Homemade Fire Pit Ideas

Fire pits provide light, ambiance and warmth during nighttime parties or after impromptu winter snowball fights. They also give friends and family a place to gather, making it easy to share stories over roasting kabobs and burnt marshmallows.



Although commercial fire pits can be expensive, you can create your own fire pit at home. With several designs to choose from, you just need a little elbow grease to create your own outdoor gathering spot. Does this Spark an idea?

Simplest Fire Pit

The easiest fire pit to make yourself is really no more than a glorified bonfire. Choose a space free of flammable items or clear a space of grass and twigs, making sure there are no overhanging branches that may catch sparks. Dig up the sod in a circle about 3 feet wide and create a hole about 3 inches deep. Fill the hole with an inch of small gravel and another inch of sand. Surround the pit with large rocks; each should be about twice the size of your fist. Stack the rocks at least 6 inches high and 1 foot wide to keep sparks from straying into the grass. Set some Adirondack chairs, log stumps and flat rocks around the pit for seating and enjoy.

Metal Drum Pit

A 20-gallon metal drum not only has ready-made sides to contain fire and heat, it can be disguised very easily. Dig a hole about 6 inches wider and 12 inches less deep than your big metal drum (they look like huge barrels). Slide your drum into the ground and fill the area around it with gravel and sand. Fill the inside of the drum with gravel and sand as well. Finish off the look by dry-stacking bricks or square pieces of slate around the drum. Push the stone or bricks as close to the drum as you can and stagger the pieces as you stack. Place the last layer of building materials so it overlaps the edge of the drum, covering the metal lip. Build a fire inside and roast some marshmallows.

Table Pit

The trouble with some fire pits is that you have to lean down to cook your food and move somewhere else to eat it. A table fire pit eliminates this need. Simply dig up the sod in an area with no overhanging branches or nearby flammable items. The circle should be at least 10 feet in diameter. Spread about 2 inches of sand in the entire circle. Stack 1-foot-square retaining wall granite blocks in a 5-foot-wide, 3-foot-high circle in the center of the sand. Fill the rest of the circle with sleeper stones or bricks that radiate out from the central fire pit. Fill in the areas between stones or bricks with your sod. The height and width of the retaining stones allows you to roast your food and eat it in the same place.