Inexpensive DIY Fire Pit

Taryn g
by Taryn g
4 Materials
$90
2 Hours
Easy
Happy memorial day weekend everyone! My husband and I are working hard to make our yard look nicer, so we decided to ditch out our portable metal fire pit for a permanent one. If you're interested in building one yourself, check out the minimal steps to achieve one of your own! icon


The process isn't too complicated but there is a bit of manual labor involved. Firstly, we Jerry-rigged up a compass with some string, a stick and some marking paint to mark our circle. Then we dug up the marked ground a few inches in depth. We leveled out the ground the best we could with a level and a long enough piece of wood, this step took the longest.
Once the the hole was dug and leveled, we then poured the paver base all around it, tampered it down then we were ready to put the first level of blocks down.
Once we put the first layer of blocks down, we gave them a quick hit with a rubber mallet, helping them set into the ground more. Now onto the rest of the layers.
The next two layers, we chipped off the lip on the retaining wall blocks so they can sit flush with each other. Which wasn't hard at all, and actually quite fun to do, until we had to clean up the mess icon
We then applied landscape adhesive to the top of each block and set the next layer in place. This is applied so the blocks wont shift and stay in place no matter what.
Once we were done putting down the blocks we set down 2 bags of granite rocks to fill the fire pit in. This is for drainage if it rains and extra protection from weeds.
Annnnd done! We need to wait a few days for the adhesive to fully dry to use it, in the mean time we plan on putting some type of pea stone down around it.


Thanks for reading!icon
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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 5 questions
  • Spi15872845 Spi15872845 on Jul 15, 2018

    I was wondering what the approximate diameter of your fire pit is and about how many stones you used? I'm trying to get a general idea of cost for this in my area. Thanks! Great tutorial!!

  • Tony Findlay Tony Findlay on Aug 14, 2018

    I’ve been wanting to do this for my backyard and this is great. I’ll most likely put a fire ring inside mine. One question I do have with these outdoor fire pits is how do you clean them?

  • Carol Carol on Sep 28, 2019

    After your done and you have your first fire what do you do with the ashes ? When you clean out the ashes don’t you pick up 1/2 the granite?

Comments
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5 of 18 comments
  • Megan Megan on Jan 18, 2020

    I did this with the same type of bricks after a while all of mine started cracking in half also I had to creat an air

    opening on the first ground level row for airflow to keep the fire burning!

  • Dannchy Dannchy on Feb 28, 2020

    What do you use to start the fire and to keep it burning? Some fuel?  I'm not familiar with this...

    • See 2 previous
    • Kathie Kathie on May 04, 2020

      My husband never uses any lighter fluids or oils. We have a lot of trees thus twigs for starter.

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