Yesterday morning my friend and I set out on the daunting task of building a backyard fire pit. It was a really fun project to do together and it came together nicely, and in under two hours and also under $60!
Here’s how we did it…
Steps:
- Design your fire pit. There are lots of fire pit designs to choose from, but most of them are basically square or round. We opted for a round fire pit, as seen in the picture.
- Purchase the landscaping stones. We needed 40 landscaping stones to make our round fire pit. The number will vary depending on the size and type of stones you get. I decided to start with the minimum, and I may purchase more in the future to build up the back “wall” of the fire pit. I purchased 40 of these medium sized Windsor style stones at my local Ace Hardware store for a little over $50.
- Purchase one 50 lb. bag of sand.
- Dig a hole a bit larger than the fire pit will be, and 3/4th as deep as the height of one landscaping stone. So you want the bottom layer of the fire pit to peek above the ground a bit. The sand will raise it a little, too.
- Use a rake or shovel to level the bottom of the hole as much as possible.
- Pour the bag of sand into the hole and level it again with your hands. You can also use a leveler at this point to help level the sand.
- Place the first stone along the outer edge and level it with the leveler. Note that your first level of stones will be slightly larger than the upper levels in order to provide a space for a small vent in the stones. As you can see, the width difference is hardly noticeable.
- Place the rest of the stones down, leveling each one as you go, and accounting for a ventilation space at the end.
- Once layer one is nice and level, then you can proceed with layer two. This layer will be slightly more snug than the first layer, making an even circle of stones. Place each stone on top of where the stones of the first layer meet, as seen in the pictures.
- Build level three in the same way as level two.
- Add a bit of a “wall” for the fire pit as you like.
And voila! Now you just need a starry night and some marshmallows and you’re set!
