November 05, 2006
Our new firepit
Posted by Jess in
Day to Day
Well, sort of new. New as in I've been meaning to write about it since August, how about that?
There are two Universal truths about Matt and myself.
1. We absolutely HATE our backyard, as the sun beams down on the entire thing all day long and burns the grass, so there is none. It's an unusable wasteland.
2. Besides movies, neither of us can stand to watch TV. So most winter activities like board games will really only go so far...
The perfect solution: Build a firepit in our backyard. In fact, if we continue to develop the backyard, eventually we'd like to get rid of all the lawn completely. We can't use it during the day - so let's really use it at night!
The spot is staked:
(note the sunlight)
Reboot does a great job guarding the circle:
To get a perfectly circular firepit: Stick a large stake where you want the center of the circle to be. Cut a piece of string equal to the radius of the circle (allow extra to tie it). Tie the string to the stake. Around the other end of the string, tie a can of spray paint. Now, hold the string taught and spray on the ground to make a circle!
Sigh. Well, this was the perfect spot. That boulder ain't moving. On the count of three, we fill this back in and move the entire firepit two feet back! Doh, doh, doh, doh...
Matt and I collected rocks from the neighbor's drainage ditch (there was still plenty left when we left, don't worry), and Matt did a professional-grade job arranging them! One key criteria I had was that I wanted to be able to rest my feet on the rocks while there was a fire.
Finally, Matt added some blue crushed gravel.
Top it off with eight adirondack chairs, four tables in between the chairs, six tiki torches around the yard, three citronella buckets, beer, wine and lots of friends, and you've got a great party!
Awesome job, Matt!
At night:
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Comments
OMG! I have to have Shirley take a look at these pics. We're in the process of killing all of the lawn in the back yard and planting all kinds of flowers, fruit trees, tropical ornamentals, etc ...and with a designated spot on one side for the future fire pit :)
So far one side is almost done, behind the pool cage and behind the fence is about done, and the larger side (part of which will be the fire pit) is maybe 1/5 done.
Gawd, that fire pit area you guys did looks FRIKKIN' AWESOME!
OK, next thing you need is an in-ground cooler for the beer.
I have already thought about how to do that! Nice to know I am not the only one who thinks of the "necessities". The first thought was to just take my current flip top cooler (stereotypical big rectangular box) and just put it into a hole. Then drainage was the next thought and there are a few ideas. Ultimately, however, I want to do an outdoor kitchen. If that is the case... i will have an outdoor fridge to go with it! So many thoughts...
On a side note... when you do your fire pit, there is one thing that i wish i did. that i did not. I would have run a metal pipe (bout 2 inches in diameter) underground with an opening at the bottom of the pit and an opening outside of the pit. Its design is to allow you to use a bellows away from the fire.
The best tip i could give you is if you go with a firepit dug in the ground like we did, you will want to have a bottom layer of sand and a top layer of gravel. This will allow for proper drainage :-)
Hmmm... We may need to brainstorm about the cooler (and firepit in general) at Lotusphere. Sand and gravel is a definite below the pit ...the pipe for bellows is a FANTASTIC idea. Yes, if we do an in-ground, we'll steal that idea.
As for cooler ...We have taken a small fridge (from Ben's dorm use) out on the lanai before, but for firepit use it'd be too far to walk for a beer. One needs to take a max of 5 steps to replenish the brew. I'm thinking maybe a sunken cooler, but with some holes in the bottom - cover the bottom of the cooler with a screen over the holes... with the sand/gravel thing underneath. Maybe some mechanism to keep the holes covered most of the time, and after enjoying a fire and brews, slide or remove the cover from the bottom and let the water drain. then recover to prevent bugs and things from getting in.
Research is in order :)
That looks soooooo awesome.
Fantastic job guys.
Yer makin' me jealous.
In-ground backyard firepits aren't legal where we are. :-(
Very cool! When I see fire pits in the store, I think to myself, "Why not just build a pit?" Thanks for the pictures. This confirms my plans to do the same. LOL on the beer discussion. Doesn't every discussion revolve around the beer issue?
Sweet!
Some ideas for the cooler:
Definatly sand/gravel on the bottom for drainage. Possibly even some perforated PVC to lead the melt away a bit also.
Depending on whether or not you want the cooler to be semi-permanant or not, you could alternatly use styrofoam coolers with holes cut and replacement faucet screens shoved in. and put the whole assembly into a fitted hole. If you a more permenant solution, probably some form of custom concrete/formed plastic apparatus. One has the benefit of being walked upon, the other of being easily replaced. if it gets to nasty.
I wish I had yard for any of this stuff. :)
I like this idea. Might catch on in England, if we can find an umbrella big enough to cover the area!
Enjoy Thanksgiving and all that stuff.
