Fire Pit

[harpoonalt]

We bought a chimnea but it just wasn't big enough for having people over. We saw a rocksolid episode on DIY about firepits and that was that. And since my daughters boyfriend is a mason, who due to the economy is unemployed, we thought this is the perfect time. So here we go. Day one was layout and dig the hole. The rocksolid guys built one 5' in diameter but the boss said that was weenie so ours will be 6' outside diameter, foot thick walls and 4' inside. Great place to kick back and relax around the fire. The hole wasn't to bad but I did have 3 rocks that the had to have a little sledgehammer time. I need the exercise anyway. Hopefully day 2 is concrete.

 

[jd2305cd]

Nice, saw that same show.... We are going to put one on our patio when we start build it.. Keep the pictures coming..

 

[harpoonalt]

Day 2. Kyle, the mason, explained to me that although very nice, my hole was bigger, deeper, and more rock free than it needed to be. What should have been 8 bags or so of concrete turned into 18 and we even found some of those rock pieces to throw back in. If we decide to can the firepit, I do believe I have enough concrete to build a small missile silo.
The weather man said 60's and fair. It's in the 50's and rainy. Regardless, the concrete is done and level. If we can get the rock here on time, the fun starts this weekend. The tractor has been great. All the hole material got carted away and the concrete was put right in the bucket and brought over to the pit without a lot of bending over.

 

[jd2305cd]

You going to line with fire brick? Whats your game plan brotha...

BTW it looks good so far...

 

[mcfly682]

Keep the updates and pics coming bud. This looks like some good info for a firepit ive been wanting to put in. Thanks for sharing this.

 

[harpoonalt]

Normally I'd be sound asleep by now, but since 10 pm a very nice female voice has been announcing "low battery"about every half hour. After checking the various "battery" stuff I finally figured out it was the smoke detector. So now I'm wide awake.
anyway.......the plan is to line it with firebrick and the walls will be a grayish fieldstone that will match the rock in the rock farm in my back yard. If funds permit the outer ring you can see in the pictures will be either a bluestone or slate for a circular seating area around the fire. I'm keeping tabs on the money spent and it's going to cost more than I had thought. I'll break down the costs as I get farther in so you can get an idea. The biggest holdup for me now is getting the stone I want. It seems that all the stone places don't really gear up till May. Hopefully It comes tomorrow and the project continues this weekend.

 

[harpoonalt]

So we have 2 pallets of stone coming tomorrow and I got the firebrick this morning. Sometimes things line up just right. I got a ton of masons sand in my trailer and put it next to our work area for tomorrow. Trailer and sand weigh in at about 3000 lbs. The BX moves it no problem but I still go slow and stay off the banks. The trailer mover is great. I keep it on all summer. I use it for trailer loads of mulch so I can drive right up to the beds and use it around the yard and neighborhood as a mobile work platform. Bring all the tools, drop it, do our work then bring everything on home. Works great. So tomorrow we should see something above ground.

 

[scott_vt]

Good Afternoon harpoonalt,
Very nice, must be great to have a talented mason at your disposal !

Keep the pics comin along with future progress !

 

[harpoonalt]

Saturday, sunny and 80+ degrees. The rock is delivered. Maybe I should have asked, but it came in a dump truck on 2 pallets and was "dumped". The morning was spent sorting rock and putting it near the work area. I would have had him dump it closer but I didn't want him driving over my water line. Hey, more tractor time. We have 2 courses of brick up and some stone started. I'm learning as we go, but the thing is one big puzzle. The brick is easy but you have to find that one stone to fit. That will be slow. We're undecided on our height so we are giving it the "chair" test as we go. Today should go faster since we know better what we're doing.

 

[harpoonalt]

Not much exciting happened today. We decided on 3 courses of fire brick. The finished height should be around 18". For fire viewing and performance that appears to be a good height. We used a lot less brick for a bigger pit than the DIY guys. I'm assuming their bricks were sized different. They called for 60 bricks and we used 48. The brick is done and we're onto just stone. Some goes easy and sometimes you spend a half hour for that one stone to fit. Today should be close to finish if we get an early start. Then it's on to the patio portion. If we get it done today I'll post pictures and break out the costs for everyone.