Is there anything quite so amazing as a fire pit? Yep, actually there is, a fire pit on the lawn in the middle of a lovely summer evening with a couple of beers and some wood smoker chips that you would normally use in the bbq smoker 🙂 to finish off a nice bit of steak! That’s what I’m talking about. And all that fun and relaxation starts from learning how to build a fire pit on grassy areas.
The first thing you need to consider is the type of fire pit you want to go for. Are you into woods burning, charcoal, or gas. Personally I prefer wood burning when it comes to a fire pit but that has it’s limitations when you’re doing a fire pit on a grassy area in the sense that you are likely to scorch it with falling embers. So in the interests of balance I intend to go through how grass fire pits might work too just in case you fancy that alternative. One way or another the result is the same, a lovely ambience in your back garden with the long summer evenings just around the corner 🙂
How to get this going building a fire pit on grass:
1. Pick your prime position to build a fire pit on grass – you only get one chance this isn’t like a portable fire pit.
2. Mark out your area carefully – I would go with something at least two foot in diameter for a decent fire that can keep you warm.
3. Dig your hole nice and deep at least a foot
4. Lay some rocks and stones around the
Remember tool wise you’ll want a shovel, a pickaxe and a few rocks or bricks. This is supper simple to get going with.
Is it OK to put a fire pit on grass?
Yes absolutely it is OK to put a fire pit on grass. The only thing you need to consider is that if you’re using a charcoal or wood based fire pit then you will almost certainly end up scorching a bit of your grass area, especially if you’ve had a few too many drinks late into the evening.
With a gas fire pit you have far more control. And I am not just talking about hot embers either, you can choose when to turn on and off your fire pit as well as not having to worry about any smoke in your fire pit. Either which way you can minimise the impact on your grass area by keeping your charcoal volume relatively small when compared to the size of the fire pit and the same then applies to wood. If anything you want to go slightly less wood still because this is far more likely to spit and cause damage to a grass area. With that out the way ( I know it was probably on your mind) let’s look at how to build a fire pit on a grass area.
I don’t have my own house (yet) so I decided to build a fire pit at my parents house instead pic.twitter.com/yxXbHnG25c
— turito (@ArturoMoreno8) April 3, 2021
How do I build a firepit in my lawn
Your first port of call is to decide where you want to put your fire pit. You should strategically place it and think about what you want to get from your fire pit. The obvious things to think about are proximity to anything that is flammable and do you have any pets that could easily fall in it, more important still your children. You’ll need to consider how you keep them safe, especially if you go for a wood fire pit as this is harder to put out at the end of the evening and can still be smouldering and extremely hot the next morning. In fact, this is almost the whole original idea of a fire pit to ensure that you could cook meat for really long periods of time.
You don’t want to be too near a fence, or your washing line, and obviously if your shed is timber then stay away from that too! 😀
The less obvious things to consider are how you might use the shelter of a wall to capture the heat. This would save huge amounts of money if you’re considering running wall mounted heaters or table top heaters in conjunction with your fire pit to stay warm on a cold evening.
Think about what you want to be looking at. The last thing you want is to be staring at a brick wall or something boring. In my house I try to look over the farm field when I do a fire. This is a lovely setting so my fire pits and bonfires always end up in the safest place; the middle of the garden away from the neighbour, fence, and my shed but still with an excellent view.
Once you’ve decided on location its time to think about marking out the ground. Don’t be too scared about digging up the lawn, with a few bricks around the edge you can stop the spread of damage and nothing stops you making something aesthetically pleasing 🙂
Why dig a hole in the lawn?
The whole idea behind a fire pit is containment and safety as well as being able to cook food all night and into the morning. If you don’t dig a hole you are far more likely to have someone injured and also not benefit from the ability to just ‘throw in’ a couple of logs at a time and sit back down on your comfy chair!
The biggest advantage though is the collection of ash. You can then wait a couple of days for this to go out completely if you don’t have kids or pets, alternatively you can literally fill up your fire pit with water so you can get rid of the fire almost instantly and ensure no one can be injured when you go in for the evening. There’s no question, if you’re building a fire pit on grass then you want to take advantage of digging into the ground.
Take advantage of your fire pit and cook your meat all smokey and bbq flavoured
When building your fire pit you want to think about the ability to cook food on it was well as the staying warm factor.
You want to make sure you you can lay enough stones or bricks around the edge to ensure you keep pets away and at the same time it’ll help to contain the fire even if it’s raging. The other great thing about a rocky border is the ability to push a bit of wood in between and hold meat over the fire. LEt’s assume your burning with logs that are not carcinogenic then you can really get the full force of any smoke directly out of the fire pit onto your meat. This makes cooking your chicken thighs and similar probably as good as the old charcoal grill or bbq food smoker.
