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Advice for fire pit construction (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/homeimprovement@lemmy.world
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Hey all. I'm building a fire pit for my back yard and I'm looking for recommendations on what kind of rock to use.

My pit is going to consist of 2 concentric metal rings, one at 48" wide and one at 36" wide, leaving a 12" gap between them. I'd like to fill this gap with some kind of rock (and maybe cap it with flagstone) but there's not any good information about what kind of rock is ok for that purpose.

I understand that for the base, I'd want to use either sand or lava rock, and if i was just surrounding the inner ring I'd need heat bricks or something similar, but I'm stuck on what can go between the rings without worrying about explosions.

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[–] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Honestly I'd leave it empty and cap the gap with pavers or similar. What it sounds like you are describing is how you build a smokeless fire pit and you'd want to avoid interrupting the airflow in that case.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    This. Drill holes in the bottom of the outside ring and top of the inside ring. Though I'd recommend a much smaller gap if possible. If not possible, adding rock in such a way as to act as baffling would be good too. Metal louvers or ducting might work. The key is to get the air to heat up between the rings so when it exits the inner ring it burns quick and more completely.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 year ago

    I'm not trying to build smokeless necessarily. Mostly, the rocks are for even heat distribution and appearance. I worry that the rings i bought won't support flagstone, so it needs to look good without them

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