I love easy home projects especially when they don’t require spending money. This DIY fire pit was completed in about an hour and we used left over material that we had on hand. Score! Let me show you how to build your own concrete paver fire pit.
Before I get started, I want to disclose that this is probably one of the easiest ways to build a fire pit. Does that mean it’s the only way or the best way? No. This tutorial is how we built a fire pit in about an hour with concrete pavers we already had on hand. Now that you know that, here we go….
I’m no stranger to repurposing old concrete pavers. As a matter of fact, in our previous home (builder grade turned modern farmhouse), we took the concrete pavers from the front flower beds and used them to dress up the existing fire pit with pea gravel and pavers.
See how we created a large border around the fire pit? Wait until you see the finished product.
Speaking of repurposing concrete pavers, we did something similar in our current house (rustic beach cottage) when I created a DIY outdoor table to hide the grinder pump well.
This was a fun project. As a matter of fact, I’m going to use the same principals I used to build this DIY outdoor table for the DIY fire pit. Let’s be honest, it kind of looks like a fire pit with a wood top, right?
Let me show you where we are going to put the fire pit.
One of the selling points to this home was all the beautiful live oak trees.
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How to build a concrete paver fire pit
The first thing you are going to do is determine the size and location of your DIY fire pit.
After you’ve chosen the area and size, grab a string (or rope) and tie it to a straight object (pencil, stick, spray paint can).
Determine the circumference of your fire pit and divide that number in half.
Measure the string to that dimension. You need two people; one to hold the end of the string in the middle of the fire pit and one to hold the straight object to create your circle.
With one person holding the string in middle, the other person needs to hold the string taught and make a circle around the person in the middle.
Make sure to make marks in the ground. You can even tie a spray can to the end of the string and spray paint the ground. We chose to make simple dirt marking in the ground. It works!
Once you’ve got your perfectly (or almost) marked circle, start by laying the concrete blocks around it.
If you squint hard enough you can see our circle in the dirt.
Spacing the bottom pavers apart is crucial to give the fire pit Oxygen and let the fire pit vent.
You can see below where we left about 1-2 inches between each paver. This is very important because fire needs oxygen to survive.
Placing the last paver in the circle is the trickiest part of all of this. You might need to adjust the size of your circle to allow for the last paver. This is a “trail and error” type thing.
Once you’ve completed the first level, grab another paver and place it in the middle of two of the bottom pavers.
You can see our concrete pavers come with a center line. This was very convenient in order to help with placement.
Looking good so far!
Note; I’m going for function over perfection here. The spaces aren’t perfect. It’s not 100% level. But it looks good, it’s secure and it’s pretty darn close.
Since the pavers aren’t exactly the same size, it’s near impossible for everything to line up perfectly. If the spacing is off a little or one of the top pavers doesn’t line up perfectly with the bottom pavers, that’s ok. As long as you are pleased with the end result!
You don’t need to worry about spacing the stones on the next few layers of pavers. As long as the bottom layer of pavers has some spacing for Oxygen that should be sufficient to sustain a fire. That being said, we did space the stones on the bottom two layers.
Keep adding layers until you’ve reached the desired fire pit height.
Once you’re done, take a step back and make sure everything looks ok.
Do you have to cement or glue fire pit stones together?
I know I’m going to get a lot of backlash about this. Here we go….
We decided NOT to cement or glue the paver stones together for the fire pit because it’s pretty darn stable as it is. I walked around the top of fire pit just to make sure it was secure (kids, don’t try this at home).
Also, you’ve probably noticed that we like to change things up….
This was a one hour spur-of-the-moment project. We had planned to do this since we moved in, but on a whim decided to complete it. We love how it looks and don’t plan to move it, but you never know what the future holds around this house. 😉
That being said, if you know that your fire pit will be climbed on by littles, go ahead and glue those stones together. Personally, I would use a construction adhesive like Liquid Nail Fuze It.
After grabbing some random sticks, it was time for the moment of truth.
Look at that fire! My kids couldn’t wait to make s’mores (even though it was only 1 in the afternoon).
We cleaned off the stones and added a few white pebbles.
Ta Dah!
Don’t mind all the dirt. Our last outdoor project is to lay lots of sod (assuming it will grow with all the shade).
Do you recognize the chairs from our cottage style porch makeover? I think we will use them here for now.
We didn’t add any fancy lava rocks to the inside (like we had in our old fire pit). Since we are in quarantine I didn’t need to make an unnecessary trip anywhere.
I think we are going to enjoy a lot of time out here.
How to Build a Concrete Paver Fire Pit
Learn how we used concrete pavers to make a simple fire pit in about an hour.
Materials
- Concrete Pavers
- String
- Stake or straight object (for creating the circle with the string)
- Measuring tape
- Level (if needed but not necessary)
Instructions
- Determine the size and location of the fire pit.
- Use a string (or rope) and tie it to a straight object (pencil, stick, spray paint can).
- Determine the circumference of your fire pit and divide that number in half.
- Measure the string to that dimension. You need two people; one to hold the end of the string in the middle of the fire pit and one to hold the straight object to create your circle.
- With one person holding the string in middle, the other person needs to hold the string taught and make a circle around the person in the middle.
- Once you've got your perfectly (or almost) marked circle, start by laying the concrete blocks around it.
- Leave 1-2 inches between each paver on the bottom level of pavers. This is very important because fire needs oxygen to survive.
- Once you've completed the first level, grab another paver and place it in the middle of two of the bottom pavers.
- Optional: If you want to glue or cement, add it in between the concrete pavers as you are building the different layers.
- Keep adding layers until you've reached the desired fire pit height. We added four layers.
Notes
To make marks in the ground, you can even tie a spray can to the end of the string and spray paint the ground. We chose to make simple dirt marking in the ground. It works!
Spacing the bottom pavers apart is crucial to give the fire pit Oxygen and let the fire pit vent.
Use construction adhesive or cement in between stones if you want a more permanent or super stable fire pit.
Stay tuned for more outdoor progress as we finally look toward finishing our outdoor space!
Lindsey**
