Fire Pit and Patio Construction
I'm starting a new stone project, so I thought I'd post pictures of my progress here. I'm planning to improve the fire pit area behind my house with a new fire pit, patio, and retaining wall. The current area is just natural woods with a ring of rocks for a fire pit.
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I'm going to use a different kind of stone on this project than I have in my other projects because I want a level surface for chairs. All of my past stone projects have used roundish, glacial erratic rocks. I've made a bunch of paths using the flat sides of these rocks, but I didn't think it would work well for a large patio. I found a picture in a book that mixed flagstone with accents of rounder rocks and I thought that would make a good transition from one type of rock to the other, so that's what I'm going to do. The flagstone I'll use is called Onaway stone, a type of limestone quarried near here. The local supplier is having trouble getting stone in this year because of a change of ownership of the quarry or something. Hopefully he gets some before the weather gets too hot and the mosquitos get thick!
I've read a few things about installing patios, but have never done one myself. It's recommended that you start with a layer of gravel, topped with sand and then the stones. On my paths, I have never used gravel and they haven't shifted from the frost. Theres nothing but sand under the layer of forest duff, so do I need gravel? I'm thinking of going without it.
The fire pit is going to be upgraded with fire bricks on the inside and the round stoned mortared on the outside, capped with flagstone. I'm tired of cracked rocks. I think I'll make it about a foot above ground and about 6 inches below ground. I want it a little deeper than it is now, but I'm going to be careful that I don't make it so deep that the fire isn't visible from a seated position around it.
The whole area is on a slope. I ran a string across it with a level and it looks like it drops almost two feet. I'll need to dig into the slope and build a dry stacked retaining wall. I don't want to have a wall right next to the patio, so I'm putting it back a two or three feet. That will leave room for some plants and a little extra room if someone needs to step off the patio. I'll make the wall out of the roundish rocks. I've already started hauling them in. I might cap the wall with Onaway stone if it looks right.
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This is the area with the wood pile moved, the firepit repositioned, and the general layout outlined with hoses. My neighbor and I, recently removed 13 dead jack pines from the woods here, so there's a big brush pile and some stumps I removed. In the foreground, you can see some of the rocks I've started to haul in.
Any comments are welcome. I'll post more pictures as things progress. I'm not in a huge hurry to get this done. I just work on it as I feel like it, so don't expect finished pictures anytime soon!
Here is a link that might be useful: More pictures
jugglerguyOriginal Author
haxuan
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