DIY Fire Pit Ideas

Are you new to the hot world of building fire pits? There's so much to learn and consider that you just don't know where to start? Relax, we've got you covered. You can learn from the collective knowledge of the Hometalk community on our discussion boards, slideshows, DIY video tutorials, and lots of innovative projects. Happy planning!

How to Build a DIY Fire Pit- No Matter Your Budget or Skill Level

Build a Fire Pit in 5 Steps

Step 1: Create your space: Using pavers of your choice, make a circle. The circle should create the space for your fire pit - you will need about 12 large pavers.
Step 2: Add height and layers: Add 3 rows of pavers, building the fire pit up. The “walls” will keep your fire from spreading. You can already see your fire pit taking shape.
Step 3: Add paving for your floor: To accommodate the circular shape of your fire pit, you will need a few triangular shaped pavers along with the square ones.
Step 4: Finish your floor: You may need to knock some of the pavers in with a hammer. Then, add paver sand. Spread it evenly between all the cracks and gaps.
Step 5: Sweep away spare sand: Any sand left over after you have filled the gaps between paving stones can be swept up and thrown away. Your fire pit is ready for action!

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Top Projects for Building Fire Pits

Here are the top fire pit projects. Release your inner DIY spark.

From Fire Table to Firepit

I had a beautiful slate tiled firepit on a metal stand. It had a shallow fire bowl that had a slate center insert that converted it to a coffee table when not being used for a fire. After 4 years of use, the fire bowl insert bottom rusted out. Replacement bowls in the same size were impossible to find. I considered just continuing to use the existing fire pit table as a coffee table only and buy a new fire pit. But then I came up with the idea of building a base for the table top. I removed the legs and used the beautiful slate top on top of a new cinder block base.

Angela

Inexpensive DIY Fire Pit

Happy memorial day weekend everyone! My husband and I are working hard to make our yard look nicer, so we decided to ditch out our portable metal fire pit for a permanent one. If you're interested in building one yourself, check out the minimal steps to achieve one of your own!

Taryn g

Light Your Table on Fire... (Seriously!)

When the weather's warm, parties tend to migrate to the outdoors. And what hotter way to enjoy your time outside than around an oh-so modern Fire Table. I absolutely love the look...but not the hefty price tag. It's easy to make your own - one that will be the envy of your friends, but at a fraction of the retail cost.

OnTheFly...DIY

Our Homemade Firepit - From All Repurposed Materials

I grew up going to a cabin that had a firepit. It was the heart of the activities. Everyone came together around it and the best memories happened there. So, when my husband and I bought our own cabin (right next to the one I grew up going to), our top priority was building a firepit.

Rae

Charcoal Grill Fire Pit

My son’s and his wife have a sweet rental home. They can make small changes and are very creative.We helped them this weekend, July 4 th putting this together for our s’mores tonight.His weber grill that he tried to sell but no one wanted and he decided to turn it into a fire pit.

Judy

Fondue Pot to Table Top Solar Fountain & Fire Pit

I have a fondue pot that I have been wanting to turn into something and I finally figured it out! It's a table top solar fountain by day and a fire pit at night. You can see more of my crazy creations here

Chas' Crazy Creations

Stage-One of My Up-Cycled Backyard--The Fire Pit:

My husband and I purchased a house for nine thousand dollars from my Great-Grandfather’s estate way back in 1988 (that rhymes! Who knew!) We’ve been plugging money into it ever since. At first it was to keep a roof over the heads of our four great kids but now it’s a labor of love. I like to up-cycle, reuse, convert, buy-sell-trade, craigslist, free or nearly free-anything to save a buck. My advice is, if you buy anything online, check rebate sites—ebates, honey, retailmenot-I’m sure there’s more. Using end of the season sales, rebate sites, free ship and no-interest financing is a big money saver. A couple years back on a store card I bought a $1200 outdoor table big enough to hold my grown kids and their families, for around $400. So, my backyard….Its small. It’s drab. Thank goodness my kids grew up on a block where they had neighbors with kid friendly backyards because ours wasn’t that place. The outside table was one thing off the list but the rest of my backyard project? What to do?

