How to Build a Fire Pit
Construct a sturdy, circular backyard fire pit using retaining wall blocks, a crushed gravel leveling base, landscape adhesive, and a steel insert ring for safe outdoor fires.
- Read the tools, materials, safety notes, and steps below for free.
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🧰 Required Tools & Equipment
- ✓ Shovel
- ✓ Hand tamper
- ✓ Torpedo level
- ✓ Caulk gun
- ✓ Rubber mallet
- ✓ Tape measure
📦 Materials & Supplies
- ✓ Retaining wall wedge blocks (36-48 blocks)
- ✓ Crushed paver base gravel (2-3 bags)
- ✓ Landscape block construction adhesive
- ✓ Steel fire ring insert
- ✓ Lava rock or pea gravel (for pit base)
⚠️ Safety Checkpoints & Warnings
- • Call local utility locators (811) before digging to avoid striking buried cables or pipes.
- • Position the fire pit at least 10-25 feet away from houses, wooden decks, overhanging branches, and property lines according to municipal codes.
- • Wear heavy work gloves and eye protection when handling heavy concrete blocks and tamping gravel.
📋 Step-by-Step Guide (5 Steps)
Mark the Layout and Excavate Turf
Drive a center stake, tie a string measured to the outer radius of your pit, and spray paint a complete circle on the grass. Use a flat-edge shovel to strip away grass and soil within the circle to a uniform depth of 4 to 6 inches.
- • A crisp, circular hole excavated 4-6 inches into the ground with bare dirt exposed and grass removed.
- • Digging with sloped or bowl-shaped sides instead of a flat, vertical-walled trench.
Pour and Tamp the Gravel Foundation
Pour crushed paver base gravel into the trench to form an even 2-inch deep layer. Use a hand tamper to firmly compact the gravel across the entire footprint until it creates a rock-solid, flat pad.
- • A flat, tightly compacted layer of gravel spanning the entire excavated circle with no loose footprints left when stepped on.
- • Tamping only the center and neglecting the outer perimeter where the heavy wall blocks will sit.
Lay and Level the First Block Ring
Set the first concrete block on the gravel perimeter and place a torpedo level across it side-to-side and front-to-back. Tap it down with a rubber mallet until level, then add adjacent blocks tightly together in a ring, leveling each block individually and relative to its neighbors.
- • A complete, closed circle of blocks sitting flush against each other with the level bubble centered across every single stone.
- • Rushing past a tilted block; errors in the base layer amplify with every tier stacked above it.
Stack Additional Tiers with Adhesive
Apply two thick beads of landscape block adhesive along the top surface of the first row. Place the second row of blocks directly on top, staggering vertical joints over the centers of the bottom blocks, and repeat for 3 to 4 tiers total.
- • A 3-to-4 tier tall cylinder of blocks with running-bond staggered joints and no loose movement when gently pushed.
- • Aligning vertical joints directly on top of each other, creating structural weak points.
Install Steel Ring and Base Lava Rock
Lower the steel fire ring into the center of the structure so its top lip rests evenly along the inside wall. Pour 2 to 3 inches of lava rock or coarse drainage gravel into the bottom interior of the pit to cover the dirt floor.
- • Steel ring securely seated flush inside the blocks and the pit floor fully lined with clean lava rock.
- • Using regular river stones inside the fire chamber, which can trap internal moisture and explode under high heat.
Credit: inspired by an original tutorial by WINNI — watch the original on YouTube.
Don’t have everything?
- No Hand tamper? A flat 4x4 lumber cutoff used as an end-grain hand stamper
- No Rubber mallet? A scrap wood block placed over the stone and struck with a standard hammer
- No Steel fire ring insert? Fire-rated refractory bricks lining the interior face of the concrete blocks