How to Build Outdoor Firepit - Material Selection

Choosing to put in an outdoor firepit is a pretty big undertaking. It's going to involve hours of work. Building an outdoor firepit is worth it though. A well designed firepit can make any back yard just pop. It provides a great gathering area for groups of friends and family. Before you grab your shovel though and start digging up the yard how about taking a few minutes to learn one part of how to build outdoor firepit: material selection.

Let's look at the basics of a firepit. In it's simplest form it's just a hole in the ground. Chances are you'll want something a little prettier than that though. So working from the inside out here are some of the materials you can use when figuring out how to build outdoor firepit.

Once you've dug the hole you have 2 options, staying natural or a liner. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

Leaving the pit bare saves you time and money. Once you're done digging all that you need to do is edge the hole. The biggest disadvantage to this method is that any rainstorm can wash out the sides of the pit and make it unstable.

If you've decided to line the firepit then you have a few options.

The cheapest method is to pour gravel into the hole and press it into the sides. It's a cheap affordable way to ensure proper drainage.

The most expensive option is to brick and mortar the entire hole, while leaving drain holes in the bottom. It's an attractive solution, and you'll never have to worry about one of the sides washing out.

Once you've figured out just what to do with the hole, let's look at some decorative edging. Again you can opt to just leave the sides bare.

Leaving a gaping hole in the ground probably isn't the greatest idea, someone could trip and fall into the pit. So here are some edging options going again from least to most expensive.

Use the dirt that you excavated from the pit to build a berm around the edge of the pit.
Like with leaving the hole unlined, you'll have to worry about wash out.

The next method is to place large rounded stones around the perimeter. The stones can get expensive but you'll only need a couple dozen to finish off the edge.

Stacked natural flagstones work great as well but you'll need much more material.

Moving away from natural stone you can choose to edge with curved concrete pavers.

The most expensive option again is to brick in the entire firepit. Like with the brick lined pit, you will just extend the bricks up out of the hole and along the peremiter.

Price is only one of the considerations for designing a firepit. Be sure that whatever you choose flows with your home and back yard theme. Hopefully this brief material guide can help you figure out just how to build outdoor firepit. Cost and style is completely up to you, whatever you decide though an outdoor firepit will make a fabulous addition to your backyard.

How to Make an Outdoor Firepit

An outdoor firepit is one of the simplest and easiest ways to enjoy your yard on an autumn evening. They take hardly any time at all to design and build. In fact you can probably get it accomplished in only a few hours on the weekend. So do you want to know how to make an outdoor firepit? Easy just follow a few easy steps.

Pick a spot in your yard that you don't mind digging up! The location should be clear of anything overhead that might catch fire.

Next on the safety side of things is to put a call into the utility company. Have them come out and mark any buried lines. You don't want to end up cutting any buried cables.

Once they've marked the location grab your shovel and pretend that you're a kid again trying to dig to China.

The hole you dig should be about 3 feet in diameter and about 24 inches deep. It doesn't need to be anything elaborate; a circular hole in the ground is all you're shooting for here.

Use the back of the shovel and compact the sides and bottom of the soon to be firepit.

This could be it! Really just a hole in the ground is all you need. But you might as well make it a pretty hole.

To keep the sides stable pour a couple bags of river rock into the pit. This will help with water drainage. Try and line the sides as well as bottom.

The next step is for beauty as well as safety; you don't want someone falling into your new firepit. A really attractive solution is to ring the pit with natural flagstones. These flat rocks lend themselves perfectly to decorative stacking.

Lay a row of large flagstones around the edge of your firepit. For added sturdiness rock them back and forth to set them in the ground. Once complete just keep stacking more flagstones on top. Be sure that they fit well together without any shakiness.

You don't need a very high ring around the firepit, a foot is plenty.

Use some of the dirt that you dug out of the hole and put a small layer around the base of the flagstone ring to further secure it into place. You don't need much just enough to fill in any weak spots that might have a bit of wobble to them.

The last thing to do is getting rid of all the dirt you dug out.

This is a great time to fill in any low spots in your yard. Just dump the dirt out there and level it out.

There you have it a quick and easy fire pit with natural flagstone fire ring around it. All you need now is a few chunks of wood, some old newspapers, and a lighter. In no time you'll have a crackling fire to sit around and make s'mores, roast hot dogs, you name it That's how to make an outdoor firepit fun as well as tasty!