I love to set next to a fire, so years ago I brought a fire pit. We never really used it much for three main reasons: too hard to mow around so it was usually “lost in the weeds” , I never had wood when I wanted it (plus I always had trouble starting the fire), it was a pain to clean out the ashes and it collected water each time it rained. Oops guess that was five reasons. Any way you look at it we never used it much!
We solved the first problem back in May of 2016 by building a patio and placing the fire pit in the center.
However we now had another problem the fire screen was ruined so we had to be extra careful if we wanted to build a wood fire. I think we had one fire in two years plus I still had to dump out the water after each rain. Yes it has a few holes in the bottom but it never drains.
There was a few reasons I did not like wood as a fuel for the fire pit. 1. It was a lot of trouble to get the logs. 2. I always had trouble getting the fire started. 3. It would burn longer than I wanted it too. 4. It left a mess to clean up afterwards.
I tried using the process logs that only burn for four hours but they still left a mess to clean up and someone had to be there the whole four hours since the fire screen was broken.
WE have a water fountain that uses Tiki torch fuel cells at the top so I decided to use Tiki torches fuel cell inside of flowers pots surrounded by lava rocks inside the pit. I used four of them inside the pit. They give just the right amount of fire, I can blow them out whenever and there is no mess. This is three bags of rock and I will add another bag later this summer and maybe a few more cells. Another plus is that the mosquitoes stay away.
I still had the problem of keeping the rain out and didn’t want to add any more lava rock until I found a solution. I had found a 1″ thick piece of old exterior plywood in the garage while cleaning last year and decided it would be useful one day so I put it to the side. Last week I remembered it and placed it on top of the fir pit to see if it would keep the rain out. I waited for the rain – yes it worked!
It was a bit too large on the ends so I grabbed my jig saw and started sawing.
I just finished sanding it when it started raining. I wrapped the plywood in plastic and want inside.
The next morning I removed the plastic and wet sanded the top and checked the fire pit – no water inside! I allowed the plywood to dry in the sun before painting it with white gloss paint. Repeated the painting four hours later.
The next day I sketched the design on the top and started painting.
Painting took awhile and this was the end of the next day.
One more day
I still have the back side to paint white and then I plan on coating it with a water sealer but I got the main part finished in time for Memorial Day.
DIY with Kathy! 