bhostasa
Silver Member
Hi everyone. About a month ago I decided that I was going to build a fire pit out by the pond and was on TBN looking for ideas. The weather has started to break (finally!
) in Ohio and I've spent the last couple of weekends working on it. I thought I'd share some pictures of the progress. I still have some work to do but should be about finished next weekend.
In pics 1-3, I marked out my area and dug a footer about 6" deep. I put steel (1/4" rebar) throughout the footer and some gravel underneath for drainage.
Picture #4 is a steel ring that I had friend weld for me. It's an 1/8" steel ring (6' ID) with a 2" space (that I'll fill with sand to knock down the heat transfer) and then another 1/8" steel ring. I laid a course of 2" block under the steel ring to get the height that I wanted, about 15". I left four different gaps in the 2" course for drainage and air to get to the fire.
After that, I started cutting my 8" solid block (picture #5). I dry fit everything and numbered it (wife's idea to number every block...I hate it when she's right but it was a big help as every block is cut for a specific place) and then began mortaring everything in. I've got a 4" air space between the outside steel ring and the 8" block all the way around to keep the heat from breaking the mortar.
I'm taking the wife to the builder's supply store on Friday so she can pick out the capstones and exterior stone that she wants. After that, I need to fill the center with river rock for drainage, fill the steel ring space with sand, and cut out the cross bars that are in the ring to help it keep it's shape. I'll use the FEL to peel an area around the fire pit to fill with gravel for chairs.
I'm pretty worn out right now but am happy with the progress so far. Hopefully it turns out okay and the time spent relaxing next to it will outweight the labor to build it.
) in Ohio and I've spent the last couple of weekends working on it. I thought I'd share some pictures of the progress. I still have some work to do but should be about finished next weekend.In pics 1-3, I marked out my area and dug a footer about 6" deep. I put steel (1/4" rebar) throughout the footer and some gravel underneath for drainage.
Picture #4 is a steel ring that I had friend weld for me. It's an 1/8" steel ring (6' ID) with a 2" space (that I'll fill with sand to knock down the heat transfer) and then another 1/8" steel ring. I laid a course of 2" block under the steel ring to get the height that I wanted, about 15". I left four different gaps in the 2" course for drainage and air to get to the fire.
After that, I started cutting my 8" solid block (picture #5). I dry fit everything and numbered it (wife's idea to number every block...I hate it when she's right but it was a big help as every block is cut for a specific place) and then began mortaring everything in. I've got a 4" air space between the outside steel ring and the 8" block all the way around to keep the heat from breaking the mortar.
I'm taking the wife to the builder's supply store on Friday so she can pick out the capstones and exterior stone that she wants. After that, I need to fill the center with river rock for drainage, fill the steel ring space with sand, and cut out the cross bars that are in the ring to help it keep it's shape. I'll use the FEL to peel an area around the fire pit to fill with gravel for chairs.
I'm pretty worn out right now but am happy with the progress so far. Hopefully it turns out okay and the time spent relaxing next to it will outweight the labor to build it.
