How to build a firepit

There’s nothing like a crackling outdoor fire to warm your soul. And there’s nothing like building something yourself that you can enjoy with friends and family for years to come. So why not build your own backyard firepit?

Just gather the listed materials and tools, and follow the directions on the next pages. You can start early in the morning, be finished by early afternoon, and roast marshmallows over a fire in your pit by sundown.

It’s a fairly easy, inexpensive project that two people can do in less than a day, said Jose Figueroa, who enlisted the help of Martin Martinez to build the firepit pictured here for Pamela Honaker, owner of Landscapes by Pamela.

Firepits can be built in a number of sizes and styles, but the one shown here stretches about five feet in diameter and stands about 18 inches high, Figueroa said. Though Landscapes by Pamela would charge about $455 to build a similar firepit, you should be able to build your own for under $150, Honaker said.

Landscapes by Pamela uses licensed installers and can be reached at 344-5453.

Materials needed:

•Six 80 pound bags of mortar mix with gravel

•One bag of pure cement

•20 pounds of heavy sand

•60 four-inch by six-inch Keystone bricks

•One sheet of bender board (flexible framing)

•Box of #8 nails

•10 one-foot long by half-inch thick wooden stakes

Tools needed:

•Water hose

•Wheelbarrow

•Shovel

•Two-by-four board

•Level

•Tape measure

•Serving trowel

•Finishing trowel

•Large sponge

•Bucket

•Saw

•Small sledge hammer

Firepit how-to:

1. Choose site for pit and use something sturdy, such as a two-by-four, to move dirt or level the ground. You can just “eyeball” the ground to guide your leveling and don’t worry if it’s an inch or two off, Figueroa said. (The pit itself will be level because you will level the concrete base as you construct it.)

2. Cut the bender board in several four- or five-inch strips and wet it, so it will bend easily.

3. With the help of a second person, overlay about four inches of the end of one strip of bender board on another and nail the two layers to the top of a stake. You are creating the form for the concrete base. Use one nail only, so the form will be flexible. Otherwise, it can break when you add cement.

4. This is the tricky part. Figueroa is shown holding the last quarter of the form, which must be nailed very carefully to a stake. One person can hold a brick under the stake and two layers of bender board while a second person drives a nail in. The form can break during this step if you’re not careful.

5. Set the form on the ground you leveled, gently tap stakes about halfway into the ground and measure across from stake one to stake three. Then measure across from stake two to stake four. Make any necessary adjustments to ensure the measurements from the first two stakes are exactly the same as the next two. Gently tap the stakes in the rest of the way. (Do not drive any of the stakes all the way in at once or the form may break.)

6. Place a two-by-four across the form and use a level to level it between stakes one and three, and again from stakes two and four. This is an important step because it will determine how level your finished pit will be.

7. Drive four additional stakes into the ground on the outside of the form, halfway between each of the first four stakes. Measure again to ensure the distances are the same across the newly added stakes as across the original ones. Precise measurements help you create a nice circle for the cement base, and ultimately, for the firepit itself. Rake inside the form to level it again after disturbing the ground. Dig two shallow holes in the circle. When filled with cement, the holes provide "a little extra footing" to keep your cement base from moving, Figueroa said.

8. Follow package directions to mix two bags of mortar mix at a time with gravel. Shovel wet mortar mix into the form, being very careful not to get too much at a time near the interior of the form. It should be shoveled in - not poured in all at once from the wheelbarrow - because cement is very heavy and can break the form. Repeat this step two more times as quickly as possible so the cement will dry uniformly. You should have about an hour to mix and shovel all the cement into the form, Figueroa said.

9. Use a two-by-four to level the cement with the top of the form.

10. Use a finishing trowel to smooth out the cement. It does not have to be as smooth as a sidewalk, Figueroa said. Let it dry about 45 minutes to an hour, but don’t let it completely dry. It needs to be somewhat pliable for setting the keystone bricks in later.

11. Place keystones around the edges of the cement, just inside the form. Press gently to set them in the cement. You may need to adjust them somewhat, and there will be spaces between the bricks. The spaces are necessary for aerating fires as well as for easy clean up of ashes. Just wash the pit with a hose and let wet ashes wash out through the spaces, Figueroa said. As the concrete sets, it expands and may cause the bricks to become slightly uneven. Use the level across each brick, from front to back, and adjust any uneven bricks by gently tapping them with the small sledgehammer. Do not cut keystone bricks, or you will have to use pieces instead of whole bricks on the second and third layers.

12. Mix pure mortar in the wheelbarrow, according to the package directions. Wet a large sponge with clean water in the bucket and use it to wet the top of the first layer of bricks. Use the serving trowel to spread the cement on the bottom of a brick. "It’s as easy as spreading peanut butter on bread," Figueroa said. Next, center the brick on top of two bricks on the lower layer. The "lip" should be on the inside of the pit. Gently press down and repeat around the second level. You may have to adjust the spacing of the bricks, just as with the first layer, and spaces between them are OK. Repeat process with the third layer.

13. Unlike the top two layers of bricks, spaces between the bottom layer must be filled in with cement. Apply cement between bricks with the serving trowel and use the tip of the trowel to smooth it. Use the wet sponge to clean the top of the firepit very well. Rinse several times with very clean water, or the cement will stain the bricks.

14. Though it’s optional, Figueroa recommends applying Thompson’s water seal to the finished pit after it has dried well. "It protects the pit from the elements and gives it a shiny, wet look," he said. You can light a fire in the pit the first night, he said. But do not let children climb in or walk on it for the first 48 hours.