How to Build an Outdoor Fireplace

If you've wondered how to build an outdoor fireplace in your backyard, you've probably realized there are a lot of options. How do you decide which one is right for you?

The No-Build Build

Garden Style Cast Aluminum Chiminea

The most basic type of outdoor fireplace design involves a portable fire pit or chimney pot such as the Mexican chimenea. These classic clay fireplaces, look like giant gourds with a chimney at the top and a hole for wood at the bottom, have become incredibly popular in the past few years for use as a garden accent as much as to use for building a fire. Today you can also find them available in cast aluminum.

You'll find a wide variety of chimeneas and fire bowls at your local home improvement store, garden center or even a discount store like Walmart or Target.

This kind of outdoor fireplace is ideal if you aren't sure how often you'll use an outdoor fireplace, if you don't want to use it for cooking, if you're on a tight budget or if you plan to move from your current house in the near future.

Built-In Fireplaces

A more permanent (and expensive) option is to build an actual outdoor fireplace that can't be moved around. Even in this case, there are big variations in what people mean when they talk of an outdoor fireplace.

Fire Pits

The term might simply mean a fire pit, with low brick or stone walls built around it, so you have a permanent place in the yard to build a fire. This might include built-in seating so people can gather around the fire to socialize.

Cooking Fireplaces

More involved fireplaces can be built into walls, giving your outdoor fireplace the look of a brick oven like that used in a pizzeria. Other fireplaces are smaller boxes built to have a grill fitted over them for cooking.

All of these more permanent options are good choices if you do a lot of outdoor entertaining. If you don't see yourself cooking more than marshmallows on your outdoor fire, the fire pit idea is a good one, and shouldn't cost much money.

If you really want to cook on your wood fire, then an option that makes your fireplace more like a grill or an oven will be the right choice for you. These options can be quite expensive, so don't install one of these, if you think you will decide to sell your house. The return on investment might not equal what you spent.

Know How to Build an Outdoor Fireplace

Location

Consider the location where you would like to put your fireplace to determine how large a fireplace you can install. If you plan to put your fireplace on an existing patio, make sure it is far enough away from your home, your plants and other garden structures so stray sparks won't cause a fire hazard. Also, make sure there's enough room on the patio for people to sit about three feet away from the fire. If entertaining is more important to you than cooking , make sure there's plenty of room for sitting around the fire. Again, using a fire pit that's more like a campfire than a fireplace may be the best option for you.

Shopping

Once you have determined the location and approximate size of your fireplace, it's time to start shopping. Books with outdoor fireplace plans are available, but your best bet is to buy a prefabricated outdoor fireplace to install yourself, or to hire a contractor with experience in building fireplaces to do the work for you. The reason for this is because knowing how to build an outdoor fireplace can be tricky. You have to know just what you're doing so the fireplace will draw correctly and that it is safe for people to be around. Some communities have strict codes when it comes to fireplaces and outdoor air quality, so it can be much easier for you to entrust the job to a professional.

Do It Yourself

Of course, if you're merely building a surround for a fire pit, you can certainly do that yourself. Just make sure you use bricks that have been rated for use near fire, or purchase rocks to enclose your fireplace. This is a relatively inexpensive weekend project you can do completely on your own.