How to Build an Outdoor Fire Pit

Having a fire pit in the outdoor is very enjoyable especially during the cold nights. During camping moments or some other outdoor events, camp fires are the most important thing to have. And these camp fires also oftentimes are the perfect way for people to bond together and share their interest, stories or any other thoughts that they may have come to their mind. Building an outdoor fire pit is not that difficult. To get started, you will require some basic materials and these materials are a shovel, some gravel, a trowel, mortar mix, bricks, level, and sand.

Building Your Outdoor Fire Pit

The very first step you should do when building a fire pit is to find the right location for your proposed fire pit carefully. It can be anywhere as long as the location of the pit is safe. Safe by the means of: far from any flammable objects or structures or any dried grass, woodpiles or leaves. This step is important because we don't want any kind accidental fires occur later. So take some time to choose a good spot as it is very difficult to change place once you have started the digging.

Once you have chosen your ideal spot, and most satisfied with its location, begin by making a circle on the ground roughly about one foot and a half of the circumference where your pit would be. You can use a stick or a small pebble to draw the circle by the way. And when you are finished drawing the circle, it is the time to dig. Start digging within the circle line until you reach about one foot deep. Now clear the pit from any debris or loose soil. Maintain all sides of the pit so that they are relatively straight, and make sure that they are level to each other. If you think the pit is too small, make it bigger however you see it fit.

Once you're done digging, it is time you use the gravel. Lay a bed of gravel until about two inches deep in the circular pit. Begin mixing the mortar with water and then start spreading this mixture into the pit's base using your trowel, make it approximately two inches thick. When you're finished, the first half step is done. Now you will have to wait for the mortar to dry and this will take at least 1 day. But before you leave it to dry, draw another rough circle on the wet mortar as you will need a mark for later references.

Once the mortar is dried up, add another layer of mortar on the lines that you drew, around one inch of thickness, and then start placing several bricks op top of the layer. Do this repeatedly until it reaches to the ground level. This may take some time but it won't be too long. When finished, leave the new mortar layers to dry again before you fill the visible gaps between the ground and the brick with sand. That's all you need to do to make an outdoor fire pit. You can now use your pit and start an open fire right away. But if you want to add more bricks circling around the fire pit perimeter for more safety measurements, do so, as this will create a safe boundary and help to prevent any logs and embers from rolling out.

Also, you can proceed on adding a grill on your pit where you can cook up delicious steaks. To do this, you just have to continue adding up the mortar and the bricks until you are satisfied with its height. Leave a gap where you can put some coals at the most top of the bricks, now you can start your barbecue by just having a grill on top of it.