How To Build A Fire Pit With Rocks? [Guide and Tips]

Making a stone fire pit to your backyard is a great way to keep the fun going long after the dark. So, you can spend a day making a new statement piece for your yard. If you are wondering how to build a fire pit with rocks? well no need to worry, we’ll show you how. Instead of rocks, you can also build your fire pit with cinder blocks.

When building and selecting your rocks fire pit, try to avoid using the wet stones. If you are using river rocks, make sure to give them some days of direct sunlight to dry properly.

Table of Contents

Location

Choose the site on the ground and away from trees, buildings, brush piles or other flammable materials. A 15 to 16-foot diameter area is about space needed for a rock fire pit. Find the centre of the selected area and drive a small stack into the ground. Now attach an 8-foot-long string to stake and use string to mark 15 diameter circle around the stake. It will mark the outside edge of gravel area surrounding in the fire pit.

Make Inner Circle

Attach a two to three-foot-long sting to the stake, and use string to make four diameter circle around the stake. It will mark the outside edge of the fire pit with a shovel, dig out the ring at least a depth of 12 inches. Now, scrape the bottom and inside of the circle smooth and flat to create the pit. Now spread a simple layer of gravel over the bottom of the fire pit to help rainwater to drain quickly and prevent puddles of wood ash.

Haul Some Rock

If you have rocky woodlands area, you can easily collect your rocks for building the outer ring of the fire pit. The stones used for the fire pit was collected from a rocky outcropping on the property and select rocks that could easily carry and move. Look for rocks that roughly the same shape and size and have a similar colour. Approximately and flatter rectangle-shaped rocks are easy to stack, but round shape rock can be used to build the low stone walls of the fire pit.

Stack Em Up

Beginning with larger stones, position the rocks at the base and against the earthen wall of the pit. As you stack and place the rocks and on top of each other, the only front-facing surface of rock will show. The workaround the circle of the pit, staggering the placement of stones to make a small wall around the ring. Carefully place the rocks to stabilize each one against the pit wall and against surrounding stones to make sturdy and looking right stone wall.

Create a Buffer Zone

Simply spread a layer of gravel around the outside of firepit to cover ground within the 15-foot outer circle, ranks the gravel level smooth. Position benches, chair and outdoor furniture around the fieldstone fire pit to make a comfortable seating area to enjoy the fire.