Who doesn’t like sitting around the fire pit in the warmth of summer? Fire pits aren’t just good for making s’mores but they also bring the outdoors to your private backyard. But commercial or custom fire pits take a heavy toll on your budget. If you’re looking for cheap fire pit ideas, this article is for you. There are different DIY fire pit ideas that you can follow to make a fire pit at your home with little effort and very little budget.
Making Your Own Fire Pits
We’ll discuss the different backyard fire pit ideas in the following sections.
Safety Precautions
Although there are different outdoor fire pit ideas, there are certain common traits and safety measures that you need to know to successfully build a fire pit. Before making a DIY fire pit or lighting up a fire pit, make sure you follow these codes and precautions:
- You’ll enjoy the most if the fire pit is at 20” height from the ground
- Create drainage for the fire pit by using gravels or drain holes
- Select the correct materials for putting inside the pits, or the wrong material may explode when exposed to high heat
- Be aware of flame sparks, carbon monoxide, and other hazards
Homemade Fire Pit Ideas
Not only does a homemade fire pit save a lot of money but they also provide a rewarding experience. It gives you the opportunity to choose the right size for your backyard fire pit. We’ll get into describing these DIY fire pit ideas in the following section.
1. Making a Gas Fire Pit
Things you will need for a DIY gas fire pit:
- A patio table
- A Fire Pit
- Chairs
- Copper Tubing (¼ inch)
- A Cap
- 2 Reducers
- Copper Pipe
- Couplings
Directions for making your own propane gas fire pit:
- Lay the table
- Cut a hole of 25.5 inches in the table’s center. Use a cut off saw that’s air powered
- Ground down the supporting angle iron ends below the table
- Get a flat bar of around 85 inches and bend it so it becomes a circle
- Weld the circular bar to the angle iron ends
- Paint the welding and the ring after cleaning up the whole thing
- Make a coil using the copper tubing and solder its outer end with a cap. On its inner end, add ¼ – ½ inch reducer
- Add a ½-inch pipe to the threaded end of the coil
- Drill the pan’s bottom so you can thread the coil through for stability
- Use a brass ⅜ inch reducer on the coil’s end once it’s threaded and attach an LP Hose
- Flip the fire pit over and place it on the table
2. Brick and Stone Fire Pit
While going for a brick fire pit, choose retaining wall bricks for sturdiness. You can also get the bricks solely intended for fire pits at the home improvement stores. Choose the best rocks for fire pit for maximum performance and endurance. You can check the local rock and mineral stores for the outdoor fire pit rocks. As a safety measure, use a firebricks layer on the fire pit’s inner layer. Also, check the local fire code to find out if you’re allowed to build a fire pit at your home.
Directions for making a simple brick fire pit:
- Choose a spot at your backyard and mark the center of the pit with a stake
- Measure the width of the circle by attaching a string to the stake
- At about 4-5 diameter, cut the string, and attach it to a trowel handle. Make sure it’s tight
- Pull the trowel’s sharp end according to the string’s diameter, which will eventually make a circle
- Use a shovel to dig out the grass and put the grass into the circle
- Make 6-12 inches hole for the pit
- Level the ground by using a tamp or the bottom of a shovel
- Pour down a thick layer of rocks and spread the rocks around
- Make a circular pattern with the bricks over the rocks
- Make sure the brick wall is at least 12 inches high
- Add a firebricks layer inside the original brick wall
- Don’t use mortar if the bricks are able to create a sturdy stack
- Sit back and enjoy the fire pit
3. Concrete Fire Pit
Directions for making a concrete fire pit:
- Put a 10×10 square feet tarp on the ground
- Map out a 36-inch wide circle over the tarp
- Pour white sand over the tarp and then water and mound it
- Mix some sand and water elsewhere by using a hand trowel and put the mixture over the mound you just made over the tarp
- Your mound needs to be as big as your desired bowl
- Use a plastic sheet to cover the mound, so the moisture doesn’t get evaporated
- Put the concrete in a wheelbarrow and add water to it, but make sure it doesn’t get overwet. Mix the concrete well for a homogeneous mixture. You can use hand-held power tools to ease the job.
- Pour the concrete over the sand mound to mold it while it’s wet. Make sure it’s at least 2-3 inches thick
- Put plastic sheets between the layers of the wet concrete
- Put a board over the wet concrete and level the base
- Dry the mound for at least 48 hours while it’s covered in plastic
- Lift the concrete off of the sand mound
4. Wooden Fire Pit
The base for the wood fire pits is a cement/concrete bowl. Here are the directions for making a wood fire pit:
- Get a cement bowl from the retail outlet of cement fountains
- Get a large wok from a restaurant supply store
- Set the wok on the cement bowl with small bricks
- Add a steel base to the fire pit for sturdiness
6. Glass and Metal Fire Pit
The hardest part of making this fire pit is to join the glasses together. You can follow these simple directions:
- Run silicone liquids on the glass edges, place the glasses together, and make a glass box
- Start with only two sides and when they dry, work on the final side
- Run silicon bead for the last time at the bottom edge of the box
- Place the silicone edge on a metal planter
- Cut metal mesh so it fits rightly inside the glass box
- Open a gel fuel can and place it in the planter’s center
- Cover the planter surface with a metal mesh
- Pour rocks over the mesh loosely
- To use the fire pit, ignite the gel fuel after you’ve cleared the rocks off of it
7. Adirondack Fire Pit
To make a DIY fire table, follow these directions:
- Build a hexagon-shaped table with 1×6 fence boards and 2×2 lumber. Cut the 2xx lumber at a 16° angle
- Make two hexagons for the top and the bottom
- Attach the fence boards from below and maintain gaps between the boards
- Place wood between the boards so you get even spaces
- Put a screw and a pencil on top of that in the table’s center, attach a string to the pencil and map out the diameter to cut a circle using a jigsaw
- Use a belt sander to smooth the table and edges
- Put the fire bowl on the cut area of the table
We’ve laid out some of the simplest DIY fire pit ideas above. You can either follow the instructions accordingly or tweak one or two instruction(s) to experiment with your fire pit. These easy fire pit ideas will give you cheap, customized fire pits at your own backyards that you’ve made for yourselves. Even when the fire pit is not in use, you can use it for other purposes or it will remain as a decorative piece for your backyard. So, you’re not losing anything!
