i kind of want the old school pit that you burn shit in but the thought of being able to just turn in on and turn it off for daily use is tempting...  what would you do?

Wood. Part of the fun is tending to the fire.

Real firepit

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Real wood.

Get both!

Propane fire pit

You should get the propane firepit.....and while you're at it, you should sell all your guns and go airsoft because the gunpowder, recoil, noise, and having to reload mags and deal with shell casings is just icky.

get wood

If you're a man, or a good woman - wood.


If you like pretty colors, rain bows and everything associated with that - fire glass.

ar-jedi

Do you have a pineapple doorknocker??

real wood.

BTW, arjedi, nice place sir!

My humble firepit.  Except for the CDO, I made everything else:





The dinner bell:

http://thecoatesfamily.net/ar15com/fp1small.jpg
http://thecoatesfamily.net/ar15com/fp2small.jpg

If it's a hole in the ground, wood.

Propane and fire glass is only cool if you're using it as a table and such.

A propane fire pit?  

Your KGB deep cover training failed you.  That is not an idea that would occur to an American.

Not mine but I am thinking about this kind of design in my back yard:

Wood.
Burn small split DRY wood, and it will start easy, and burn without smoking you out of the beehive.

This plus no worrying about refilling the tank.

Here's mine

I'll bring the paper plates!

Real wood.  

I have both. The gas one sucks. Get a wood one.

you need a real fucking hole in the ground where you can pour gas and unused fireworks and explosives and burn furniture and just alll around cause a ruckus.

if you actually want some glass prissy little thing you fail.

you are allowed to build one for your wife but you still need a man pit

Your location is USA. In Texas real men burn wood.  We do allow a rock ring.  But you can't buy the rocks at home depot. You have to collect the rocks yourself.  

Sort of excessive? Don't you think?





I like it!

I dig a pit, line it with rocks on the outside. Firepit, campfire style.

Honestly, propane coming through glass is pretty awesome looking, but it's not a real fire pit. If it's more decorative, I'd probably build it into a bar outside ONLY if you're on city propane. City gas is stupid cheap.


For real fire pit, and shenanigans, and whatnot, it needs to be real wood. We have a pit out back, but it floods and such, great for huge drunken bonfires started with gasoline, but not so fun for 'hey, honey, lets have an hour out back, or whatnot'.

Basically, if you want decorative fire, that comes out of a table, or the back of your bar, go the propane way, ONLY if you've got city supplied pipes. If not, it becomes a HUGE hassle. I'd go both, to be honest. If you're not on city propane, it might be an idea to sink a 800 gallon tank in your yard, and convert everything over to gas. (I hate not cooking on gas).

A propane 'fire pit'?

In the mid 70s, in Tempe, Az there was a restaurant/bar near Mill and University. Outside in the patio area they had gas fire pit (natural gas I think). It was a circular "well", about five feet in diameter and about two feet tall. It was filled with sand, and had some sort of gas distribution grid buried in the sand. When running, the burning gas flames would follow patterns in the sand (tools to work the sand were laid on the rim of the "well"). You could sit on the edge of the well with your drink and play with the sand/fire.

I have always wanted to build one of those myself. No doubt they waste plenty of gas, but pretty cool.

Similar to this vid:
gas/sand fire pit

Yeah




 


Might as well just put one of these out there in the pit.





 

Real wood in a hole in the ground.  My city doesn't allow open burning but I pile the widowmakers and sticks that fall from the trees in the pit and light it up.  To comply with no open burning I will stick a marshmellow on a hanger or a hot dog on a stick in the ground next to the fire in case the cops arrive then I be grilling out.

About this right here.  We have an outdoor campsite.  It's cheap, fast and easy.





 

If I ever get a house with a decent backyard, I want to do something similar to this.

Beat by six hours.



 

Right click, save as. Awesome!

 

Don't have to deal with all the hard work of turning on the propane then!

That right there is a decorative fire sculpture appliance thing.  That's cool.  It's fire.  I do like it.  It's not a fucking fire pit though.

I built this - not finished in the picture though.

Your man card. Fork it over.

Wood, ya feckin weirdo!

So wait, is that entire thing the pit or...? Is that a chair to watch your sacrifices burn? It looks bad ass.

I have a 22 inch semi rim, above ground surrounded with retaining wall blocks. I clean it out every couple of fires, and add the ash to the compost bin. I have a round diamond plate aluminum cover over it when it isn't in use. I have also put my Dutch oven in it, and buried a pork shoulder in banana leaves in the coals . Try that with a  gas fire pit.

ug...  does the pit need a drain pipe for rain water?

when we purchased this house there was an old outdoor fireplace, which had been neglected.  someone did put some care into building it, as it was lined with proper firebrick.  but over the course of 50 years or so it had deteriorated and in fact the soil had encroached into the firebox.  i wavered between sticking the front end loader into it to break it up and cart it away, versus "saving" it.  eventually i decided to re-hab it and build a small pit/seating area around it -- big enough to hold a pair of chairs and/or entertain a few people via seating on the walls.  i used fieldstone for the drystack wall construction, and bluestone for the floor surface.

there is geotextile (landscape fabric) behind the walls to prevent ingress of silt/mud to the patio area. you can see the black geotextile sticking up one of the pictures below. also, the bluestone patio surface itself is pitched, about 0.25" per foot, to allow water to run off (downhill, with the yard slope)

as for expansion and contraction -- i live in a 4 season area; summer high is typically 100'F, winter low is typically 10'F. one key advantage of dry stack is that it is "flexible" -- a dry stack wall can move a bit as the ground heaves during the winter, and settles during the summer. moreover, any water that freezes within the wall will generally not cause problems, like it might with a more intimately placed stonework method.

a couple of notes;
-- dry stack is not a substitute for proper drainage behind the wall. in most cases you must still provide drain tile and clean gravel to shunt water from the backside around or through the wall. otherwise, you'll eventually have soil stability problems and that will impact the wall -- first aesthetically and then structurally.
-- dry stack can generally be modified for residential hardscape applications by grouting/mortaring the top course (or 2) with tinted mortar. the mortar secures the top pieces in place, and provides for a stable seating or stepping area.
-- don't go overboard. your landscape should not look like a quarry. less is better. tiny sections that tie in with others is better. last picture below... see the 3' diameter landing at the base of the screened porch stairs for an example. that's it -- any more and it will look like you were really trying too hard. right there is just $20 worth of bluestone pieces, a bag of concrete for the underlay, and a half a bag of mortar for securing and grouting the bluestone; that's all it takes and it works/looks a billion times better than the steps simply coming down into mud.

ps:
a few aspects that i will now lecture on -- think things through!!!  

#1, the projects you do this year should "match" the projects you did last year, and the projects you do next year should match as well. nothing looks worse than a collection of vastly different types of stone -- some bluestone here, some slate there, some river rock here, some pavers there, some marble here, etc etc etc -- your hardscape should not look like you bought a little of everything from the bins down at the stone yard.

#2, the hardscape should "match" the house. you have an old, classic house? don't put modern/geometric stone down. you have a modern, contemporary house? don't put "old looking" stonework around it. tie things together, instead of driving them apart.

ar-jedi




































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this

I think the propane fire pits with the fire glass look AWESOME. That being it's a shitload easier and more fun to have a real firepit with wood.

If I had some swanky pool/hottub patio thing a couple of the glass firepits for extra swankyness would be pretty cool though.

ar-jedi

Impressive.