In the third and final backyard concrete install project, I’m sharing how we installed our DIY backyard fire pit. It saved us money, no doubt, but it was surely a test of our skills (and patience).
Research Your Backyard Fire Pit Options
This project can vary person-to-person depending on where you plan to install it. We have a long backyard and wanted to leverage the space, so we installed a patio extension for our fire pit area. Similarly, you can include extra surface area on your main patio if you’re installing new patio already and know you’ll want to have your fire pit attached.
Common Fire Pit Setups
- Gravel around the pit
- Poured asphalt or concrete
- Leaving grass/dirt all the way up to the pit structure
My recommendation is either gravel or poured surface. I don’t recommend dirt as it’ll get and stay very muddy when it rains, and for days afterwards while it dries. Grass around the perimeter may not be as bad, but can still flood.
Before deciding on the rest of the materials and details, research which base is right for your space so you can make the best decisions for the rest of your fire pit structure.
Picking a Round or Square Fire Pit
There’s no right or wrong answer, it’s all preference. To my knowledge, there’s no objective advantage to either a round or square fire pit. We choose a square fire pit because our patios are both square and I lean more towards a modern, geometric style when it comes to major architectural decisions (even concrete, I guess!).
This main patio was our first phase of concrete projects. For the fire pit patio, we poured a mini version of the main patio to keep it uniform.
Nervous to commit to a ‘safer’ patio design? You can always mix things up in landscaping, furniture, lawn ornaments, etc. so don’t feel bad playing it safe with big projects like patio installations. Timeless choices for large scale projects will pay off in resale value later.
Pouring a Concrete Fire Pit Patio
Step one was pouring the patio surrounding our fire pit. We used the same guys for all of our concrete projects, Tony Farrell and his crew at Creative Concrete. They’re local to the southwest Chicago suburbs and 10/10 we highly recommend them. Leave a comment or send me an email/DM for his contact info!
They were over bright and early to frame, pour, stamp and seal the entire project. Tony comes back the next day to cut in saw lines and spray a final seal, but otherwise the crew completed all our projects same day.
They framed the perimeter, then framed a 3′ x 3′ square in the middle for the actual fire pit.
Until framing a fire pit hole, the process was the same as the stamped concrete patio install and the walking path install projects.
The most unique part of this project was the walking path from the fire pit to the patio. You’ll notice they rolled a pattern on it versus stamping it, which broke up the two large slabs nicely. Be sure to check that out in the after photos!
Building the Fire Pit
As with any patio, you have to wait a few days before you can put serious weight on it. So, while we gave it about a week to safely set, we put our existing metal fire pit in the 3′ x 3′ hole. Not a bad placeholder!
Meanwhile, we shopped for the bricks and materials to create our permanent backyard fire pit. Kevin researched this project and found that Menards had a DIY kit you could pick up at their stores.
However, this ‘kit’ was really just the pieces listed out online and you had to find them at the store yourself. Not a huge deal, but caught us by surprise when we asked employees where to find the ‘kit’ in store.
The website mentioned how it must be built on flat, solid ground, but please know, the stamped concrete is ‘flat’ enough. Ours is incredibly stable and we have no issues with it. What they’re warning against is building on lumpy, uneven soil and inclines.
Cutting Retaining Wall Bricks
The top layer of stone is Wetcast Yorkstone and the wall is made from large and XL sized Lakewood retaining wall blocks. The Yorkstone is a smooth, appealing choice for a finished look which is why it was recommended for the top layer. They’re 8″ x 16″ in size and these do not require a cut.
However, even though this kit said ‘no cut’ we did in fact need to chisel the bricks. While chiseling is much safer than cutting, it was still unexpected. Kev did most of this and unfortunately, I don’t have photos because he did them when I wasn’t home to be his paparazzi. But here’s what he has to say about the process:
“You have to be patient. When you’re trying to chisel a piece off, get a few hits on one side and then flip it to chisel through the other side for the cleanest cut. Hammering on a level surface is also key and the grass won’t cut it. I used our mobile work bench because we didn’t mind it getting dusty with gravel. A sturdy board on a solid surface would work too, but be careful not to hammer and chisel on another stone or concrete surface that could chip in the process.”
He used this steel head hammer and concrete chisel to break just the intended piece off. Only the eight XL retaining wall bricks that went into the corner required chiseling, not all of the retaining wall bricks.
Gluing Down a Fire Pit
The bricks are incredibly heavy and shouldn’t shift on their own, but I still recommend gluing them together. You never know who’ll rest their feet on it and push off too hard, moving your bricks in the process. This can be a real problem if they do it while the fire is lit.
This is the fire pit specific concrete glue we used; load it into a caulk gun and you’re good to go. The glue you use will specify on the packaging, but there’s typically a dry time period before you can safely light a fire around it, so take note of that before using your fire pit.
The Finished DIY Fire Pit
While it was a bit of a headache, it was still the way for us to go. The reason it was mostly a headache was how misleading the website made the process seem, to be honest. It seemed like a kit we could buy in one bundle, and there wouldn’t be any cutting of the bricks but we were mislead on both accounts.
The last structural piece you’ll notice in the above photo is the fire ring. We got ours at Menards but this fire ring from Target is basically identical and similarly priced. Since ours is a 3′ x 3′ fire pit we got a 36″ ring. Our bricks are slightly further apart but since the ring has a generous lip you’d never know it if it’s slightly off. Just make sure your pit isn’t smaller than 36 inches!
Note: you DO NOT want to glue the fire ring down. The ring is meant to be replaced routinely, every few years or so depending on how much/if it rusts. We plan to put ours in the garage for the winter to keep it from rusting faster when it’s wet and snowy.
Fire Pit Finishing Touches
Lastly, get yourself a fireplace grate for inside the pit. It’s not a MUST, but will GRATE-ly (ha!) improve the quality of your fires, allowing airflow to get underneath your wood stack for the fire to breathe.
If you plan to buy firewood in bulk to save money (which we do and highly recommend), also get this firewood rack we have from Amazon. It not only functions, but look how nice all the firewood looks when you’re walking into our backyard! One less spot I have to landscape or decorate.
Pro Tip: Sit the log rack on small bricks to prevent it from sinking into the mulch. Cover the brick with some mulch and you’ll never even know its there!
Have you given this a try yet, or plan to? I’d love to hear about your project in the comments. Happy to answer any questions you may have as well.
More Home Improvement Projects
- Stamped Concrete Backyard Patio Reveal
- Installing a Stamped Concrete Walking Path
- Our Suburban Backyard Transformation
This post contains referral/affiliate links. A small commission may be earned if products are purchased through my links. Thank you for supporting the brands that support this blog.
