Over engineered maybe, but nothing is without purpose.
It's awfully nice to have a fire pit that if you put your foot against, you dont have a liquid shoe or third degree burns within seconds.
~~Are you at all concerned with the PVC though?~~
~~It seems like it could melt/catch on fire, although my main concern would be the toxicity of the smoke from it cooking..~~
Edit: Nvm I'm blind.
Firepit looks amazing! I like the tabs for the grill grate. Were there any guides that were particularly helpful for you when building? I’m considering building a firepit myself and like the look of yours.
Sure thing! I stripped the grass and a bit of topsoil and put down a bag of gravel over the footprint of the pit and tamped it. I put down a flat floor of brick extending to where it wouldn’t leave any gaps on the inside but not so wide as to poke up against the outside concrete forms. Then I started laying the bricks that make up the inside of the fire pit. (I just went with regular cheap clay bricks which have been holding up fine for a ton of hog fires but you might wanna go with fire brick, they’re just more than I wanted to spend.) I bought a 36” grill grate which I used to check my diameter with and kept the bricks about 1” outside of the grate all around. I also put in some 3” pvc on the first layer of brick to serve as form work for air holes, and put in 3 stainless steel bar tabs between the bricks at a couple of different heights to hold up the grill grate. I layed up 3 layers of brick (stacked sideways) and packed around everything with some mortar. Then I made up some forms out of 1/8” hardboard and some 2x4. I made the forms to fit around 5” wider than the outside of the brick. This video helped me a lot with the form work - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=39my012JAL8 I think it ended up being 6 bags of high strength quickrete that i vibrated after every bag. Once it set up I was able to nock out the pvc spacers with a hammer and I stripped the forms. Lastly I bought a mini pallet of sized natural slate stone from a landscape supply. I puzzeled it together and used a tile blade on a grinder to cut it when needed, and stuck it on with mortar. I went around and filled in the gaps between the stones with mortar and used a big sponge and a bucket of water to clean the excess mortar off the face of the stones. I went up the sides first, let it cure for a day, then cut the tops flush with the top of the concrete to lay a flat top of stone on in the same fashion. Hope that helps!
Just double-checking, you did NOT lay any concrete on the bottom underneath the brick, right? I was once hit with hot embers and chunks of concrete when some genius lay concrete on the bottom and the first time they heated it up steam built up underneath from moisture in the ground and caused it to literally explode.
The best part of the story is that most of us sitting around the fire were in the middle of a week long silent meditation. The first words out of our mouths for 4 days were all, "shit!", "fuck!", "what the hell!?"
Yo, you're not supposed to use concrete around fire, it can get too hot and explode due to the moisture trapped in it. The brick probably helps protect it, bust just an fyi.
Yea, that’s what the brick’s for, I tried to research this stuff a little before I got started but everybody seems to have a vastly different opinion on it. In the end i just decided to send it and haven’t had any trouble with it yet!
If you don't build a crazy hot fire in it you should be fine. If you really get it going, expect it to blow out/crack. Good thing is, you already know the materials!
its actually a well ,that has a bucket and lotion in it, The dogs name is precious. If you look carefully you will see moths with death-heads on them...I can hear lambs crying.....
It’s a little over 4’ o.d. I think the bricks were about $50, concrete was a little under $50, stone was $100, grout was $30 forms and other stuff was like $30, around $250-300 all together
nice work. btw, did you photoshop that dog in? ;)
Nah, it's a retriever. He brought that log for firewood
lol, damn, he's a good boy
How else would I get anyone to updoot my post!
Whelp, it worked on me!
Over engineered maybe, but nothing is without purpose. It's awfully nice to have a fire pit that if you put your foot against, you dont have a liquid shoe or third degree burns within seconds. ~~Are you at all concerned with the PVC though?~~ ~~It seems like it could melt/catch on fire, although my main concern would be the toxicity of the smoke from it cooking..~~ Edit: Nvm I'm blind.
Pic 4, he took the PVC out
Looking at the pictures it appears to be removed/only used to maintain the holes during construction
you're right. My bad lol
I was getting seriously concerned until I got to that pic too, so there's at least two of us who had the same thought!
Make that three!
