Build Your Own FIRE PIT

For your first time out, the best fire pit starts with a kit. “You don’t have to know what you’re doing,” says Chicago-based Scott Vargo, who bought a $250 model from Lowe’s to extend outdoor time at his weekend retreat in Michigan. Together with his wife, Vargo runs Yellow Brick Home, a blog and social channel focused on DIY home design and renovation. He has the skills for a more complicated pit, but wanted to go as simple as possible.

“If you can use a shovel and stack bricks, you can build a fire pit from a kit,” he says. “It comes with instructions and a steel ring that dictates the size. We chose the color and style of the blocks that make up the fire pit from six different finishes and it arrived on a truck a few weeks later.”

Vargo finished his project in an afternoon, with his then-infant daughter strapped to his chest. First, he created a gravel ring around the fire pit to avoid having to mow under surrounding chairs, and for the visual appeal.

“We dug up the sod in a perfect circle that we traced out with spray paint and a string line,” he says. “It took about 60 bags of gravel for two inches of depth.”

Before you start stacking bricks, check with your local codes office or fire department to see how far away your pit should be placed from a fence or other structure.

Vargo also found that a fire-rated, caulk-like adhesive came in handy, and, over the long haul, has withstood higher heat than standard glues.

After a few years of regular cleaning and maintenance, Vargo upped his game a bit. “I found a company that makes custom vents the same size and shape as our bricks,” he says. “I removed three bricks and added vents that allow for better air circulation, create less smoke and help the fire burn hotter and cleaner.”

Once you’ve built your fire pit, there’s one more step between you and nightly s’mores.

“There’s an art to building a fire,” says Vargo. “I prefer a pyramid-shaped fire because I like to build it, light it once and forget it. First, stack tinder sticks and twigs, move on to chopped-up sections of logs, then finally add the logs themselves. If you’re going to go to the effort to have a nice fire pit, you want the fire to look nice, too.”

“IF YOU CAN USE A SHOVEL AND STACK BRICKS, YOU CAN BUILD A FIRE PIT.”