Outdoor Fire Pit

Building A Warming Outdoor Firepit

If you're a skier you may have come across a fire pit in the middle of a ski village with chairs and benches surrounding it. It's a wonderful and inviting place to take the chill off. Landscape designers have taken the idea of a ski village firepit and have incorporated them into everyday backyard landscaping designs. Backyard fire pits have come very popular with homeowners.

There isn't anything more welcoming on a cool spring or summer evening then gathering around a firepit with friends and family. Your children will enjoy roasting marshmallows and hot dogs and making old time s'mores. Fire pits come in an unbelievable range of sizes and styles. From as small as a 27 inch steel fire pit, which can be found on sale for about $100, up to a 48 inch fire pit table for $1600. The only thing holding you back will be your budget.

The nice thing about outdoor firepits is that they don't have to be what is considered a natural log firepit. Propane and gas gel fire pits are very popular. They're very popular because there is no smoke, no sparks and no ash to clean up. Propane fueled fire pits can run for up to 20 hours. With a proper base they can be sat directly onto a wood deck.

If a natural log fire pit is what you're looking for you can easily find them in durable and stylish copper. These come with spark screens and wrought iron stands. Some people use charcoal in their fire pits and with the addition of an iron grill grate they can be used for cooking. Some of these copper fire pits are lovely works of art with wrought iron bases.

Depending on your backyard landscaping theme perhaps you'd want a natural stone outdoor fire firepit. You can choose from many different types of rock, Colorado river rock, slate, marble to name just a few. Mosaic and tile fire pits are very popular. Some manufacturers also make very bold and contemporary fire pits out of stainless steel.

Perhaps you want a fire pit that is actually built into the center of a 48 inch dining table. Oakland Living manufacturers tabletop fire pits. These tables come with interchangeable centers, a copper fire pit or a copper ice bucket. The table is of a natural stone and ceramic tile that stays cool, even when the fire is burning.

Some other well known fire pits are made by Uniflame, Corral, Coleman, Whalen, and Arctic.

It's easy for someone who has do-it-yourself skills to build your own fire pit. Simply do an online search and you can find many plans for outdoor firepits. Once you find the plans and instructions and choose the materials it's easy to have an outdoor fire pit that will suit your landscape. It can be done fairly simply by measuring the area and digging a 10 inch deep trench. The trench is then filled with gravel, and then concrete. Blocks are then laid around to follw your design style. It won't be difficult to do, but it is heavy work.