete has dried in the bottom, you can use it to make as many fires as you wish. This is also easy to clean up after use. Just grab the garden hose and wash it off after you're done or when it needs to be cleaned out. You can also choose to create outdoor fireplaces in different shapes if you want something that others don't have.

Researching outdoor fireplace kits? Check out http://www.myoutdoorfireplacekits.com for more great information.

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How to Build Your Own Brick Fire Pit

It's exciting to cook outdoors now and then. Also, not only is it a pleasant change of pace to standard kitchen food preparation, there is something about cooking outdoors whjich makes the food taste even better.

Sure there is the easy way to do this with a simple store bought BBQ or hibachi, but to truly get a unique experience, a great taste and make the best culinary experience possible you should really consider trying to build a brick fire pit. This really is the best option for outdoor cooking.

And it's easy to build our own brick fire pit. So set an apt day to do some simple masonry work with the family and follow these seven easy steps.

1. First, we choose a site in our backyard for our brick fire pit. It should be a safe distance from the walls of the house, from the roof, from windows, and from trees. The site should be easy to drain.

2. Dig the pad. It should be 2 to 4 inches deep. As to its size, we decide according to our preferred dimension. Level the pad base of our brick fire pit.

3. We make the forms using 2 by 4 feet woods and screw them together. Screwing makes them easy to disassemble. Then we prepare quick-set cement according to specified mix proportions as indicated on the bag and pour into the pad foundation of our brick fire pit. Then set steel bars in a latus pattern into the concrete before it sets, put a key mark in the concrete and ready the brick fire pit wall plan.

4. Prepare the cement mortar. The usual proportion is 3:1, or 3 parts of sand to 1 part of cement. A stronger ratio is 2:1. The idea is to have a consistency easy to work with-like soft ice cream. Take care not to have it too watery. Mortar for our brick fire pit should be mixed well to attain a balance of components.

5. Build the brick fire pit wall. To lay the bricks, put enough mortar on our key mark including the underside and ends of the bricks. The bricks should steadily rest on the mortar. Adjust until they are standing upright and sturdily on the mortar. Do this level by level with the aid of a string for alignment.

6. The string should be perfectly horizontal and the top edge of the bricks parallel to it. We may also use a Leveler for this purpose. A brick should be on top another in an overlapping (not directly over) manner. Overlap should be half the brick size. This strengthens our brick fire pit.

7. For metal grills, insert them within the brick fire pit walls at a desired height. The top of the wall may be capped with special bricks or stones.

So there we have it. A day after the brick fire pit is constructed it's ready for use. We can start enjoying outdoor grills with the family and friends.

John Grant is a the author for a how to site where he is writing articles about how to build a brick fire pit.

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Outdoor Fireplace Plans Made Simple

The outdoor fireplace trend is really catching on these days with everyone getting one for the backyard or lawn or some other outdoor place. And it makes a lot of sense too, because unless it is storming, raining or snowing outside, why should we just sit inside our homes instead of enjoying some time outside in the fresh air. Outdoor fireplaces give you that freedom to gather outdoors with your friends and family and make it a fun day or night out.

Building or purchasing an outdoor fireplace is not very complicated, all you need is a bit of planning and some basic understanding of fireplaces are meant to work. There are popular designs all around for you to choose from and depending on what you decide to get, it can serve you for a lifetime and more.

When you are building fireplaces, you will need to follow the local established rules. These are mainly rules regarding smoke dissemination and the usage of the right kind of firebricks. You can go for the ever-popular Mexican styled chimney fireplaces called Chimineas. These are marked by their typical shape - the ire chamber at the bottom and a chimney attached at the top of the chamber. They come in all different shapes and materials.

To make something like this out of firebricks, you have to first make a bowl like burning chamber that will let up at the top. At the top you can build a stack and make it the chimney. This sort of a design really helps with the airflow in the chamber and helps the fuel, which is usually wood, burn faster. With the chimney at the top, you do not have to worry about redirecting the smoke or any such hassles when you are just starting the fire.

Chimineas are also available ready-to-use at a lot of places. They are made out of terracotta, cast-iron, cast-aluminum and even copper. Although copper is a much better conductor heat, cast-iron Chimineas can actually last you a very long time, an entire lifetime in fact. This actually goes for all types of heavy outdoor fireplaces that are made out of cast-iron.

Other than the built and readymade Chiminea styled fireplaces, there are also other options available. These are mainly the fire-pit and fire-bowl styled fireplaces. Whilst the last two types were not portable, these usually very portable. Some of them that are meant to stay off the ground and stand on legs have a wheelbarrow type design to move them around.

Others are usually meant to be kept directly on the ground and can be easily moves around. Both these types have a bowl inside which the fire can be lit and they have lids that can cover the fire so that so embers or sparks fly out. The downside is that they are not too efficient in burning the fuel and dissipating the smoke. The upside is that they look pretty good, some of them can be used for cooking on open fire and they are also very cheap to get.

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For Outdoor Fireplace Plans, visit Fireplaces A to Z.