Fire pit ideas

[Van-Wild]

I'm moving house. The back garden is 118ft, the bottom third of which is kinda closed off, entered through an arbor. Nice....

It is this bottom third that I am going to build a fire pit, with seating on two sides. Has anyone got such an area in their garden? I'm hankering for ideas/designs. (I'm almost tempted to build a kinda swedish forest shelter! Like this....)

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[Toddy]

In our climate I think that would be excellent

 

[Janne]

Excellent idea, it will prolong your season BBQ:ing by months!

I built one in Swden, and one in UK.

The only things I recommendyou consider is :
Build it a little bit larger than you think
Build it semi circular, as the corners are badly used in a square one
( you can use the corners for wall fixed small tables, for beverages if you go for a square one))
Use quality pressure treated wood

 

[Janne]

Check with your local Council too, see what is OK. You do not want to build something to discover the council tells you to take it down....

Alternative walls; You can do the structural parts in wood, then plant willow and create the infill ( weave as it grows on horizontal battens of P. treated wood)
Think 'living wattle, living wall"
I think that would be quite cool! But still warm!

 

[Woody girl]

I think that would be realy cool. You have the right to put up a structure within permitted development do I don't think you'll have a problem. Call it a summer house! If you are not digging permenant concreat foundations you should be fine.
I'm realy jealous of you having such a lovely garden. Veg plot is a must too! Imagine grilling fresh home grown tomatoes and courgettes on your fire and baking home grown potatoes in the ashes that you harvested only ten minutes ago. Couldn't get any better.
If I had the money (about £8-10,000) I'd have one of those swedish barbecue huts down there. The benches pull out to make bunks and you sleep on reindeer skins. They are hexagonal and realy cool. ....well warm and cosy realy!

 

[Paul_B]

Out of curiosity, is there a way to build/grow a living shelter? Willow is fast growth but is there a way to create a weather tight living shelter?

I've sheltered under trees before but mostly it's only effective under coniferous trees close to the trunk. I've seen established willow tunnels, one was virtually a shelter from rain.

Not that you'd want to do that, would take too long to grow and shape I reckon.

 

[santaman2000]

If building one is too difficult due to permissions, you might consider buying a movable one instead. Shouldn’t be any different from having a store bought BBQ. Something like this: https://secure.img1-fg.wfcdn.com/im...4916/49169952/Steel+Wood+Burning+Fire+Pit.jpg

 

[Paul_B]

There's rules about temporary wooden structures. Iirc max height is one.

 

[Janne]

Completely 'living' shelters might not be a problem if you have nicely spaced straight boled trees.
Stretched quality weather proof fabric for roof, Willow for walls.

I think I would do a proper job still. Council OK, Foundation, PT wood, walls ( timber or willow, shingle roof.

If done properly it should increase the value of the property!

 

[Woody girl]

You can have a lovely willow living shelter by early summer if you do it now. Willow grows about 5 feet a year. By the willow poles and weave them together. Should be usable by may June time. Not much use in winter once the leaves are gone though so if you want something for all year round go for a wooden shelter. Rules were relaxed about outbuildings sheds and conservatoires a while back for planning but there are some restrictions still on height and width. Can't remember the details. Garden sheds summer houses and greenhouses do not count so you should be fine. After all you won't be going much higher than a shed anyway.

 

[rich d2]

https://interactive.planningportal.co.uk/ this is a nice quick and easy interactive guide to permitted builds in the UK I found it useful when designing our extension. Rich

 

[TLM]

Here is the plan for one type of ironworks around the pit: http://www.metsa.fi/documents/10739/11431/2225_06.pdf
Here are pics of various designs used in Finland: http://www.metsa.fi/piirustuskokoelma/taukopaikkarakenteet

 

[santaman2000]

A quick question (after the explanation of its premise) The posts discuss what’s permissible and/or legal to build “in the UK.” The question is this: Is it uniform over the entire UK? Or does the local jurisdiction have further restrictions?

 

[Paul_B]

Uniform but subject to local discretion I suppose. Some council planning departments are stricter than others.

 

[Barney Rubble]

You lucky devil!!

If it was my back garden, I think I'd be wanting to do a few things. First of all, I'd have a small shed as a workshop area for projects and storing some of my kit. Secondly, in terms of the shelter that you mentioned, I reckon a simple Dano shelter would work nicely with a fire pit in front of it. A Danish guy on youtube called 'Cimbrer Bushcraft' built a very nice one recently which also looked relatively straight forward in it's construction - take a look at his videos on it.

 

[Janne]

Get a stainless steel drum from a washing machine.
Hung from a tripod, it makes an excellent fire basket.
Use as it is, or cut back if you want it with lower sides.

 

[Robson Valley]

A firepit is nearly always a good idea.
Build up the actual pit area so you look "into" the fire, not down "at" the fire.

As usual, I'll build a semicircular trellis and plant grape vines.
Willow isn't multipurpose to the same degree.
Maybe some solid wall sections for attaching table tops, etc.
My vines normally put on 3-4 m new growth each summer.
Those can be interwoven to make a fairly tight cover.

 

[MT606]

I've got a winter fire pit area and a summer one (in a tree lined corner of the garde) the winter one is a circular (ish) sheltered area 5x5m made from pallet wood,( with an under cover seating area and 2 other sheltered spots for sleeping), wood storage, in a fence fashion, with salvaged bricks for the pit/fire that I've made 3 sided, purchased some steel for the roof of the pit with a circle cut in the sheeting with a large salvaged chimney pot on top to help draw the smoke above the height of the shelter walls, the summer one has 12 tree seats around the fire, has a 6x2 ft stone lined pit with 2 trpiods at either end and a bar between... I would post photos up but I don't do hosting my photos on some sort of photofuckit website....

 

[Billy-o]

Oh, nice project.

I'd fancy a small, open, barn-type construction with half-height, removable willow hurdles for the walls for flexible use as windbreakers or sunshades or not there at all. Might think of a flat latticed roof structure, still pitched though, and grow something over it - roses, grapes, honeysuckle, beans, cucumbers ....

 

[z_bumbi]

For the Swedish "vindskydd" (wind break) most I have seen have a flat roof slanted to the back of the strukturer. A lot easier to build and more places to sit/a lower profile. Most is made of logs and with some tar and flaxoil on the outside and some stones as foundation they are seldom pressure treated ( i have nothing against pressure treated wood)

But I would start with something that you can move to get a feel for where you want the final placering..