I've had it in my mind to make myself a little fire pit for a while now. Not a large project, but still it took months before I actually got around to doing it. In the end, I did it all in about three hours counting the time it took to drive to Home Depot, buy the stuff, place it and clean-up. A small project, but a rewarding one.
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| So far as it appears, I can't tell the difference between a construction project and a hole in the ground |
I dug a pit in my backyard, maybe 8" deep. I tried to keep the bottom level, but since the ground slopes slightly I imagine the result was less than perfect. Still it was close enough, and after about 15 to 20 minutes I had a roundish, 3.5 foot diameter hole.
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| Fire pit parts: some assembly required |
I went to Home Depot to acquire supplies. I actually had to buy a wheelbarrow as I had not gotten one previously. Which meant attaching my trailer to my car and getting my usual angst as I drive around the very bumpy local roads. But I got the trailer to the store and ended up with 64 bricks, a pitch fork, some "leveling sand", a 5-gallon bucket and some mortar with a bin to mix it in and the trowel to place it.
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| A wonderful day to do the work |
I placed the leveling sand around the edge of the pit as well as in the pit. Then it was time to really get going. I had bought two, 60 lbs bags of mortar, but I only needed one. I mixed in one batch and started applying it. It was obvious I wasn't much of a mason, but this didn't exactly need to withstand armageddon so within the hour all the bricks had gone up and all the mortar had been slathered around between them. I had guessed on the number of bricks and by sheer luck: gotten it exactly right. I used every one of them, and they were placed perfectly to allow for three courses with a small opening in each one to let some air move through.
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| The mortar is applied and is beginning to set |
I cleaned up as best I could: removing excess mortar and ensuring the bricks were placed where I wanted. Then nothing to do but clean-up and wait for the right time to put my creation to use.
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| I invented fire! |
When night came, I started a fire up and made smores. Yum! Day well spent.
