Archive for the ‘fireplace’ Category

Thrifty!

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

I picked up this set of modernist fireplace tools recently. I’ve been looking for a set like this for a long while (even though we haven’t ever used our fireplace) and it popped up unexpectedly when I got lost looking for a Salvation Army and ran into a freshly opened consignment shop called “Cottage Consignments”.

Yeah, I know. I didn’t have much hope.

True to form almost everything in the shop was dreadful…but…I’ve found that sometimes it’s good to get off the beaten path to hunt for a little gem amongst all the crap; and if the shop doesn’t specialize in that particular style you’re looking for – guess what – the pricing is WAY better.

Hoopla

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

I found this firewood hoop at a local hardware store for about $20. It’s currently holding a sad selection of wood mangled out of the weed tree we cut down before starting the back patio project. It’s about the only exterior addition that has happened in the last few weeks because of the constant unstoppable rain.

The Boy lit the inaugural fire in the newly primed and sealed (we used Rust-Oleum Black High Heat Paint on the interior) fire pit.

The verdict?

No explosions or shrapnel, that the internet warned of – just a little bit of cracking in one section of the mortar. But, with issues in the construction already manifesting this might turn out to be a temporary structure. A little rethinking is looking like it will be necessary.

Now we just need to finish up figuring out the installation of the square cement pavers. And then do it. Ugh.

Cooking pit

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

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This is the next step in the side yard project and I have a feeling we may get some crap for this. We are making a little fire pit! Don’t mind the weird black strip, it’s not staying. I checked out the city codes and technically this is a “cooking” pit. And yes, I do need an outdoor “cooking” pit – don’t mind the BBQ over there.

I did my research rounds around the interweb (cause I’m lazy and the library is only open like two days a week now) about DIY’ing a fire pit or cinder block cooking pit. We just started finalizing the plans for our little gravel patio and are currently at the laying it out and trouble shooting stage.

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Cinder block is not a great fire pit choice. It can crack and degrade over time and some say even EXPLODE (well, under
extreme heat and moisture). Upside? It’s cheap, temporary, industrially modern and goes well with the architecture of the house. It’s also small enough to meet code.

I’m nothing if not a risk taker.

We dug down about 6 inches to inset the base and still need to dig a center hole and fill the bottom with gravel for drainage and air flow. Another three inches of gravel are going down around the exterior to level out the rest of the patio. The blocks still have to get mortared and leveled out as well as possibly have interior firebricks installed.

After it all cures completely in a couple weeks we could have a small quaint fire. For cooking of course.