Easy Way to Build a Fire Pit Area with River Rock

Is there an area of your yard that you would like to dedicate to a built-in fire pit?

Get rid of weeds while you’re at it, too. It is possible to create a beautiful fire pit area that you will enjoy for many years by following the instructions in this article.

A non-flammable material must be placed around the fire pit for safety reasons.

Pea gravel, recycled concrete, crushed granite, lava rocks, and river rocks are all examples of rock aggregate.

Installing any of the above-mentioned materials in a fire pit area is a wise decision because they will last for a long time.

We went with the smooth river rock because it has the most appealing appearance out of all the alternatives.

Beautiful and long-lasting, river rock can be quite costly.

For bulk landscaping materials like dirt, mulch, and various types of rock aggregates we went to a local garden center. With the delivery fee, the river rock cost $125 per cubic yard.

It would have cost us close to $400 to have 2.5 cubic yards delivered to our location, which we estimated to be the right amount.

A company affiliated with the railroad sold rock aggregate, so I started looking around for other sources of river rock.

Their river rock was less expensive per cubic yard, and it looked better.

Many landscaping materials, especially heavy ones like dirt and rock, are better purchased in bulk when you have a large area to cover.

Prepping your area before delivery of your rock.

Preparation varies widely depending on where you’re placing the river rock.

Before river rock can be dumped on top of most backyards, the grass must be cut down.

You’ll have to deal with grass growing through the rock unless you remove it or cover it with a thick barrier.

Your river rock should not be invaded by weeds.

You can wet down a thick barrier like cardboard to cover the grass before adding the rock on top of it.

Underneath the cardboard, there will be no grass at all.

In our case, an above-ground pool had to be removed from the area designated for the fire pit area.

Underneath the pool, the grass was already dead, but I had to remove it from the rest of the area.

Grass must be dug up in order to loosen and pull up the roots, which is a time-consuming process.

It was a blessing in disguise that I only had to dig up about 20 square feet by hand.

Rental sod cutters are available if you need to clear a large area. Sod removal is a breeze with this cutter because you can simply walk behind it while it chops away the grass and leaves a level patch of dirt behind.

You’re ready to place your river rock once you’ve finished preparing the area.

The amount of work required to install and spread the rock in the designated area will be determined by the area’s accessibility.

The rock could be dumped right in front of our fire pit if the delivery truck came by.

Due to the weight of the rock, the truck made large divots in the grass while turning and backing up.

A fire pit location with access to a dump site made spreading rock much easier.

All of your rocks will have to be moved by hand to the backyard if it isn’t possible to place them there in the first place.

Wheelbarrows and dump carts will be the most efficient means of transporting the rock.

For the half-circle, it took me about two to three hours to spread the river rock and install the landscape edging.

I only left about a foot of the perimeter unfinished. We bought the larger river rock, but moving it with an iron rake was difficult.

Filling a bucket at the top of the pile and letting gravity do most of the work worked best for me.

I used a shovel to move the remaining rock once the pile was at a more manageable height.

Fire Pit Edging Options

You should have some kind of material around the edge of the fire pit to keep the river rock contained.

If you’re looking for landscape edging, you have two options: plastic or rubber.

You can form it into a wide variety of shapes and even into extremely tight circles thanks to its malleability.

It’s not too expensive, and it’s simple to set up. There’s an aluminum edging option that’s similar to plastic but more durable.

Unlike plastic, this material can be molded, but it does not have the same flexibility.

It will not rust because it is made of aluminum. Brick, pavers, or concrete can also be used as an edging material for a more substantial appearance.

Outdoors, the combination of river rock and metal edging is stunning.

Our paver fire pit will be the final touch, and it will be installed next week.

In anticipation of our first blaze, I am ecstatic.

You may be surprised to learn that properly maintained fire pits can last for years.