Make Your Outdoor Fireplace Beautiful With Reclaimed Firebrick

A Fireplace on your patio has a lot of uses. They make great places to circle around when the weather outside is clear but chilly. They provide a place to roast marshmallows on warm summer days. They look really cool as a focal point in your backyard, especially when made out of reclaimed firebrick for fireplaces. If you are thinking about adding one to your yard, there are a few general instructions on how to make an outdoor brick fireplace:

First Steps

Before you build your own outdoor fireplace, you will have to check with your city to see if they have any ordinances concerning outdoor fireplaces. Once the city gives you the all-clear, you will have to pick a safe place to build your new addition. It should be 3 feet away from any seating, on level ground, clear of vegetation, clear of underground wiring, and a safe distance from any building. If you are putting it on your deck, make sure your fireplace is surrounded by heatproof masonry and that the deck is strong enough to hold the structure. Clear your chosen spot of landscaping features.

Design

Your outdoor fireplace can look exactly like an indoor one, if you want it to. Once you take in to account what you want to use it for and where you are putting it, your imagination is the only real limit on what your fireplace will look like.

You can buy fireplace plans from a number of places, or you can get inspiration from the internet. Your design can be as fancy or as simple as you want them to be, just be sure to sketch out the dimensions before you start work.

Make The Base

Now that you know the size of the base of the fireplace, make a wooden form that size. This will be the mold for the platform. Dig a hole with straight sides the size and shape of your wooden form. Different municipalities have different rules about the depths of foundations, with some allowing trenches only 6 inches deep and others wanting foundations more than a foot deep, so make sure to ask about the depth when talking to the city.

Pour in enough cushioning sand to make the ground even and then put your wooden form on the ground and fill it with concrete until the platform is level with the deck. Let the concrete set at least 24 hours, if not longer.

Build It Up

Lay refractory mortar on your concrete and lay your firebrick on for your first layer. Make sure the base is level. You can use firebrick for fireplaces to make some truly inspiring patterns while you are laying it.

From there, you layer blocks along the sides. You can use cinder blocks that you can add a veneer to later. Be sure to often check that the sides are level. Use a jointer and a brush to remove air bubbles from the sides and let it dry for at least 24 hours.

The details of how you finish your fireplace will depend on the plans you use. If you are putting in a wood-burning fireplace, you have to put in a spark arrestor. If this is a gas-burning fireplace, you will have to connect it to the gas line.

Add Veneer

Once the basic form of the fireplace is created, you can add a veneer of reclaimed brick to the outside if you made the sides with cinder blocks. Mortar the bricks onto the cinder blocks. You can create patterns by alternating joints and colors for your bricks. Once the veneer is on, let it cure for a day or two.

Building an outdoor brick fireplace adds ambiance, a focal point for gathering, and a great place for marshmallow roasts. If you want to make your own fireplace, contact us. We have all the reclaimed brick you need to make your project your own.