Annette

How to Make a Concrete Fire Pit

This article will show you how to make a fire pit for under $50

Melrose Design Co.

Smores Bar!

Now that summer is well on its way, what a better way to spend your evening, or afternoon....or heck, even morning (for those big time Smores lovers!) Than roasting marshmallows and making Smores?!**the materials and cost are for 2 boxes. I was making one for my place and 1 as a gift :)

Cheryl Gillman

Ready for S’Mores

I’ve wanted a firepit for a while but the pits sold in stores were smaller than what I wanted. I saw different stones at the hardware store but didn’t care for the color options. After a bit of research, I discovered concrete stain and I saw I had many options colorwise.

PJones

From Fire Table to Firepit

Angela

Inexpensive DIY Fire Pit

Taryn g

Light Your Table on Fire... (Seriously!)

OnTheFly...DIY

Our Homemade Firepit - From All Repurposed Materials

Rae

Charcoal Grill Fire Pit

Judy

Fondue Pot to Table Top Solar Fountain & Fire Pit

Chas' Crazy Creations

Stage-One of My Up-Cycled Backyard--The Fire Pit:

Annette

How to Make a Concrete Fire Pit

This article will show you how to make a fire pit for under $50

Melrose Design Co.

Smores Bar!

Cheryl Gillman

Ready for S’Mores

PJones

Exciting Fire Pit Building Videos

Looking for video tutorials on how to build your very own fire pit yourself?

3 Ways to Make a Backyard Fire Pit — Just in Time for Fall!

Who doesn't love a good bonfire? Check out these 3 incredible ways to create your own backyard fire pit just in time for Fall! Get the full tutorial + materials here: - Fire Pit Upgrade for Under $25- Portable Fire Pit

Abbie M

Portable Fire Pit in Just 5 Minutes!

If you're looking for fire pit ideas, this DIY outdoor fire pit is the easiest project imaginable. I first did it as a date night for me and hubby and it was a big hit. We used a much smaller terra cotta pot to set up the fire pit on our porch and had a nice romantic evening of s'mores making. Now, we set it up often when we are entertaining in our backyard. Fire pits add such a nice ambiance and create some delicious opportunities. Step 1: Gather Your Materials

Shawna Bailey

Family Fire Pit - Save up to 85% by DIYing It!

We went to visit my parents house the other day to help build a fire pit. It was a blast building it with my dad! Our family hopes to enjoy it for many years. I will be sharing how it was built so you can make your own backyard fire pit and enjoy it with your families. You will need some bricks, stakes, the outer rim, the inner rim, a hammer, shovel, sand, wheelbarrow, wood, and a great attitude.We want to help you DIY, so some of the materials in this post are linked to sellers. Just so you know, Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.

Howie Withrow

Hometalkers' Favorite DIY Fire Pit Building Projects

The best DIY fire pit projects for you. Sure to spark your creativity!

Inspirational In Ground Fire Pits

A trending addition to any outdoor living space is a fire pit. We here at Warming Trends see a lot of search results on "how to install an in ground fire pit," so we thought we'd share some cool in ground fire pit pictures for inspiration. As you can see from the intricate work in the first two pictures, depending on your craftsmanship, you can get pretty elaborate with your fire pit design. Below are more simple designs but they still mesh well with the existing patio surroundings. You can have your local contractor select some stone and finish your fire pit to match your patio and home. The large stone seating area adds to the organic feel of the patio space. Gas fire logs can add a nice addition to your fire pit and bring a little more realistic and organic feel to your fire pit. Hope you feel inspired and get to building one of your own.

Ray Stone

DIY Flameless Fire Pit

Creating fire pit inside the house for decorating purposes can be intimidating.Today I am sharing a simple idea to create a faux fire pit that anyone can make under few seconds with very few supplies.Let's see how.

