With Memorial Day weekend coming up we’re all amping to get outdoors and start enjoying summer activities. One thing I love doing on summer evenings when I get home from work is sitting by the fire pit and relaxing after a long day. I’ve been thinking about building a more attractive one for my yard for a while now and when I saw we had new pavers, retaining wall blocks and pebbles in stock at my local Big R I decided it was time to tackle that project.

Building a fire pit out of blocks is really simple to do. While at the store picking out the blocks I actually laid them out in the diameter of fire pit I wanted to get an estimate of how many I’d need to purchase. The size I landed on was 40” exterior diameter which allows for about 5 to 6 adirondack chairs to encircle the pit comfortably.

What you’ll need:

(30) Pavestone concrete retaining wall blocks (I chose the Pewter color)

3-4 bags of Pavestone pea pebbles (I chose brown), or paver base

Shovel

Level

Tape measure

Soil tamper (not absolutely necessary but a good idea to have)

Concrete adhesive (if you want your firepit to be pretty permanent)

Rubber mallet

A positive attitude as you will smash a finger at least once

The location I chose for my fire pit is on my lawn where an old fire pit used to be so the grass in that spot was already dead and my new fire pit is the same size as the old one so I didn’t have to do much prep work. The main objective in prepping for your fire pit is to have the site as level and packed down as possible otherwise your blocks will eventually slump if the soil settles beneath them. You can measure for your new fire pit by using a 20” piece of string staked in the middle of your chosen site or simply lay out your bottom ring of blocks in a circle so the exterior diameter is 40”.

Let’s get to it!

Dig out the grass inside your measured circle and level the existing soil as best you can. Tamp it down thoroughly so the ground is as compact and level as possible.

Pour 2 bags of pebbles or paver base into your circle and spread evenly to the edges, tamp down to make the pebbles firm and level.

Start placing your first row of blocks around the circle so the outer edge lines up with your circle.

Begin your second row of blocks by placing the first block centered across 2 blocks of your first row. This is where you can apply your concrete adhesive if you’re wanting a permanent/solid fire pit. I didn’t use adhesive as I may want to move mine somewhere else in the future.

Note: It’s a good idea to do a dry fit of your entire firepit before applying adhesive. As you are adding blocks from this point on there may also be small adjustments you need to make. Use your rubber mallet to tap the blocks however you need to ensure everything is lined up and looking nice.

Continue adding blocks until you finish 3 rows (you can make your pit taller if you wish, you will just need to purchase 10 more blocks).Pour in 2 more bags of pebbles or paver base to line the bottom of your fire pit and level them out.

Note: If you’ve used concrete adhesive you will need to follow the instructions on the product regarding cure time as you won’t want to burn in your fire pit before that has fully cured.

Finally, allow your fire pit inspection crew give their approval of the job well-done!

That’s it! Build your fire, grab an icy Frostop soda, set up a few comfy adirondack chairs, kick back and relax. Here’s to an awesome summer!