Winter is coming, and it is time to start planning get-together with loved ones. Nothing beats outdoor entertaining, but with the cold, it can be tough to have a party outside. This is why you need a backyard fire pit.

One solution is to build a fire pit in your backyard. You do not even need to hire a professional to do the job – you can make it a DIY project. You can save that money for something more technical such as installing in lights or bringing in a plumbing for a water fountain and so on. There is nothing wrong with pocketing money and doing a job yourself. With this money, this could be more money towards your kid’s college education.

A few simple steps is all it takes to get a heat fire pit for your backyard. When you are done, you can do all the entertaining you want in your backyard and on your property.

How to Make Your Fire Pit in 4 Steps

So are you ready to make your own fire pit? If yes, let us get started! But before anything else, you need to get your supplies together:

• Mattock, shovel, or any other digging tool
• Gravel to fill your pit
• Colored spray paint
• Rubber mallet
• Masonry adhesive
• Concrete landscaping stones and if you want, a metal fire pit ring. You can buy the stones in a kit that includes the metal ring or by themselves.

Step 1: Outline Your Backyard Fire Pit: Put your stones’ bottom ring in the grass where you want your fire pit located. If you are planning to use the metal ring, you can use it to make a circle by placing the stones around in the area for your fire pit. Remove a couple of stones so that there is some space between them. Then, using the spray paint, mark where the outside of the stones would be. Now, you can remove the remaining stones and get your painted circle completed.

Step 2: Dig Your Backyard Fire Pit: Using your mattock, shovel, or whatever digging tool you require or have, dig out the circle the circle you painted 6” deep. This is will be an easy or a more challenging task depending on the area you live. In some areas, there will be a large number of rocks in the soil as well as grass with really strong roots. If you live in such areas, you should be prepared to do quite a lot of hard work to dig a hole for your fire pit.

Step 3: Fill Up Your Backyard Fire Pit: After you have dug a large 6” hole, the next step is to pour the gravel into the hole. You will need to pour gravel until the gravel and ground are level. This is important as the gravel will provide a crucial drainage area for your fire pit when it rains.

Step 4: Build Your Backyard Fire Pit: It is now time to start placing the first ring of stones around the gravel circle’s edge. The rubber mallet will help you tamp down the stones, flat and even. Again, if you are including a metal ring to make your fire pit, you can keep it in the middle so that you can make sure that you fit your stones right up against the metal ring.

When you are placing the second row of stones, use the masonry adhesive and place some on the bottom of every stone so that you can stagger the second row’s placement. This means that each stone’s middle should be sitting on the end seams of the row of stones beneath it. Use the rubber mallet to tighten and even the placement of the stones. Repeat this process with the third row as well.

Building a Fire in Your New Backyard Fire Pit

When the time comes for you to actually build a fire in your new fire pit, you should start with a smaller collection of newspaper, sticks and dry leaves that are may have piled up together. After you have lit the starter pile, you can start adding small logs and a few big branches, and then start placing bigger pieces of wood as the smaller ones start catching on fire.

After having a couple of fires in your fire pit, you may want to scoop out most of the ashes so that they do not accumulate and build up too high and blow around. You can also use a shop vac to vacuum out the ashes or just use the same shovel you used to dig the fire pit in the first place.

A Few Small Tips

Before you start making your fire pit, you will want to check on your area’s recreational fire code to make sure that you are allowed to have a fire pit on your property. Also, you should build your fire pit at least 10 feet away from any trees, building structures, fences, or other obstructions. Make sure that you do not have branches that hang directly above the fire pit even if the base of the tree is 10 feet away. If your backyard is large, the fire pit could be much further away, 30 feet or even 20 meters away from any fence, home, or structure.

As you can see, it is not tough to build your own fire pit. You do not even need to hire a professional to do the job. With the right materials and tools, you can make a DIY backyard fire pit without any hassles at all. With your new fire pit, you can get friends and family over and have fabulous parties and get-togethers.