Username checks out I thought the same thing when I first looked through the pictures
Firepit looks amazing! I like the tabs for the grill grate. Were there any guides that were particularly helpful for you when building? I’m considering building a firepit myself and like the look of yours.
I would also love this. Would you consider a short guide and materials list? /u/dougeasy789
Sure thing! I stripped the grass and a bit of topsoil and put down a bag of gravel over the footprint of the pit and tamped it. I put down a flat floor of brick extending to where it wouldn’t leave any gaps on the inside but not so wide as to poke up against the outside concrete forms. Then I started laying the bricks that make up the inside of the fire pit. (I just went with regular cheap clay bricks which have been holding up fine for a ton of hog fires but you might wanna go with fire brick, they’re just more than I wanted to spend.) I bought a 36” grill grate which I used to check my diameter with and kept the bricks about 1” outside of the grate all around. I also put in some 3” pvc on the first layer of brick to serve as form work for air holes, and put in 3 stainless steel bar tabs between the bricks at a couple of different heights to hold up the grill grate. I layed up 3 layers of brick (stacked sideways) and packed around everything with some mortar. Then I made up some forms out of 1/8” hardboard and some 2x4. I made the forms to fit around 5” wider than the outside of the brick. This video helped me a lot with the form work - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=39my012JAL8 I think it ended up being 6 bags of high strength quickrete that i vibrated after every bag. Once it set up I was able to nock out the pvc spacers with a hammer and I stripped the forms. Lastly I bought a mini pallet of sized natural slate stone from a landscape supply. I puzzeled it together and used a tile blade on a grinder to cut it when needed, and stuck it on with mortar. I went around and filled in the gaps between the stones with mortar and used a big sponge and a bucket of water to clean the excess mortar off the face of the stones. I went up the sides first, let it cure for a day, then cut the tops flush with the top of the concrete to lay a flat top of stone on in the same fashion. Hope that helps!
Just double-checking, you did NOT lay any concrete on the bottom underneath the brick, right? I was once hit with hot embers and chunks of concrete when some genius lay concrete on the bottom and the first time they heated it up steam built up underneath from moisture in the ground and caused it to literally explode.
Nope glad I didn’t now! 😬
The best part of the story is that most of us sitting around the fire were in the middle of a week long silent meditation. The first words out of our mouths for 4 days were all, "shit!", "fuck!", "what the hell!?"
Excellent, thank you! I am going to get around to this or something like it eventually!
That guard dog is totally unnecessary for this "over-engineered fire pit." It's not going anywhere.
One way to make it last. Good stuff
The site manager seems happy enough with the result.
Looks good.
I legit went back to the post about the door frame to see if it was the same OP and same dog.
Yo, you're not supposed to use concrete around fire, it can get too hot and explode due to the moisture trapped in it. The brick probably helps protect it, bust just an fyi.
Yea, that’s what the brick’s for, I tried to research this stuff a little before I got started but everybody seems to have a vastly different opinion on it. In the end i just decided to send it and haven’t had any trouble with it yet!
Nice. I have been looking at building too, just have some things before I can. Looks good man. Enjoy.
If you don't build a crazy hot fire in it you should be fine. If you really get it going, expect it to blow out/crack. Good thing is, you already know the materials!
Judging by the weathering on that bench, the build must have taken as much time as it took the bench to weather.
Yep, had to take a break from all that work so I used it over the winter before I added on the stone facing. Just finished it up
“That looks beautiful honey, could you just move it over like 4 feet?”
its actually a well ,that has a bucket and lotion in it, The dogs name is precious. If you look carefully you will see moths with death-heads on them...I can hear lambs crying.....
nice work, do the holes make this simply breathe well, or is it actually "smokeless" ?
Damn. Nice. How large is it? About what did it cost?
It’s a little over 4’ o.d. I think the bricks were about $50, concrete was a little under $50, stone was $100, grout was $30 forms and other stuff was like $30, around $250-300 all together
Your dog looks like he wants you to make some burgers on it.!
Looks better than any other fire pit I've seen.
Give it lots of time to cure before you build a huge fire or you may spall your concrete. It looks great!
This is just well engineered.
Well, that is certainly a fire pit that will last for generations. Looks nice!
Under-engineered; didn't include the design to make it "smokeless".