Sahana

Mini Fire Pit

I always loved the look of a fire pit, the idea of sitting outside relaxing under the stars whilst watching the flames just appealed, but I only had a small terrace. So i put my creative head on and with a few euros and some basic garden and craft supplies my lovely fire pit was built.

Lily Frances

Make an Inexpensive Backyard Fire Pit

When we moved into our house, our backyard was a big (we have a half acre lot), empty, BORING blank slate. We'd had a small, portable fire pit at our old house and loved it, so we knew that we'd get a lot of use out of a more permanent fire pit here.

Gretchen

Fire Pit Patio

I have always wanted a patio type fire pit, and I found the one I loved on Pinterest. I showed my son and he offered to make it so here we go!

Meagan Hopper

Pallet Deck With Fire Pit

I am totally exhausted so apologies for not posting sooner. The weather is wet and freezing here which has also held things up..Its now 1am so forgive me if this is lacking any info , any questions and il try my best to reply asap.I wanted something in my garden to sit my pallet bench on cos it kept getting full of crawlies!, that's how this started..I could not afford proper decking boards or decking tiles but the tiles gave me the idea to use pallets instead.

Zena walker

Inspirational In Ground Fire Pits

Ray Stone

DIY Flameless Fire Pit

Sahana

Mini Fire Pit

Lily Frances

Make an Inexpensive Backyard Fire Pit

Gretchen

Fire Pit Patio

I have always wanted a patio type fire pit, and I found the one I loved on Pinterest. I showed my son and he offered to make it so here we go!

Meagan Hopper

Pallet Deck With Fire Pit

Zena walker

Popular Fire Pit Building Discussions

Here are the discussions Hometalkers are having now about how to build fire pits.

What to do with firepit ashes.

/> Carol M

We have a garbage can full of ashes from our firepit. Is spreading them on the garden a good idea? We're trying to find an ecofriendly way of disposing them.

View discussion

Any way to keep a fire pit screen from rusting?

/> Caconiam

We just put an in ground fire pit in the yard and I'm probably going to buy this screen for it. Most of the reviews talk about it rusting really quickly :/ I bought Rustoleum Heat resistant spray paint as suggested in one of the reviews and am hoping that will help. I'll also change out all the screws and nuts to galvanized so that won't be a problem. Anyone have any other ideas, or maybe a screen that won't rust? I did find some that claim to not rust but they are $350 and up and I am not looking to spend that much on a screen. I am in Florida near the Gulf so there may be no way to keep it from rusting (?) Thanks for any thoughts you may have.

Any way to keep a fire pit screen from rusting?

View discussion

Is it ok to place sand at the bottom of an outdoor firepit?

/> Cynthia B Pena

View discussion

What are good materials to put around a brick fire pit?

/> Nbe32902902

What is an easy and inexpensive surface to put down around an out door fire pit? The new fire pit is going in on a surface that currently is deteriorated wood chips.

View discussion

New Building Fire Pits Projects

Here are the hottest DIY fire pit projects on the web. Check them out!

Backyard Firepit

My friend bought a new home a couple years ago and today she put in her backyard firepit. She wanted a safe way to have family get togethers around the fire. The first step is to be sure your town allows firepits in the city limits and inquire if they require a permit for it. Check with your local fire station and / or city zoning departments.

DesertRose

Portable Fire Pit in Just 5 Minutes!

Shawna Bailey

Backyard Fire Pit

My husband and I decided to turn an unused corner of our backyard into a family-friendly area where fun memories (and food) are made by building our own backyard fire pit! We poured the cement, built up the sides, mortared the inside - waited for it all to dry and then striked up a match and roasted some hot dogs! After the cement pad was dry, it took us a couple hours to build up the sides of the pit and a few days later we were enjoying a nice fire on a cool summer evening. Gathering around the pit is one of our favorite summer activities.