There are a great many lifestyle advantages to living in the country: less noise, less congestion, better view of the stars—but pictured above is something that probably doesn't immediately leap to mind. Fire pits are not a common sight in the city, and this is generally because you wouldn't have an outdoor fire lit five minutes before a truckload of firefighters arrived to douse it with water and present you with a considerable fine. But, subject to local bylaw of course, a fire pit on your rural property is a privilege definitely worth taking advantage of.
Most rural areas will allow outdoor fires, especially on farms where it's common to burn debris. Call your local fire department to check if you're not sure. Fires are usually allowed for the purposes of cooking, and that's where this fire pit comes in. We decided to construct something you would want to gather around with your friends and cook up some steaks, yet is quite safe for both the users and the surrounding environment.
Allowing for a hole 56" in diameter, we calculated that we would need 35 Unilock Brussels blocks to make our fire pit, shown at right. The blocks are sandstone in colour, each of which is 12" x 8" x 4" in size. There are 10 blocks per course, plus five on the top back course. We wanted the blocks to sit on a foundation a little more solid than just the bare ground, so we dug a hole 12" deep. This hole was filled first with 6" of gravel, then 6" of sand (we thought sand would look nicer under the fire than gravel. What's more, a bed of sand makes it very easy to rake out the ash and cinders of fires past). We bought the sand and gravel bulk, which, by the way, is the best way to buy materials like these. What we managed to fit into the back of a pickup truck for $40 would have probably run us $200 if we'd bought it in bags.
We raked the gravel and sand after each new barrowful, eyeballing a rough level. Gravel and sand were then tamped down with the aid of our makeshift tamper, tampers not being the kind of tools most people have lying around waiting to be used. We wired a sledgehammer to a 12" x 12" square of plywood—it worked like a charm. After tamping we used a spirit level to ensure the base was even.
Using a similar technique to the one we used to mark the circumference of the original hole, we scribed a line in the sand to mark the inside diameter of the stone wall. We used this line as a guide to lay in the blocks.
Laying in the first course of blocks is the key to this whole project. If your math is correct and you've remained true to all your lines, you can expect the last block to line up perfectly with the first when you complete the circle. And if you really think that will happen first try, you're either a seasoned mason or someone who also expects to retire on lottery winnings. Invariably there will be some deviation that keeps the stones from lining up, but that's exactly why you will have brought along a rubber mallet, just as we did. They don't call them persuaders for nothing.
Once the first course is down, laying the rest of the blocks is a snap. You'll have a good hunger worked up by this time, so get that fire good and hot to build up some cooking coals.
0 Comment