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our first house. her big plans. his hard work.

7:45 PM

The Pit

Posted by Terri |

My son is a firebug. He loves to make fires. I think we've taught him well in that if he's going to be a pyro, he'll be a safe pyroboy. He knows all the rules.
I am a big dreamer. The boy wanted a firepit, so mama thought of a beautiful big firepit area...and of course, the man is doing lots of the work.

I was inspired by a photo on the Lowe's website, but it's no longer there. I had printed it out though and knew what I wanted the firepit area to look like. I looked at it often. For about 2 years.

We chose an area in the yard that is fairly useless. It's a sloped, small area that we've never made use of.

The plan is/was: a retaining wall around three sides of the pit, with one end draining down the slope. The firepit made with rocks that we dug out of the pit and finished off with coping. The flooring of the firepit area is going to be flagstone that we've picked up over the years.




We dug and dug and dug - I don't know how long it took us, but we dug for quite a while. Harvested some rocks and bricks and china doll legs. I think the area we chose was the dumping spot when they built our house 125 years ago.



After digging, the man dug a trench and filled it with gravel and limestone screenings, tamping it down and leveling it meticulously.



We put our first layer of stone around the perimeter and then dug back a bit so that the perforated BIG O pipe would fit behind it. I didn't want the pipe because it took some of my space up and the man wanted it because he didn't want to spend big bucks just for water to damage the structure of the wall so...I won at first and we built it as if the pipe wasn't going to be behind the blocks. Then I gave in and I LET him dig out behind our leveled blocks and put the pipe in. It was very nice of me, I know.



We have to tuck the landscape fabric under the pipe and bring it up just under the coping of the wall. This will ensure that dirt doesn't sneak in and dribble down the blocks and stain them. Sounds like something a toddler would do.



Here we are working on the back wall. It will be a bit higher than the sides because I want to put a garden on the other side of it. I want the pit to be secluded from the house.



Back is done, one side is done and here's the man working on the other side with our severely mutilated rubber hammer. Time for a new one after this project.


We're all done the wall except for fixing some of the coping (the tops). We need to cut some of them and adhesive them down. Some are a bit too long and the wedges are just wonky.

Next steps:

  1. Dig down so that the end of the pipes can drain properly.
  2. Tack up the landscape fabric and backfill behind the walls with gravel.
  3. Plan the garden and plant the plants that I bought before they die.
  4. Level the ground and decide where the firepit is going exactly.
See ALLLL the pictures RIGHT HERE.

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